Odessa-Brody pipeline

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The Odessa-Brody pipeline is a 674 km long crude oil pipeline between the Ukrainian cities of Odessa at the Black Sea, and Brody near the Ukrainian-Polish border. The pipeline is operated by Ukrtransnafta, the Ukraine's state-owned oil pipeline company.

The usage and direction of Odessa-Brody pipeline is considered to be of considerable geopolitical significance and has thus been the subject of both political disagreement and international pressure. The pipeline between Odessa and Brody and the Pivdenny maritime terminal in Odessa were built in 2001, but remained unused until 2004. The pipeline was originally intended to reach Gdańsk in order to transfer oil from the Caspian Sea (mainly from Kazakhstan) to the Polish Baltic Sea port and from there to the rest of Europe. Russian pressure however resulted in 2004 in the Kuchma government accepting on its reverse flow, and thus making it transfer Russian oil southwards to the Black Sea and from there to Mediterranean destinations. Currently the oil is shipped to the pipeline from the junction of the southern branch of Druzhba pipeline.

In 2005, and after the success of Viktor Yushchenko and the former opposition, in the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election and the Orange Revolution, the new government has shown interest in using the pipeline in the direction originally intended, in order to transfer oil from the Caspian to Europe. The pipeline is planned to be prolonged to Płock in Poland, and from there through the existing branch off of the northern branch of Druzhba pipeline to Gdansk. For developing this project, the Ukraine’s pipeline operator UkrTransNafta and Poland's pipeline operator PERN formed the Sarmatia consortium. This extension is planned to be completed in 2009.

On 27 October 2006 at the European Union-Ukraine summit, the President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko proposed to build an extension via Slovakia to Kralupy refinery in the Czech Republic. On 15 November 2006, the idea was supported by Ukraine's prime minister Viktor Yanukovych.