Azerbaijani Socar has shown interest in storing oil in Ukraine, but the current legislation does not allow providing such a service, Ukrtransnafta director general and head of the oil division of Naftogaz Group Mykola Havrylenko said.

"Socar, when they contacted us, said that they want to store oil for a year with the possibility of deciding where to put it: either process it or transport it by pipeline to Belarus, or again onto water with loading on tankers and sell in the free market. Our legislation does not yet allow such an opportunity," he said.

Havrylenko recalled that the company applied to the Ministry of Finance in order to obtain permission to create a licensed customs warehouse based on its facilities for provision of oil storage services.

According to him, initially oil can be stored in the linear part of the Kremenchuk-Lysychansk oil pipeline section, where it is technically possible to place about 400,000 tonnes of oil.

"We submitted relevant initiatives to the Ministry of Finance, where, among other things, we propose recognizing the inactive section of the pipeline with certain nuances. If this is accepted, we will be able to enter the market with such capacity as this linear part of the pipeline," the head of Ukrtransnafta said.

He also said that the tank farm at Pivdenny maritime oil terminal can currently accept 200,000 cubic meters, or 170,000 tonnes, but this is not enough even for the placement of oil from two tankers of 90,000 tonnes.