Pipeliners

MOSCOW, January 26 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian federal supervisory body failed to reach a final decision January 25 on the first phase of the project to build the Far East oil pipeline, a member of an environmental commission said Thursday. The Federal Service for the Oversight of the Environment, Technology and Nuclear Management did not approve a critical environmental impact report on the Far East oil pipeline, which is expected to cost $11.5 billion. Gennady Chegasov said the report cited 80% of the members of the state environmental commission as saying the pipeline should not be laid close to Lake Baikal, the deepest fresh water lake in the world. According to a feasibility study prepared by Transneft, Russia's state-owned oil pipeline monopoly, the pipeline is to be built within 800 meters of the lake. Transneft presented the feasibility study to the federal service for consideration January 24. The supervisory body was either to approve or reject the document the following day, Chegasov said. He cited seismic hazards (from magnitude 10 on the Richter scale) as reasons behind the commission's negative assessment of the project. Moreover, he said the feasibility study did not mention the possible environmental impact of a fire or any other accident that could affect the pipeline and did not contain any related figures. The pipeline is to transport about 9,000 metric tons of oil an hour, Chegasov said. "This is the amount of oil that would spill into the lake in the event of an accident." Chegasov also said, "The feasibility study does not prove that revenues will account for expenses related to the aftermath of a possible accident." He said a new expert group might be set up. "I am not ruling out that a new commission will be set up to make a favorable report," the expert said. He added that the report was not legally binding unless it was approved by the federal service. Environmentalist Irina Maximova said the study did not feature associated natural gas. "The gas aspect has not been addressed at all, as if it did not exist, but there are huge reserves of [associated] gas there," she said, suggesting that the associated gas might be burned. Chegasov said he thought no decision had been adopted on the matter since certain interest groups did not like the findings. The Far East pipeline, which will be the longest in the world, is of great economic and political importance for Russia. It will stretch as far as the Pacific Ocean and pump oil, primarily, to Japan and China.