Presidential adviser lambastes fuel minister for short-sighted statements

May06200920:51

Bohdan Sokolovsky, Yushchenko’s adviser on energy safety of Ukraine, commented to journalists May 6 statement by Fuel Minister Yury Prodan who said that there are no oil suppliers and buyers to justify a reversal of the Odesa-Brody pipeline. Pres Yushchenko demanded to reverse the pipeline May. 5, and start pumping oil to the north. Currently, Russia is pumping oil southward to Odesa. “I have the impression that the cabinet has fallen prey to an outbreak of short-sightedness and loss of memory,” a ZIK correspondent quotes him as saying May 6.

Sokolovsky warned that Prodan’s statements about the lack of oil suppliers may trigger off a diplomatic row.

He recalled that the issue of suppliers have long been resolved, pointing to Azerbaijan Pres Aliev’s Apr. 9 statement made at his meeting with Yushchenko about ample supplies of Caspian oil for deliveries to Ukraine.

Sokolovsky also noted that some EU countries, including the Czech Republic and Austria, import Caspian oil. If Odesa-Brody starts pumping oil to Europe, Ukraine can win these markets.

There’s one rub, Sokolovsky warned: ”As long as Minister Prodan continues to cling to his chair in the ministry and never travels farther than Moscow, he won’t realize that there is Azerbaijan and other oil-rich Caspian states.”

“Making such statements, the minister admitted his own inaction,” Sokolovsky summed up.

In a related move, Sokolovsky strongly criticized the cabinet for losing oversight over the operation of two Western Ukraine refineries, Naftokhimik Prykarpattya and Halychina, and allowing, knowingly or not, their owners to transfer 70% of their assets to offshore havens. The cabinet must demand the implementation of contracts with these refineries, he demanded.

Comment by ZIK

Speaking to journalists before the cabinet meeting May 6, Fuel Minister Prodan has said that it would be difficult to deliver on Pres Yushchenko’s instructions to reverse the Odesa-Brody, our Kyiv correspondent reports.

“Unfortunately, there is no oil supplier to supply oil for the pipeline, same as there are no buyers at the other end of the pipe,” Prodan stressed. He couldn’t say how much it would cost to reverse the pipeline, saying investors and the appropriate feasibility report is needed before the amount of funding can be specified.

According to the minister, the cabinet has appealed to gasoline producers in Western Europe, but no positive response has been received.
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