Eric Watkins
OGJ Oil Diplomacy Editor
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 12 -- Russian authorities said all of the onshore and offshore facilities for oil exports have been finished at the Port of Kozmino—the planned terminus of the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline, now under construction.
The facilities approved include a 430-m oil pier, two harbor fleet piers with mooring posts for tankers, 17 km of process pipelines, and 250 km of cable utility lines.
Also completed at the site were a booster pumping station, oil quantity and quality metering stations, an oil specimens storage, and a drainage water accumulating tank.
The facilities also include a seawater intake pumping station, a cutoff valve control chamber, and nine transit onshore navigation marks to determine a ship’s location.
Altogether, 495 m of the shoreline were consolidated and a passage station, an oceanographic building, a fire extinguishing network, and 20 searchlight pylons have been built. Two tug boats already have arrived at the port and will assist with the handling of up to 500 tankers a year.
News of the port coincided with an announcement that the first trains carrying more than 8,000 tonnes of oil left the railway station at Skovorodino, endpoint of the first stage of the ESPO, for delivery on to Kozmino.
“We plan to transport additionally 13,200 tonnes of oil from a big oil storage facility that was built in Skovorodino to the Kozmino seaport in the Primorye Territory,” a railroad official said.
Oil is supplied to Skovorodino from Yakutia, according to a representative of the Vostokneftetrans company, who added, “In November, the company plans to deliver to Kozmino only process oil that is necessary for the operation of infrastructure facilities of the oil port.”
He said, “In the middle of December, our clients will receive the first batch of oil for its further transshipment to tankers,” noting that under the project, 15 million tonnes/year of oil will be transported by rail tankers to Kozmino from Skovorodino.
The ESPO line is being constructed in two phases. Under Phase 1, a 2,694-km line links Taishet and Skovorodino, while Phase 2 entails a line extending a further 2,000 km from Skovorodino to Kozmino. Until Phase 2 is completed, oil will be delivered to Kozmino by rail.
Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].
Map from Canada Energy Regulator.
