Vilnius unveils Caspian pipe pact

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, Polish President Lech Kaczynski, Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili and Minister of energy and mineral resources of Kazakhstan Sauat Mynbayev, from left, are seen during a news conference on the first day of the Energy Summit in the President's palace in Vilnius, Lithuania,Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2007. Ministers from five East European countries signed a deal Wednesday for the construction of an oil pipeline linking the Black and Baltic seas, a project aimed at improving regional energy security and reducing dependence on Russian crude. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)

Five nations players: from left, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, Polish President Lech Kaczynski, Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili and Kazakh Energy Minister Sauat Mynbayev

MINDAUGAS KULBIS

Anthea Pitt

 10 October 2007 18:27 GMT

Poland and Ukraine, as well as by Lithuania, Georgia and Azerbaijan agreed today to form a consortium to work on bringing Caspian crude to Poland and the Baltic Sea to provide an alternative to Russian oil.

The agreement, signed at a summit in Vilnius by the governments of the five nations, with companies involved in the scheme, aims to revive the Odessa-Brody project.

The goal is to reverse the flow of a Ukrainian pipeline that at present takes Russian crude to the Black Sea port of Odessa, and instead return to the original aim of bringing Azerbaijani oil through Ukraine to Poland and on to its Baltic Sea coast.

"The main goal of the new consortium - Sarmatia - is to prepare a feasibility study for the transportation system…

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