24.04.03

Georgia, Ukraine discuss oil, natural gas transport

Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze expressed the belief that 15 million to 20 million tonnes of oil a year can be pumped through the Odessa-Brody pipeline soon, which runs through Ukraine.

"Georgia may prove to be a useful country as regards the transport of Caspian oil. I think we're a bit late, because we were dealing with the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, but now there's an opportunity to transport oil via the Supsa terminal, which handles up to 6 million tonnes. I think this cargo should be sent Ukraine's way," Shevardnadze told a news conference in Kyiv after talks with Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma.

He said use could be made of oil carried through Georgia by rail, some 7 million to 8 million tonnes a year.

"Add to this the readiness of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan to share additional volumes of oil, and altogether it will be possible after a while to put through Ukraine, through the Odessa-Brody pipeline, between 15 million and 20 million tonnes," he said.

"This is serious business, and Georgia will do everything to keep this from remaining just so many words," Shevardnadze said.

Kuchma said they discussed energy transport and ferry transport between Poti, Georgia, and Ilyichevsk, Ukraine. Cargo traffic along the Poti-Ilyichevsk ferry route increased 53.6% this year to 727,600 tonnes.

Kuchma said Ukraine is interested in such large projects as construction of the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline and laying a natural gas transport route to Turkey.