Construction of East Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline
Photo: ÈÒÀÐ-ÒÀÑÑ
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Pulling Over the Pipeline
Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev committed Transneft CEO Nikolay Tokarev and Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko to ensure the scheduled inauguration of East Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline, putting it into the operation till the end of 2008. The conflict in the government is imminent - the highlight of this week’s meeting at Vice Premier Sergei Naryshkin is exactly shelving the project’s deadline till the end of 2009.
Deliberations on the dates of the ESPO’s launch are turning into the government’s conflict. On the eve of this issue’s consideration at Vice Premier Sergei Naryshkin, First Vice Premier Dmitry Medvedev, who is also the official candidate at the presidential elections in Russia, demanded that the pipeline should be commissioned in line with the schedule, i.e. in late 2008.
The top-ranked bureaucrat came up with his demand after the first official statement of Transneft about its inability to implement the project sooner than at the end of 2009.
Medvedev committed Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko and Transneft CEO Nikolay Tokarev to take all required efforts and complete the first stage of the pipeline in 2008. So, the government will hold two discussions on one and the same subject this week. Deliberations on proposal of Industry and Energy Ministry about shelving the pipeline’s launch till the end of 2009 have been slated for this week as well.
The 2,700-kilometer ESPO pipeline is being laid from the Irkutsk region’s Taishet to Skovorodino, the Amur region. From Skovorodino, the oil will be shipped either to China or to Kozmino bay of the Pacific Ocean, where an oil handling terminal will be constructed by the end of 2008. ESPO’s capacity is estimated at 30 million tons.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Feb. 11, 2008
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