Azerbaijan may build Ukranian oil refinery

Ukraine has presented the results of a feasibility study and marketing research to Azerbaijan, for the devising of a construction plan for the State Oil Co. of the Azerbaijani Republic’s (SOCAR) refinery in Ukrainian territory. Bogdan Sokolovsky, who serves as Ukranian President Victor Yushchenko’s representative on energy security, said the new plant can be situated in one of three locations: the Ukranian South Sea Port on the Black Sea in the province of Odessa, the province of Kherson or in Western Ukraine. The country has also entered into negotiations with SOCAR on the modernization of the Ukrainian fuel-transport system, as oil from the refinery will be delivered via tankers to the Ukrainian Odessa port, where the oil will be pumped into the Odessa-Brody pipeline, which is managed by Ukranian state-owned company JSC Uktransnafta. (April 12, 2009)