LUKOIL (LKOH.MM), Russia`s
second-largest oil producer, has stopped oil product output at its
Odessa refinery in Ukraine due to crude shortages, a company spokesman
said on Friday, according to Reuters.
"Oil
products output has stopped," the spokesman, Dmitry Dolgov, said,
adding that the company was preparing a statement to clarify its
position.
On Thursday, market sources said crude deliveries to
the Odessa refinery were halted on Oct. 1, as Ukrainian state pipeline
operator Ukrtransnafta refused to supply crude to the refinery via the
Kremenchug-Odessa pipeline. [ID:nL1604033]
Ukrtransnafta said on
Friday it had proposed LUKOIL change supply routes to Odessa, citing
"national interests" and the need to feed Ukraine`s Kremenchug
refinery, owned by Ukrtatnafta.
LUKOIL has argued that alternative supply routes would complicate the refining economics.
In 2007, Russia stopped crude supplies to Kremenchug after a dispute over management of the refinery.
