VILNIUS, Lithuania, Feb. 17 (UPI) -- Ukrainian officials expressed their inclination to bring energy resources to Lithuania through transit routes traversing Belarus.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Volodymyr Ohryzko expressed those sentiments during a meeting in Lithuania with his Lithuanian and Belarusian counterparts.
The Ukrainian minister said energy cooperation was part of a broader trilateral arrangement meant to boost ties between Ukraine and Lithuania, Ukraine's official news agency Ukrinform reports.
Ohryzko said Lithuania also could be a partner in plans to extend the Odessa-Brody oil pipeline across Poland to reach European markets.
The Odessa-Brody pipeline was intended to diversify regional energy corridors away from a dependency on Russia. The pipeline carries around 105 million barrels of oil per year.
The pipeline is moving in the reverse direction to ports in the Black Sea, though Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko advocates measures to bring the flow back to its intended direction toward Europe.
Yushchenko had met with Lithuanian officials in December to discuss transporting oil from Odessa-Brody to Lithuanian refineries.
