MINSK, 30 April (BelTA) – The new Gomel-Gorki trunk line will help connect two Belarusian oil refineries and improve the logistics for alternative oil supplies, BelTA learned from spokesperson for the Belarusian state petrochemical concern Belneftekhim Aleksandr Tishchenko.
“The Gomel-Gorki trunk line will connect Mozyr Oil Refinery and Naftan. It will enable the plants to exchange resources. The pipeline will be built with the prospect of using raw material supplies in the southern direction from Odessa or reverse supplies from Poland,” said Aleksandr Tishchenko.
The Druzhba oil pipeline is divided to the northern and southern branches near the border of Belarus. The future trunk line will connect the two branches on the territory of Belarus.
“The southern branch has always been associated with the Mozyr Oil Refinery only. Naftan could receive alternative oil only by rail. With the new project implemented, it will be possible to use the southern branch for alternative supplies to Naftan,” said the spokesman.
As for reverse supplies from Poland, the new trunk line will make it possible to supply alternative oil, including to Naftan, Aleksandr Tishchenko added. Mozyr Oil Refinery currently has such an advantage.
As BelTA reported earlier, an investment project to build the Gomel-Gorki trunk line will be implemented in 2020-2023 to diversify oil import to Belarus. Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko signed the relevant executive order on 29 April. OAO Gomeltransneft Druzhba is the customer for the services of designing and building the trunk line. The industrial group Belorusneft is the general design company and the general contractor for the project.