Ukraine will finish the preparation of the documents for the project for the extension of the Odesa-Brody pipeline to Plock (Poland) by the end of April.

Board chairman of PJSC Ukrtransnafta Oleksandr Lazorko told this to Interfax-Ukraine in Kyiv on Tuesday.

"By the end of April, we will virtually finish the work for obtaining environmental permits for our section [of the pipeline]. We actually have them, they only need to be adapted to European requirements, since this is a border area," he said.

Lazorko added that all other documents for the project from the Ukrainian side, including on the construction project, are ready.

"In turn, they [Poland] have yet to finish the project. Then they will start the construction, the EU has already allocated money for it," Ukrtransnafta's board head said.

According to him, EUR 130 million allocated by the European Union will cover the costs for the construction of around 40% of the Polish section of the pipeline.

"We have a smaller section, so we agreed that Poland will build around one-third [of its section], and then, we will proceed. Our section is approximately 120 kilometers long, and they have about 360 kilometers. Therefore, we will be quicker in carrying out the construction," Lazorko said.

As reported, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania in the middle of October 2007 signed an agreement to set up a joint enterprise to design and lay an oil pipeline from Baku to Odesa, Brody, Plock and farther to Gdansk. The project could be partially financed by the European Union.

Ukrtransnafta and PERN Przyjazn in 2004 founded Sarmatia Sp. z.o.o. (Poland) for the construction of the 490-kilometer-long trunk pipeline running from Brody (Ukraine) to Plock (Poland).

Later Azerbaijan-based Socar, Georgia's GOGS and Lithuania's Klaipedos Nafta joined the participants in the company. As a result, its charter capital was increased from PLN 2 million to PLN 9 million. The stakes of all the parties were 24.75%, only Klaipedos Nafta owned 1% of the company.

The Odesa-Brody oil pipeline, running 674 kilometers and with throughput capacity of nine million annual tonnes and connecting the maritime Pivdenny oil terminal with the Druzhba trunk pipeline system, was put into operation in 2001. It was initially built to move light Caspian crude oil to Europe. But in practice the pipeline has been used in a reserve regime for pumping Russian oil. At present, the pipeline is used to deliver oil to Brody, with Belarus using it to move oil from Venezuela to Mozyr Oil Refinery.