A Reversal for Odessa-Brody»

According to the Ukrainian news agency UNIAN, an anonymous source in the Fuel and Energy Ministry stated that Ukrainian Fuel and Energy Minister Serhiy Yermilov had been dismissed by President Leonid Kuchma.

The ministry has not officially confirmed this, the agency said. Another anonymous source was quoted as saying that Yermilov will be replaced with Serhiy Tulub, the president of the state nuclear energy company Enerhoatom. The company told UNIAN it did not have any official information on the matter.

MP Oleksandr Hudyma, a member of the parliamentary committee for fuel and energy, said in an interview with UNIAN that Yermilov's reported dismissal would benefit Russian companies which are lobbying for the use the Odessa-Brody oil pipeline to carry Russian crude instead of Caspian oil. Ukrainian government decided on 4 February that the pipeline will be used to pump Caspian oil to Europe, but Hudyma said Russian companies continue lobbying for the reverse use of the pipeline to transport Russian oil to the port of Odessa.