21 Feb 2023 16:21

Transneft planning to transship 40 mln tonnes of oil via Kozmino in 2023

MOSCOW. Feb 21 (Interfax) - Transneft expects to transship at least 40 million tonnes of oil via the Kozmino port in 2023.

"Some 40 million tonnes went through Kozmino in 2022, and this year, we plan at least that amount," company president Nikolai Tokarev told journalists.

He did not rule out a possible increase in the volume of transshipment.

"We are taking all necessary measures; the freight train station has been reactivated, and negotiations are underway with the railroad, as to what volumes they could manage to deliver there today. There will be an increase in Kozmino; but how much is still a question," Tokarev said.

Kozmino is the end-point of the Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline system. The port has a design capacity of 30 million tonnes of oil, and it handled 42 million tonnes in 2022.

"Kozmino is being utilized fully today. We have done everything promptly in order to generate an increase in transshipment volumes in the near future. We essentially increased it by 12 million tonnes, almost in a year. Design capacity at Kozmino is 30 million tonnes; today we are on track to transship 42 million tonnes by the end of this year. We took a number of technological measures, which were implemented very quickly and made it possible to increase export volumes. We optimized technological processes of mooring. And we used an additional drag-reducing agent. We reactivated the railroad station, which was once used by ESPO-1; if necessary it will allow us to add another 7 million tonnes," Tokarev said at the end of December last year.