Transneft Adopts Plan for Oil Pipeline Bypassing Belarus
MOSCOW. Feb 5 (Interfax) – The technical board of Russian state oil pipeline operator Transneft (RTS: TRNF) approved on Monday a plan for an oil export route bypassing Belarus, Transneft President Semyon Vainshtok said.
Russia suspended its oil exports to Europe through the Druzhba pipeline, which crosses Belarus, from January 8 to January 11, after Belarus refused to let Russian oil through without Russia paying a transit duty.
Russia resumed exports on full scale after signing an agreement with Belarus.
During the row, Russian Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko said Russia might reroute its oil exports by skirting Belarus. This would involve increasing the capacity of the Baltic Pipeline System to 110 million tonnes from today’s 75 million tonnes in two to three years’ time.
A bypass pipeline to be laid under Monday’s plan would link Unecha, a town near the Belarusian border in Bryansk region, to Primorsk, a Baltic coast town not far from St. Petersburg. It would have an initial annual capacity of 50 million tonnes, Vainshtok told Russian television.
It would be part of the Baltic Pipeline System.
“On February 9-15 we will be presenting the project in the regions of Bryansk, Leningrad, Pskov, and Novgorod. After these presentations, on the 12th, 896 explorers are to leave for the proposed route of [the pipeline]. We will have deadlines as tight as possible as regards designing and construction under this fairly difficult project,” he said.
“We have not yet determined how much it will cost. But it can be said even now that it will be very expensive. My colleagues and I have been discussing this – if we didn’t run such risks with neighboring states, we wouldn’t have to spend this amount of money,” Vainshtok said.
“Oil companies will use this pipeline but will not pay for its construction. Transneft expects to build it on borrowed money,” he said.
“We have looked at the length of the proposed route and today’s route. The new one will be even somewhat shorter for consumers in Poland and Germany, so oil companies won’t have to pay more,” Vainshtok said.
European countries would have to expand their oil import infrastructures when the pipeline comes into existence, he said. “But they did want to look for alternative sources of oil, and there are no alternative onshore routes, so they will be offshore in any case,” he added.
Asked whether Transneft would stop using the Druzhba pipeline when the new pipeline is launched, he said: “It cannot be ruled out that this is exactly what will happen. At any rate, oil companies would have a choice.”
(c) 2007 Daily News Bulletin; Moscow – English. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.