Ukraine has invited Polish oil company PKN Orlen (PKN.WA) to help build a new refinery to process crude from Azerbaijan, daily Rzeczpospolita reports Wednesday, citing company sources.
Orlen Deputy President Cezary Filipowicz told the daily the company had received a preliminary invitation to consider participating in the project, the cost of which could reach $5 billion.
The new refinery would be part of Ukraine's long-gestated plan to link up the existing Odessa-Brody oil pipeline to the Polish system, and would lessen Ukraine's reliance on oil imports from Russia while allowing low-cost transport of Azeri crude from the Black Sea to the Baltic port of Gdansk.
According to the daily, Ukrainian officials are proposing the new refinery be built as a joint venture between Orlen and Azeri state-owned oil company Socar.
PKN Orlen Chief Executive Wojciech Heydel told Rzeczpospolita the company's main focus remains on Ukraine as a wholesale and retail market for refined products.