MOSCOW, August 23 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will reduce the amount of oil it transports through Ukraine from 54 million metric tons to 45 million tons, a Transneft oil company representative told a Russian-Ukrainian energy meeting Tuesday.

The representative said the reduction involves all Ukrainian oil pipelines except the Odessa-Brody pipeline (on the Polish border), which was initially designed to supply Caspian oil to Europe but has instead been used "in reverse mode" since 2004 to transport Russian oil south to the Mediterranean basin.

Russian oil officials are concerned by the many risks associated with the operation of the Odessa-Brody oil pipeline. The Ukranian delegation proposed using of the pipeline "in direct mode" instead of "in reverse mode."

An Industry and Energy Ministry official said the delegations agreed to establish a working group, comprising oil companies and government officials, to discuss the proposal.