The port of Ust-Luga expects arrivals of twenty oil tankers this May, the UL Company official said Wednesday.
Alexander Golovizin, UL Company Deputy CEO speaking at the roundtable discussion on the sidelines of the exhibition "TransRussia" in Moscow said that currently, the tankers make calls to the Rosneftebunker oil products terminal and the Baltic Pipeline System (BPS-2) Phase 2 oil terminal.
First shipment of oil from the UL BPS-2 terminal was on March 23, 2012. The terminal’s first phase capacity is 30 million tons of crude oil a year, at the second phase the facility will be able to transship up to 38 million t / y. The Phase 2 project completion is scheduled for December 2013.
The project Baltic Pipeline System-2 is being implemented in line with the Russian Government’s order (November 26, 2008). Transneft has constructed the 1000 km pipeline, five pumping stations (PS), reconstructed existing pumping stations - "Unecha" and "Andreapol," and completed Ust-Luga Oil Depot with tank farm of 8 tanks of capacity of 50000 cbm each. The first crude oil was supplied through the network to the port of Primorsk, which now handles about 74 million tons of crude oil a year, which is one-third of all crude exports from Russia. Further development of the Baltic Pipeline System is aimed at diversifying the crude oil exports from the country. This will also reduce transit risks during the commodity transportation to foreign markets.
The terminal owned and constructed by Rosneftbunker (a business unit of the oil trader Gunvor) started operating in test mode on January 31, 2011, when the first 47,125DWT tanker docked at the terminal to be loaded with 44,000 tons of fuel oil. In 2011, the facility handled 6.47 million tons of oil. The overall project cost is valued roughly about RUB 26 billion.
Port of Ust-Luga is located on Russia’s border with the EU. Now, Rosmorport is implementing the port’s dredging project to deepen the harbor and a 3.7km approach canal to 17.5 meters. The port is expected to become the only Russian port on the Baltic Sea capable of accommodating 75,000dwt bulkers and 120,000dwt tankers.