Transneft to Hold Presentation Ceremony for Espo Second Phase in Khabarovsk

KHABAROVSK. Feb 28 (Interfax) – Transneft (RTS: TRNF) plans to hold a presentation ceremony for the second phase of the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline system in Khabarovsk on March 5, 2008, the Khabarovsk territorial administration told Interfax with a reference to Transneft President Nikolai Tokarev.

“Concerned organizations and institutions in the Khabarovsk territory will have the chance to get firsthand information concerning the project, including the construction volumes, investments, and the route of the pipeline,” Tokarev said at a meeting with Khabarovsk territory Governor Viktor Ishayev on Thursday.

The design work on the second phase of the ESPO will start in March this year, Tokarev said. By 2014-2015, the pipeline’s capacity should be raised to 80 million tonnes a year, he said.

The ESPO pipeline system is being built to ship oil from Siberian fields to the Asian-Pacific region. The project is being carried out in two stages.

In the first phase, a 2,400-kilometer pipeline will stretch between Taishet in the Irkutsk region and Skovorodino and an oil terminal with the capacity to handle 30 million tonnes a year.

It is planned that oil should be delivered from Skovorodino to the Pacific coast by rail.

In the second phase, a pipe line linking Skovorodino and the Kozmino port terminal will be built.

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