Pipeliners

MOSCOW, February 4 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian government's decision to construct a Taishet - Pacific Ocean oil pipeline will make oil delivery to the oil refineries in the Khabarovsk Territory more reliable and will benefit the entire Russian Far East, Rosneft head Sergei Bogdanchikov said during a meeting with Khabarovsk Territory Governor Viktor Ishayev. "As to the possibility of directing the future oil pipeline towards De Kastri in the Khabarovsk Territory, one should keep in mind that this port has an oil exporting infrastructure, and therefore the project' developers should attentively study that variant, taking into consideration that it is 1,000 kilometers shorter than that to the Perevoznaya Harbor in the Maritime Territory," the Khabarovsk Territory press service quoted Mr. Bogdanchikov as saying. The sea terminal in De Kastri can handle 12.5 million tons of oil annually, and it has been designed for building an oil pipeline 600 mm in diameter and 221 kilometers long. On the last day of 2004, Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov signed a resolution for the creation of an Eastern Siberia - Pacific Ocean pipe system with a total annual capacity of 80 million tons of oil, or 1.6 million barrels a day. The oil pipeline's construction cost is estimated at between $11 billion - $14.5 billion, i.e. between $2.6 million - $2.9 million per kilometer. In accordance with the Russian government's decision of December 2004 after May 1 of this year, raising the construction's economic efficiency may be proposed.