Russian railway's oil shipments to China up

Feb. 16, 2006
Russian Railways subsidiary East Siberian Railway increased shipments of crude oil to China by 42.8% year-on-year to more than 790,000 tonnes in January.

Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 16 -- Russian Railways subsidiary East Siberian Railway increased shipments of crude oil to China by 42.8% year-on-year to more than 790,000 tonnes in January.

ESR said it transported 590,800 tonnes of crude oil through the Zabaikalsk border crossing (up 98% year-on-year) and 199,400 tonnes through Naushki (down 22%).

Meanwhile, ESR is holding talks with operator companies to transport oil to China through Naushki, as OAO Yukos—currently the main supplier through Naushki—may reduce supplies to China to 1.8 million tonnes in 2006, down from 2.4 million tonnes in 2005.

ESR plans to transport as much as 15 million tonnes of oil to China in 2006, almost double the volume in 2005.

Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].