March 22, 2012 [Interfax] - This month is to see three consignments of oil moved through the terminal at Ust-Luga in a test mode - oil delivered by the second line of the Baltic Pipeline System (BPS-2), a source familiar with the situation told Interfax.
One tanker will be loaded with Surgutneftegas oil and two others with oil supplied by TNK-BP, the source said. There could be up to ten consignments loaded in test regime next month, the source added.
As reported, Surgutneftegas announced a tender for one tanker consignment of 100,000 tonnes of oil to be delivered March 21-22 from the terminal at Ust-Luga. Russian oil pipeline company OJSC Transneft said it was prepared to dispatch the first tanker March 22.
The results of the test shipments will be submitted to the Federal Ecological, Technological and Nuclear Oversight Agency (Rostekhnadzor) for analysis before regular shipments begin. Expectations are that regular terminal operations will kick off in April or May.
The launch of the new BPS-2 oil pipeline was planned for December of last year. The end point of the terminal is the Ust-Luga oil terminal, which is being built by Rosneftbunker (RNB). However, in the summer dredging work at the port was stopped by Russian technical standards watchdog Rostekhnadzor because of defects at the port’s quayside. Transneft was asked to coordinate the work to address the problems. It was reported later that the system might be ready for commissioning in early February. That timeframe was then moved to March.
The linear part of the BPS-2 is 1,000 kilometers. Capacity at the first stage of BPS-2 is 30 mil-lion tonnes per year. The pipeline is expected to have 20 million tonnes of oil pumped through it in 2012. The second part of the BPS-2 project envisages an increase in oil transportation to 38 million tonnes per year. This second part is to be completed in December 2013. Phase one of the BPS, designed to transport oil from the Timano-Pechora and West-Siberian oil and gas provinces and Kazakhstan with a capacity of 12 million tonnes per year was launched in December 2011. Current capacity is 76.5 million tonnes. Shipments are made via Primorsk Port in Leningrad region.
Rosneftbunker was established in 1997 to build the Ust-Luga oil terminal. The sole shareholder was Zarubezhneft subsidiary Neftegazinkor, but at the end of 2008 Rosneftbunker was sold to Gunvor oil trader structure Capefar Limited, an offshore company based in Cyprus.
The BPS-2 project aims to enable reliable oil supplies for Europe.
