Pipeliners

TALAKAN (Yakutia), October 4 (RIA Novosti) - A 1,100 km leg of the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) oil pipeline was opened Saturday in Russia's Far Eastern republic of Yakutia. Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko, Yakutian President Vyacheslav Shtyrov and the heads of pipeline operator Transneft and the Surgutneftegaz oil company Nikolai Tokarev and Vladimir Bogdanov, respectively, took part in the ceremony inaugurating the Talakan-Taishet section. "The ESPO oil pipeline network starts its life today," Sechin said. "A year before the entire ESPO system becomes operational, East Siberian oil is entering Russian pipelines," he added, describing the event as a "great victory." Transneft CEO Tokarev said the pipeline would boost socio-economic development in remote provinces. "This [pipeline] will make it possible to strengthen Russia's foothold on global oil markets," the Yakutian president said. "This also means that large oil and gas provinces will be developed." The ESPO pipeline is designed to pump up to 1.6 million barrels of crude per day from Siberia to Russia's Far East and then onto China and the Asia-Pacific region.