The once-abandoned project was revisited by Orlen’s executives, led by CEO Daniel Obajtek, following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year, Polish state broadcaster TVP Info has reported.
Building the Odesa-Gdańsk pipeline, which would provide another source of non-Russian oil, is now among Orlen's priorities, TVP Info said, citing unofficial information.
Plan for Ukraine-Poland oil pipeline
The project to bring Caspian Sea oil from Ukraine to Western Europe was launched in 2002, when the Ukrainian government opened a pipeline from the Pivdenny Crude Oil Terminal near Odesa on the Black Sea to the western city of Brody, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
The European Union then backed the extension of the pipeline to the central Polish city of Płock, and then to Gdańsk, as “a strategic project for Europe’s security,” according to officials.
In 2004, Poland and Ukraine set up a joint company to build an extension of the pipeline, TVP Info reported.
However, by then Russia was governed by President Vladimir Putin, who sought to make Europe dependent on raw materials from his country, the PAP news agency said.
As part of this policy, from 2003 Russia carried out measures designed to prevent the construction of the Ukraine-Poland oil pipeline, according to TVP Info.
Presidential push
The project was revived several years later by Poland’s then-President Lech Kaczyński, who secured the backing of his counterparts from Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Lithuania and Ukraine, the PAP news agency reported.
Designed as part of a new system to supply Europe with non-Russian oil, the pipeline from Ukraine to Poland’s Gdańsk was to be co-financed by the EU to the tune of some PLN 500 million (EUR 111 million), TVP Info said.
In January 2010, Poland and Ukraine signed an agreement to design an initial extension of the pipeline to the eastern Polish village of Adamowo, according to PAP.
Plans scrapped
However, following the 2010 Smolensk air crash, which killed Poland’s President Lech Kaczyński and 95 others, the Polish government under Donald Tusk "decided to reset relations with Russia," TVP Info said.
The plan to build a pipeline from Ukraine to Poland began to be sidelined, with some government ministers questioning its profitability, according to PAP.
The Polish government at the time finally scrapped the project in November 2013, according to TVP Info.
Plans revived?
Following Russia’s full-scale aggression against Ukraine in February 2022, Poland’s Orlen began to consider reviving the plan for an oil pipeline between Ukraine and Poland, TVP Info said.
“According to unofficial information, the implementation of this project is now one of the priorities for Orlen, under the leadership of Daniel Obajtek,” the Polish state broadcaster reported.
“However, due to the ongoing war, all the plans are closely guarded,” according to TVP Info.
Tuesday is day 454 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
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Source: PAP, portalsamorzadowy.pl