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Rosneft to Ship 1.2mln Tonnes of Oil to China Through Kazakhstan

Posted on: Wednesday, 12 October 2005, 21:00 CDT

LONDON. Oct 12 (Interfax) - Russia's state-owned oil producer Rosneft has applied to transport 1.2 million tonnes of oil to China through Kazakhstan in 2006, Sergei Yevlakhov, vice president of the Russian oil pipeline monopoly Transneft, announced in London, according to Bloomberg.

Russian crude could be pumped to Kazakhstan via the Omsk- Pavlodar pipeline, a Tatneft spokesman told Interfax.

In July, 2005, Rosneft, which had bought the Yukos oil company's subsidiary Yuganskneftegaz, the main supplier of oil to China, and China's National China Petroleum Corporation (CNPC,) signed an agreement on long-term cooperation in exploring opportunities to increase Rosneft oil supplies to China.

Rosneft said it would consider using the Atasu-Alalashankou and Taishet-Skovorodino pipelines.

Rosneft currently ships oil to China by railway from regions bordering on China under a deal to supply 48.4 million tonnes to that country until 2010, inclusive, on condition of advanced payment. Rosneft plans to export 4 million tonnes of oil to China in 2005.

First crude will be filled into the Kazakhstan-China (Atasu- Alashankou) oil pipeline on January 1, 2006. The Russian oil company LUKOIL has also shown interest in shipping oil through this pipeline from Kazakh oil field it owns.

The pipeline's annual design handling capacity is 20 million tonnes, with 10 million tonnes to be shipped at the initial stage.

A pipeline linking Kenkiyak and Atyrau with its first phase's annual handling capacity of 6 million tonnes was put into operation in western Kazakhstan in spring 2003. Under reverse operation this pipeline could become the first part of a pipeline linking Kazakhstan and China. The future oil pipeline to connect Kenkiyak and Kumkol, which is to bring western Kazakhstan oil to the border with China, is expected to become the third and final part of the project.

The Taishet-Skovorodino-Perevoznaya project provides for building a pipeline with an annual handling capacity of 30 million tonnes at the first stage, with the simultaneous construction of an oil terminal in Perevoznaya Bay. The pipeline's handling capacity is to be subsequently brought to 80 million tonnes, including 30 million tonnes that will go to China and 50 million tonnes to Perevoznaya, from which it will be further transported to Asian and Pacific consumers.

Source: Daily News Bulletin; Moscow - English

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