Russian President To Take Part In Inauguration Of Oil Terminal

Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived in Primorsk (Leningrad Region, the Baltic Sea coast) to participate in the inauguration of an oil terminal. The Baltic Pipeline System is one of promising projects being implemented by Russia's energy and transport ministries and the AK Transneft joint stock company. The project provides for the transportation of oil from the Tumano-Pecherskoye oil field, from Western Siberia and the Urals-Volga region via the new Russian oil-handling port on the Baltic Sea. The port's inauguration will enable Russia to open a new route for exporting oil and organise transit transportation of oil exports from other countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States, which meets Russia's strategic and economic interests. The construction of the oil terminal in Primorsk will help redirect to the Russian port 16 million tons of crude oil (24 percent of Russian oil exports carried by sea), which now is transshipped in the Latvian port of Ventspils. The Primorsk port is the terminal end of the 455-kilometre-long Baltic Pipeline System. The system is a unique engineering facility: a 770-metre-long leg of the pipeline was laid on the bed of the Neva River, at a depth of ten metres in a special tunnel having five degrees of protection. Facilities built in Primorsk include ten oil storage reservoirs, each capable of holding 50,000 tons of oil, purification facilities, a fire-fighting system, and a power system. The expediency and efficiency of the project became manifest already during the construction. Latvian operators reduced tariffs on oil transshipment in Ventspils, while the LatRosTrans company cut tariffs on oil transportation via Latvia. The cost of the construction of the first stage of the Baltic Pipeline System is estimated at 460.2 million dollars. Of this, the oil terminal with infrastructure accounts for 162.4 million dollars. The construction is financed by AK Transneft. It has been decided to set up in Primorsk a point for international cargo transportation by sea across Russia's state border.