Pipeliners

MOSCOW, May 16 (RIA Novosti) - Transneft has allocated 850 million rubles, or 17% of its net 2004 profits, to study the feasibility of constructing an oil pipeline on the Arctic Ocean's bottom that could export oil to the United States, Vedomosti, a daily, reported. State-run Transneft monopolizes all Russian trunk pipelines. Transneft Vice-president Sergei Grigoryev confirmed corporate plans, noting that the pipeline will stretch from Kharyaga in the Komi Republic to Indiga in the White Sea. The new pipeline would pump 24 million tons of oil per year and requires about $2.2 billion to complete. Grigoryev said he was sure that Transneft could implement this project on a par with the Eastern Siberian oil pipeline, which will cost an estimated $11.5 billion. There has been discussion of constructing an Arctic oil pipeline toward the Barents Sea coast for several years. Russian oil giants like LUKOIL, Yukos, TNK, Sibneft and Surgutneftegaz suggested building a pipeline toward Murmansk on the east shore of the Kola Bay in the Barents Sea. However, federal officials did not like the idea of building a private oil pipeline. Transneft then suggested working out a Western Siberian - Barents Sea coast pipeline route. Bureaucrats took their time in choosing between the Arctic pipeline and the Eastern Siberian pipeline and decided to build the Taishet - Pacific pipeline in late 2004. The Kharyaga - Indiga pipeline is a scaled-down version of the initial Arctic pipeline. It is much cheaper because it can be built with the Eastern Siberian pipeline, Valery Nesterov, an analyst with Troika Dialog brokerage said. The Western Siberia - Indiga pipeline, he said, would cost some $5.6-6.2 billion. And the Murmansk pipeline would cost about $11.8 billion. According to Nesterov, the Arctic and Eastern Siberian oil pipelines could be commissioned before 2010. And he expects this route to be popular with oil tycoons. LUKOIL and Rosneft, which are developing the Timano-Pechora deposits, are interested in this route, as are Surgutneftegaz and TNK-BP.