Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 1 – The Russian government plans to build a port to export oil and gas from fields off Sakhalin Island.
Transportation Minister Igor Levitin said the port, planned for the village of Ilyinsky on Sakhalin Island, will be linked to two trunk pipelines, one for crude oil and the other for gas. He said the arrangement will cut the number of pipelines crossing the island.
As a result, there will be lower transportation costs as well as fewer environmental impacts, he said, adding that the total cost of the Ilyinsky port will be 10-15% less than the transportation infrastructure for the Sakhalin-1 and Sakhalin-2 projects.
Ilyinsky port will be open year-round to shipping, without the need for icebreakers, unlike the port of De-Kastri, which in the ice season requires two icebreakers for every 100,000-tonne tanker shipment.
The project will require investment of 82 billion rubles, according to expert estimates. The figure includes roughly 37 billion rubles in state investment and 45 billion rubles from other sources.
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