Transneft opens two oil storage tanks of 50,000 cubic meters each at Khabarovsk Oil Pumping Station

KHABAROVSK. Dec 5 (Interfax) - Transneft commissioned two oil storage tanks with capacities of 50,000 cubic meters each at Oil Pumping Station No. 34 in Khabarovsk, an Interfax correspondent reported from the launch ceremony.

"The ESPO-2 pipeline system has reached its maximum design capacity. Currently, production is working to modernize the main pipeline infrastructure to increase the safety and trouble-free operation of the system as a whole. Today we are launching two RVS-50000 tanks. Now the station will be equipped with four similar tanks," Chief Engineer for Transneft Far East Andrei Zvaigzne told reporters on Tuesday.

There is a similar project in process in the Primorsky Territory at oil pumping station No. 41, with the commissioning of the tanks planned for 2024, he said.

"The height of the tanks is 18 meters, the diameter is 60 meters. The volume is 50,000 cubic meters. The tanks are of the RVSPK type; a vertical steel tank with a floating roof. This technology allows us to minimize oil evaporation, as well as prevent the release of vapors into the atmosphere, which allows for the operation of the equipment and transportation of oil in the most environmentally friendly way," Zvaigzne said.

Earlier it was reported that Transneft planned to increase the capacity of tank farms PS-34 in the Khabarovsk Territory and PS-41 (No. 41 in front of the Kozmino port sea terminal) in the Primorsky Territory. The volume of the tank farm of these stations will increase by 100,000 cubic meters each. The construction will improve the reliability of oil transportation for export through the Kozmino oil terminal in the Primorsky Territory, as well as to the Komsomolsky and Khabarovsk Oil Refineries.

The ESPO main oil pipeline section from the Skovorodino pumping station to the port of Kozmino, from where oil travels to international markets, was brought to its maximum design capacity of 50 million tonnes per year in 2019. Transneft expects to transship at least 40 million tonnes of oil through the port of Kozmino in 2023.