Yushchenko is lobbying for Kolomojsky who is eager to grab Odesa-Brody oil pipeline, says Oleksa Hudyma

April27200921:57

Against the backdrop of world recession, oil prices have plummeted to their record lows. In the absence of available cash reserves, the propriety of reversing the Odesa-Brody oil pipeline from its present southward operation is questionable. The political and economic situation in Ukraine and EU is hardly favorable for this, the premier’s adviser on fuel issues and VR lawmaker, Oleksa Hudyma, told ZIK Apr. 27.

Commenting on Yushchenko’s fuel adviser Bohdan Sokolovsky’s statement about a confidential letter which Premier Tymoshenko has allegedly sent to her Russian counterpart on a joint operation of the Odesa-Brody, O. Hudyma said he has no knowledge of any such letter, adding that Yulia Tymoshenko has no need to communicate secretly with Premier Putin.

Russia pays Ukraine $100 mln annually for pumping its oil to Odesa, and there is no need for Ukraine to give up this contract, the lawmaker noted.

“As far as I remember, since 2000 there has been 3 feasibility reports on the Odesa-Brody, but nothing has changed,” Hudyma said. The Tymoshenko cabinet refused to implement Yushchenko’s instructions to operate the pipeline in the north-bound mode, because Yushchenko was lobbying for the interests of the Pryvat group and its owner Ihor Kolomojsky who wants to lay his hands on the pipeline.

O. Hudyma is convinced that, in order to start pumping oil to the north to Brody, Azerbaijan Pres Aliev’s declarations will not suffice, as the Caspian oil is owned by international oil companies, the US companies including.

“Only a fraction of this oil belongs to Azerbaijan. Therefore, there is not enough oil to start commercial pumping to Europe. Besides, there is no link between the Ukrainian pipeline and the European ones as well as there is no funding to lay a linking pipeline, he added.