Shipments of crude oil from Varandey Oil Terminal in January-February plummeted by 2.6 times from last year’s figure, to 348,000 tons, the Arkhangelsk Port Authority said.
In February, Russia exported through the offshore facility 139,100 tons of petroleum.
Varandey oil export terminal is designed for exports of oil extracted by LUKOIL in Timan-Pechora oil and gas province.
In 2008, oil exports through Varandey totaled 1.7 mln tons, in 2009 - 7.5 mln tons, in 2010 - 7.44 mln tons, in 2011 - 3.91 million tons.
The fixed offshore ice resistant oil export terminal (FOIROT) comprises the following facilities: onshore tank farm with the total rated capacity of 325,000 cubic meters; fixed offshore ice resistant oil terminal located 22 km offshore; two underwater pipelines, 820 mm in diameter, connecting the onshore tank battery and the FOIROT, other production facilities.
The oil cargo is transported by 20,000dwt shuttle tankers to the Murmansk FSO vessel Belokamenka for further transshipment onto large-tonnage tankers.
The Varandey project was implemented by LUKOIL jointly with ConocoPhillips. The crude oil is exported mainly to the U.S. and Canada market.