Ukraine looks to LNG to diversity energy supply

Ukraine is offering direct access for international investors to construct and operate an LNG terminal on the Black Sea coast for the import and regasification of LNG.

Completion of the project’s first phase in 2015 will allow for the processing of up to 5bnm3 of natural gas per year, ramping up to 10bnm3 annual by 2016, when phase 2 is scheduled to come online.

Meanwhile, the results of a feasibility study, carried out by Spain-based SOCOIN Ingeniería y Construcción Industrial, is expected to be published in mid-January 2012. It will include recommendations on five potential sites – two plots in Odesa’s Pivdennnyy port, two near Ochakiv in Mykolayiv region and the potential construction of an offshore terminal near Odesa.

The new project will enable the country to diversify its energy supply as well as secure its position as a major transit country. It will strengthen the Asia-Europe supply route.