Two ESPO pipeline sections approved; work begun

Jan. 25, 2007
Projects to build two sections of the East Siberia Pacific Ocean (ESPO) oil pipeline meet the requirements of Russia's environmental safety and protection laws, according to Konstantin Pulikovsky, director of Russia's environmental watchdog Rostekhnadzor.

Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 25 -- Projects to build two sections of the East Siberia Pacific Ocean (ESPO) oil pipeline meet the requirements of Russia's environmental safety and protection laws, according to Konstantin Pulikovsky, director of Russia's environmental watchdog Rostekhnadzor.

Pulikovsky said the first project, under the Angara River at the 273.1-313 km sector of the ESPO pipeline network, meets the nation's environmental laws, as does a second project to build an underwater section in the Ust-Ilim reservoir at the 457.3-460.4 km section.

The ESPO project involves construction of a 30-million tonne/year pipeline from Taishet in Eastern Siberia to Skovorodino on Russia 's border with China.

Plans call for later extension of the pipeline and construction of an export terminal at Kozmino on Russia's Pacific Coast, with throughput rising to 80 million tonnes/year.

Officials have announced completion of the first 1.2 km of pipe in the advance section of the pipeline around Lake Baikal—a main concern of environmentalists. The pipeline's 535-km advance section is intended to link Talakan oil and gas field to Ust-Kut in Irkutsk region.

Russia's state-owned pipeline firm OAO Transneft plans to step up assembly and construction of this link by the end of January, according to Sergei Sergeyev, a first deputy general director of the ESPO Project Management Center (PMC).

Two pumping stations also will be constructed on the system this year. Construction will start in February on Station No. 4 in the village of Rechushka in the Nizhny Ilim district in Irkutsk region.

A contractor will be selected in March or early April to build Pump Station No. 8 about 80 km from Kirensk in Irkutsk.

PMC plans to complete most pipeline construction operations in second quarter 2008, to start the pipeline's diagnostics in third quarter 2008, and to undertake hydraulic tests and install computer systems, communication devices, and electrical equipment.

Sergeyev said 563 km of pipe has been delivered for the Taishet-Ust-Kut section of the pipeline, and Transneft has already constructed 527 km of that line.

Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].