USA to Join Kiev Energy Summit in May

The United States agreed to join an energy summit in Kiev later this year, a move that supports Ukraine's attempts to arrange alternatives to Russian supplies of crude oil and natural gas.

Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, assured Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko in Davos that the US will participate in the summit in May, according to a report by Yushchenko's press service.

"The secretary of state confirmed the US' participation at a high level at the energy summit" the report said.

The summit is aimed at providing political and business support for the project of moving oil extracted from the Caspian Sea to markets in Ukraine and the European Union, bypassing Russia.

Sending a top US government official to the event significantly increases the profile of the summit, which will include representatives from countries located between the Caspian and Baltic seas, such as Azerbaijan, Georgia, Poland and Lithuania.

Two US oil majors, ExxonMobil and Chevron, are among the biggest producers of Caspian Sea oil that is being extracted in Kazakhstan.

Ukraine wants to arrange alternative routes for oil and gas supplies in order to reduce its near-monopoly dependence on Russia, Ukraine's primary source of energy.

Source: Platts   

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