Pipeliners

STRELNA, July 17 (RIA Novosti) - Russia and Japan agreed Monday on a project to build the East Siberia-Pacific oil pipeline, the Japanese premier said rounding up a G8 summit in St. Petersburg. "Russia and Japan agreed to cooperate on the pipeline from East Siberia to the Pacific," Junichiro Koizumi said. "It will be a mutually advantageous project." The pipeline is slated to pump up to 80 million metric tons of crude a year (1.6 mln bbl/d) from Siberia to Russia's Far East, which will then be exported to the Asia-Pacific region with a branch going to energy-hungry China. The first stage of the project will connect Taishet in the Irkutsk Region to Skovorodino in the Amur Region in the Far East. The cost of the first stage was initially estimated at $6.5 billion. Koizumi said the cooperation between the two countries' governments and businessmen was crucial for the project. Japanese Prime Minister's words were supported by the Russian Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko who said Japan has offered to invest in oil production in Siberia in exchange for the speeding up of the construction of the Siberia-Pacific pipeline. "The decision has been taken to build the first part of the pipeline and the terminal," Khristenko said, quoted by AFX. The Russian minister added, however, that the decision on the second part of the pipeline will be taken "when we have more information on the (oil) resources available in East Siberia".