August 5, 2016 [OPIS] - Russian Transneft is presently reconstructing various oil depots and berths at its oil terminal Primorsk on the eastern shores of the Gulf of Finland as part of a major revamp to prepare for a boost in oil product deliveries through the Sever pipe system to as high as 25 million mt/year (500,000 b/d), the oil pipeline monopoly said in a recent project update.
The Sever trunkline, which also undergoes expansion, links refineries on the Kstovo-Yaroslavl-Kirishi route with shipping facilities at Primorsk in the Vyborg district near St. Petersburg, enabling exporters to bypass traditional Baltic transit points.
An EU study put pipeline throughputs by early 2014 at 235,000 b/d, equating about half of Russian-sourced refined product imports into Europe at that time.
The Baltic terminal project is presently in its second implementation stage (“Sever-25”), following an initial phase increasing diesel deliveries up to 15 million mt/y (“Sever-15”).
Two 50,000-cbm vertical floating-roof tanks have been overhauled in oil depot no. 1, allowing them to receive diesel, the group said, after building and assembling three facilities last year and laying relevant industrial pipelines.
Present reconstruction works — in the main stage of Sever-25 — concern oil depots no. 1 and 2 (oil products), a number of berths (no. 3, 4; no. 1, 2, 6, 7; no. 8, 9, 10), building of an oil quantity and quality measuring system as well as the assembly of industrial pipelines, a power supply system and an automation system.
The port’s tank farm consists of 18 steel tanks of 50,000-cbm each with floating roofs and five emergency discharge tanks (two 3,000 cbm and three 5,000 cbm) with a combined rated capacity of 921,000 cbm, of which 657,000 cbm can be used to store oil, based on Transneft Primorsk Port figures.
There are four cargo berths with 16 loading arms where four tankers with a deadweight up to 90,000 dwt and 150,000 dwt, respectively, and a draft up to 15.5 meters can dock.
Russian fields produced in the first quarter 135.4 million mt of oil, 3.4% more than a year earlier, while refinery output eased 2.2% on-year to 31.1 million mt, according to Transneft, whose turnover is volume-driven.
