Transneft eager to boost Urals blend's quality through managing oil flows
MOSCOW. Dec 21 (Interfax) - OJSC Transneft plans to stabilize quality of oil and petroleum products in the next five years through managing oil flows, the company's vice-president, Igor Katsal, told the corporate magazine "Oil Pipeline Transport".
He said that the company plans to redirect flows within its system owing to the rise in high-sulphur oil in the Volga and Komi Republic in order to ensure stability of oil and petroleum product quality.
In addition, Transneft plans to introduce a new classification of losses in its trunk pipeline system, as well as revise norms for client's leftover oil, technological leftovers and oil sludge.
Other priority plans include the inclusion of low-sulphur oil (Russian, Kazakh, Turkmen and so forth) in Transneft's system. This oil is usually transported via railway for export, therefore bypassing the company's system.
In addition, the company believes it necessary to improve Urals blend's quality in the next five years for westward exports while ensuring the transparency for the ESPO blend in the east, as well as increase its exports to the North Asian market and boost transport of petroleum products from 30 million tonnes a year to 50 million tonnes a year.