Russia to construct new gas pipeline for Ukraine

A new project aimed at making Ukraine the main route for the transportationof Russian gas exports has emerged recently amid hard negotiations ontransferring control over the Ukrainian gas pipeline system to a consortiumof foreign companies under the aegis of Russia. The Russian Joint StockCompany for the Construction of Oil and Gas projects ZanGas (successor ofthe Soviet Zarubezhneftegaz company) has officially announced its plans toconstruct a gas pipeline from the Ukrainian city of Ananyev, on the northfrom Odessa, to the city of Izmail, at the Ukrainian-Romanian border. Thepipeline's diameter is expected to be 1.2 meters with a length of 390kilometers. In January 2002 ZanGas won a tender on this project, which isestimated at $35m. The organizer of the tender was the Ukrainian Gaztransitcompany, which is a branch of the national joint stock company NeftegazUkrainy, the main operator on the Ukrainian fuel market, the Izvestianewspaper reported..