Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent
LOS ANGELES, July 10 -- Russian Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko said there will be enough oil for the first phase of his country's East Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline project.
Khristenko said ESPO's Phase 1, expected to be complete by yearend 2008, envisages transportation of as much as 30 million tonnes/year of oil from Tayshet to Skovorodino, on the border with China, an amount equal to current supplies.
So far Russian pipeline monopoly OAO Transneft has built 940 km of the pipeline, whose total projected length is more than 4,770 km.
Khristenko said construction of the Chinese spur from Skovorodino would start after the completion of the project design work. Under the contract, the design work should end 208 days after the first payment from China, which was received in June.
With regard to the project's Phase 2, which will extend from Skovorodino to Russia's Pacific coast, Khristenko said 2007 would be "important" as a "significant number of auctions for new sections will be held this year."
Khristenko made the statements in Beijing where he is taking part in a meeting of the Russian-Chinese subcommittee on energy cooperation.
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