ESPO-2 slated for launch Dec 25
MOSCOW. Dec 19 (Interfax) - Russian oil pipeline company OJSC Transneft plans to put the second line of the Eastern Siberia - Pacific Ocean pipeline (ESPO) oil pipeline into operation on December 25, Transneft told Interfax.
"The official launch date has been agreed as December 25. The procedure will take place in Khabarovsk at the site of the Far East trunk pipelines," Transneft President Nikolai Tokarev said at an ESPO expert group meeting.
ESPO is being constructed to transport oil to the Asia-Pacific region market. The system's first stage from Taishet (Irkutsk region) to Skovorodino and the Kozmino oil loading terminal on the Pacific Coast was commissioned at the end of 2009. Oil is to be shipped by railroad from Skovorodino to the port. The second stage involved building a section from Skovorodino to the Pacific Coast and boosting the terminal's capacity. After ESPO-2 is commissioned, the port's capacity will increase from 15 million tonnes to 30 million tonnes.