UKRAINE'S CABINET AGREES TO OPEN PIPELINE

07.07.2004 [19:03]
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Ukraine's Cabinet agreed to open a never-used pipeline to shipments of Russian oil, reversing an earlier decision to limit the pipeline to Europe-bound shipments from the Caspian Sea region, officials said Tuesday.Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych said the pipeline - from the Black Sea port of Odessa to the western border town of Brody - could also be used in "other directions" that would be "economically favorable" for Ukraine, a spokesman for Yanukovych quoted him as saying.The $500 million pipeline has been at the heart of a tug-of-war between Russia and Western countries over whether it should carry Caspian oil or oil from Russia's Ural Mountains.

The Cabinet in February voted to use the pipeline to move oil only from Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan to Western Europe, a decision that came despite high-level Russian lobbying.

President Leonid Kuchma called the Cabinet decision a "dead end" for Ukraine and he later fired Energy Minister Serhiy Ermilov, who played a pivotal role in the Cabinet's initial decision.

UKRAINE'S CABINET AGREES TO OPEN PIPELINE

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