Kiev (Platts)--24Jan2008

The United States on Wednesday 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.