Transneft plans to launch the second phase of the Eastern Siberia - Pacific Ocean pipeline (ESPO-2) in the second half of December 2012, the Company’s press release said.
The ESPO Phase 1 has been commissioned three years ago - in December 2009. Today oil companies prefer the route with oil transshipment via Kozmino as the delivery rate there is minimal, the statement said.
The construction of ESPO-2 started on January 14, 2010, two weeks after commissioning of the ESPO-1, when the first oil cargo was loaded onto a Russian tanker at Kozmino port. The ESPO-2 projected capacity will be 30 million tons of crude oil expandable to 50 mln of crude oil a year.
In September, Transneft Deputy Vice-President Igor Katsal said the company had planned to transport in 2013 roughly about 20-21 million of oil via ESPO-2 network. He noted that the oil volumes to fill the system are purchased in accordance with the schedule.
Moscow-based Transneft is the state-owned Russian company responsible for the national oil pipelines. Transneft owns the largest oil pipeline system in the world, with a total network length of nearly 50,000 km. The company transports about 93% of the oil extracted in Russia.