E. Siberia-Pacific oil line changes studied

Feb. 16, 2006
Russian oil pipeline monopoly Transneft and natural resource watchdog Rosprirodnadzor are jointly considering an alternative site for an oil export terminal as part of the proposed Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline project.

Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 16 -- Russian oil pipeline monopoly Transneft and natural resource watchdog Rosprirodnadzor are jointly considering an alternative site for an oil export terminal as part of the proposed Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline project.

Transneft Pres. Semyon Vainshtok said Kozmino Bay, close to Nakhodka, is currently being considered instead of Perevoznaya Bay.

"According to Natural Resource Ministry information, some additional figures have been received about the negative ecological situation in the area of Perevoznaya Bay," Vainshtok said. "If this is confirmed, we do not plan to dig our heels in and are ready to reconsider the end point of the pipeline."

A Transneft-Rosprirodnadzor working group has carried out additional full-scale research of the proposed terminal sites on the shore of the Sea of Japan, and a final decision will be reached when this work is finished, Vainshtok said.

Meanwhile, Transneft's project to build the Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline system near Lake Baikal is to be carefully studied by the ecological safety and environmental protection commission of Russia's new Public Chamber.

"We will request information on this issue from Rostekhnadzor and will return to this topic again and again," said Chairman Vladimir Zakharov at the first meeting of the commission on Feb 13.

He acknowledged that the Transneft pipeline project is necessary but said it has not received sufficient ecological scrutiny.

Another commission member, World of Wildlife Russia Director Igor Chestin, said Transneft provided only one option to build the pipeline. The law requires at least two options.

Chamber members fear the pipeline wouldn't be able to withstand earthquakes possible in the area of the lake.

In addition, Chestin said, the Transneft pipeline network is subject to up to 600 illegal incisions and oil thefts per year, which result in oil spills.

According to UNESCO, the 3.15-million-ha Lake Baikal is the oldest (25 million years) and deepest (1,700 m) lake in the world. It contains 20% of the world's total unfrozen freshwater.

Known as the "Galapagos of Russia," the lake's age and isolation have produced one of the world's richest and most unusual freshwater faunas, which is of exceptional value to evolutionary science.

Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].