09.06.03

Ukraine pipeline operator, Slovakia's Transpetrol sign deal

Ukrainian pipeline operator Ukrtransnafta and Slovakia's Transpetrol Thursday signed a deal on cooperation in the use of Ukrainian oil pipelines, Ukrtransnafta told Interfax. Transpetrol said the deal presented a fresh opportunity to utilize both Ukraine's and Slovakia's sections of the Druzhba pipeline.

They will be able to develop a joint strategy and work towards harmonizing the process of transporting oil, Ukrtransnafta quoted its chief executive, Alexander Todiichuk, as saying.

Earlier, Todiichuk said Ukrtransnafta and Russia's Yukos might build an oil pipeline from Bratislava in Slovakia to Schwechat in Austria on a joint basis. The two might jointly coordinate the transportation of oil along the route by Slovakia's Transpetrol, in which Yukos owns 49% of the shares, Alexander, Ukrtransnafta's chairman, told Interfax. This will facilitate the transportation of light crude produced in the Caspian region (Odessa - Brody - Uzhgorod route) and Russian Urals crude (Druzhba - Adria) to Europe's markets.

(Interfax)