Yanukovych and Medvedev may close oil transit for Belarus

The plans on signing intergovernmental agreement on Venezuelan oil transit via Ukraine have been delayed. Contrary to expectations by the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine, Minsk and Kyiv failed to agree an all details of transit arrangements, “Ekonomicheskie Izvestia” writes.

Experts suppose the reasons for unforeseen difficulties in signing agreements on Venezuelan oil transit via Ukraine were a necessity to take into account an opinion of Russia and nuances caused by three-day celebration of the 60th anniversary of Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych.

Belneftekhim state-owned company and the Ukrainian energy agency say the date of signing the intergovernmental agreement on oil transit have been postponed and refuse to tell the reasons.

“We are working on documents, the negotiations on the draft agreement go on,” the press service of the Ministry of Fuel and Energy informs on Friday evening. It was earlier reported that the transit agreement would be signed by the end of the week. “The Belarusian party expressed its interest in establishing cooperation in oil shipment to Belarusian refineries using the oil transportation system and railways in Ukraine and Belarus,” the press service noted.

However, this interest hasn’t been formalized. The talks were complicated by absence of an unambiguous answer to a question of oil transit route trough Ukraine. One of the possible solutions is using Odessa-Brody oil pipeline that is connected with switching the pipeline to the averse mode (now the Russian oil flows in reverse mode). “It is technically possible to use Odessa-Brody pipeline to deliver Venezuelan oil to Belarus, but this variant requires political will of Ukraine and other participants of the project,” Alexander Todiychuk, president of the Kyiv International Energy Club, said. He added an issue on using Odessa-Brody pipeline for pumping Venezuelan oil must be discussed with Belarus and Russia.

Viktor Yanukovych continued celebrating his 60th birthday in Crimea on Saturday and Sunday. The celebration started in Kyiv on July 9. As it became known on that day, Ministry of Fuel and Energy’s plans on signing oil transit agreement with Minsk were delayed.