The Ukrainian company Ukrtansneft has approached the state organs and companies of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia and Uzbekistan with a proposal to take part in filling the Odessa-Brody pipeline with process crude oil.

According to the press service of the company, about 380-420 thousand tonnes of crude will be required to prevent the pipeline corroding during the cold season.

Fill the pipeline with process oil will help the immediate start of its exploitation once a decision is made by the government on the choice of direction for the transportation of oil along this particular pipeline, notes the press service.

Corresponding letters signed by the managing director of Ukrtransneft Stanislav Vasilenko on 5 September was sent to ministries and departments of the earlier mentioned countries as well as to the addresses of various oil companies.

The document also asks the state organs and companies of the four countries to present information on the possible use of the oil pipeline should it be filled with process oil, after determining its brand.

Meanwhile the Ukrainian side expressed their readiness to purchase the process oil on conditions of payment spread out o a three year period with the first payment to be made a year after the supply of the oil.

Commenting on this document, the head of the special authorised organ for issues concerning the Eurasian oil transport corridor, Mikhail Gonchar said that the oil pipeline Odessa-Brody was not threatened by corrosion since it had been filled with preservatives. According to him, for the complete filling of the pipeline not more than 500 thousand tonnes of light Caspian oil was required. This amount of oil will be supplied by large companies working in the Caspian region in accordance with earlier reached agreements. That was why there was no need for the request to Azerbaijan, Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan said Mr Gonchar. Such statements were efforts "to pull the idea of the reverse use of the pipeline through the back door" he stressed.

Earlier the Minister of Fuel and Energy of Ukraine Sergei Yermilov said that the oil pipeline would be fully ready for exploitation in October 2003.

Construction of the 674 km Odessa-Brody pipeline was completed in May 2001. Right from the onset it was designed to supply oil to Europe from the Caspian region. For that the crude was to be pumped along the oil pipeline Tengiz(Kazakhstan)-Novorossiisk (Russia) or Baku (Azerbaijan) -Spusa (Georgia) and further by tankers along the Black Sea to the terminal in Odessa.

Currently the reverse variant is being considered where the pipeline could be used to pump Russian oil from the trunk pipeline Druzhba to the terminal in Odessa for onward transportation by tankers to other destinations. However the ambassadors of the US and Germany in Ukraine, Carlos Pasqual and Ditmar Shtudemann are against this idea since it would mean refusing to transport oil in the European direction.