LUKoil resumes Odessa operations

MOSCOW, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- Russian oil producer LUKoil announced plans to resume oil supplies to the Druzhba pipeline through the Odessa-Brody route beginning in November.

LUKoil said it was forced to suspend operations at the Odessa refinery because Ukrainian company OAO Ukrtransnafta ceased pumping oil through the through the Lisichansk-Kremenchug-Odessa Refinery pipeline on Oct. 1.

LUKoil said it would deliver 1.4 million barrels of oil to the Odessa refinery beginning in November. The company said this would return production of petroleum products to the levels reached before the disruption.

The 419-mile pipeline had run in the reverse direction toward Russia following supply concerns. Oil is delivered to the Odessa-Brody pipeline from a junction of the Druzhba pipeline, the longest in the world.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko signed a measure in May to ensure the pipeline would run in its intended direction, from east to west. It had run in the reverse direction toward Russia following supply concerns since 2004.

The pipeline carries around 105 million barrels of oil per year.