Ukraine and Kazakhstan have agreed to increase the transit of Kazakh oil across Ukraine by eight million tonnes, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has said.
"We have agreed that we will increase oil transit through Ukraine by around eight million tonnes. A certain amount of this oil could be delivered to Ukrainian oil refineries, which could be stipulated in a separate agreement," he said at a joint press conference with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev in Kyiv on Tuesday.
As reported, Ukrainian First Vice-Premier Andriy Kliuyev said on September 8 that an agreement on the resumption of Kazakh oil deliveries through the territory of Ukraine had been already signed.
While commenting on the results of the joint Ukrainian-Kazakh interstate commission on economic cooperation, he said that an agreement on the renewal of oil deliveries had been signed earlier, and only technical details remained to be resolved.
One of the members of the Ukrainian delegation told Interfax-Ukraine that the agreement between UkrTransNafta and KazTransOil was signed in June 2010, while during the meeting of the commission this issue was barely considered.
It was earlier reported, with reference to Kazakh Ambassador to Ukraine Amangeldy Zhumabaev, that the issue of the resumption of oil transit via Ukraine would be discussed during Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s official visit to Ukraine on September 14-15.
The ambassador also said that the issue concerned the resumption of the annual transit across Ukraine of about six million tonnes of oil, which Ukraine had rejected under the previous government.
"Ukraine is very interested in exploring and developing oil and gas fields. Of course, we would like you to create such conditions for us. We are ready to resolve these issues under modern tender conditions, and we are interested in the development of our relations," he said at a meeting with the Kazakh president in Kyiv on Tuesday.
The meeting was held in an extended format with the participation of Ukrainian and Kazakh government members.
Nazarbayev, in turn, said that this issue had been reflected in bilateral documents signed after bilateral talks on Tuesday.
"We talked about the participation of Ukrainian companies in the [development of] oil and gas fields in Kazakhstan, and this is reflected in our protocols, and our ministries and departments are currently conducting concrete work," he said.
