RZD pledges to permit no interruptions in Transneft exports through Kozmino
MOSCOW. Aug 3 (Interfax) - OJSC Russian Railways (RZD) will not allow a disruption in Russian oil pipeline company OJSC Transneft's export shipments through the port of Kozmino, RZD President Vladimir Yakunin told the press on Friday.
"We promise shipment in those amounts required for Transneft to meet its obligations," Yakunin said.
Now, the RZD chief said, railway logjams are causing difficulties for stations that Transneft uses. "We have reported this more than once, that it is necessary to remove excess [rolling stock on approaches to the port] by at least 1,500 railcars," Yakunin said. "We need, at the very least, two weeks in order to effect the removal," he said.
There are 10,000 freight cars in need of unloading on the approaches to Kozmino, Yakunin said. "This is precisely the number needed to serve arriving tankers," he said.
On Wednesday, due to large accumulations of railcars at the Khmylovsky crossing of the Far Eastern Railway, oil loading under the Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) project was halted. According to RZD, there were over 4,350 empty car cisterns assigned to Skovorodino on the range of the Far Eastern and Transbaikal railroads, as well as 800 tankers awaiting processing at the Gruzovaya station. Meanwhile, the required amount does not exceed 3,000-3,500 railcars. This endangered the execution of oil export plans through the Kozmino port, which is the endpoint of ESPO.
RZD's Far Eastern branch said on Wednesday that oil unloading was put to a stop due to an untimely formulation of transport documents. Transneft, in turn, said that the problem had arisen due to RZD having imposed a limit on oil shipments from the Gruzovaya station adjacent to the Khmylovsky station.
"We are not fit for these limits. We need to supply roughly 12 trains a day for discharge, and now the number of trains has fallen sharply, to seven or eight a day. Tanker transport to Kozmino is under threat," a Transneft representative said.
Transneft threatened that it would complain against RZD at the Russian Federal Anti-Monopoly Service (FAS) if the situation is not resolved in the near future.
