Ukraine offers Iran alternative gas pipeline routes to Europe

Interfax-Ukraine news agency
25 Jul 05

Kiev, 25 July: Ukraine has offered Iran two alternative routes for
building a pipeline for delivering Iranian gas to Western Europe:
Iran-Armenia-Georgia-Ukraine-Europe and Iran-Armenia-Georgia-Black
Sea-Ukraine-Europe.

First Deputy Fuel and Energy Minister and [state oil and gas company]
Naftohaz Ukrayiny head Oleksiy Ivchenko made this proposal in talks
with Iran’s Deputy Oil Minister Mohammad Hadi Nezhad-Hoseynian in
Tehran on 24 July, Naftohaz Ukrayiny’s press service reported.

Following the meeting, the Ukrainian Fuel and Energy Ministry and the
Iranian Oil Ministry signed a memorandum on mutual understanding,
which foresees holding a five-party meeting by the end of September,
forming expert groups, exchanging information on implementation of the
project, and determining the powers of the companies that will take
part in implementing one of the versions for the construction of the
pipeline.

The sides also determined volumes of gas for delivery to Ukraine and
other European countries, the Naftohaz-Ukrayiny press-release says.

In addition, the Ukrainian side proposed starting preparations for
implementing one of the versions of the project in a bilateral format
at this stage with other countries getting involved later on.

Ivchenko said the construction of a transit gas pipeline from Iran to
Western Europe is the two countries’ most promising joint project. He
said that Ukraine “has all the necessary technical and economic
capacities for implementing large-scale oil and gas projects jointly
with Iran in the near future”.

Nezhad-Hoseynian gave a high assessment the capacities of the
Ukrainian side for exploring, extracting and transporting fuel and
supported Ivchenko’s proposal to start preparations for implementing
the project.

Ivchenko also had a meeting with Iranian Oil Minister Bizhan
Namdar-Zangeneh, during which the sides expressed satisfaction with
the development of cooperation between the two countries in the oil
and gas area and the result of the talks.