Lithuania calls for energy diversity

BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 15 (UPI) -- Political will is needed to move forward with planned expansions to the Odessa-Brody oil pipeline, the Lithuanian envoy to Azerbaijan said.

Warsaw last week made a push to expand its energy ties in the Caucasus. Warsaw has for several years lobbied for access to Azeri crude oil through proposed extensions to the Odessa-Brody pipeline to northern Poland.

Odessa-Brody travels currently in a reverse direction, though plans include extensions and route transfers through the Caucasus.

Lithuanian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Kestutis Kudzmanas told the Trend News Agency in Azerbaijan that expansions to Odessa-Brody needed backing from partner nations.

"This project is commercially very attractive, as it covers many countries from Azerbaijan to Poland and Lithuania," he said. "Exactly for this purpose we need political will of all those states."

Europe is scrambling to break the Russian stranglehold on the energy sector. A conflict between Russia and Georgia in 2008 disrupted oil supplies through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline. A 2009 dispute between Kiev and Moscow, meanwhile, left European consumers in the cold as 80 percent of all Russian gas for Europe travels through Ukraine.

Kudzmanas said his government was interested "any alternative" for Europe.