Russia to Expand Oil Exports to Growing Asian Economies
Putin’s action started loading oil onto a 100,000-ton tanker at the far east port of Kozmino, east of Vladivostok, launching a much-anticipated new export route to Hong Kong that will help satisfy Asia’s growing need for energy.
The oil had already traveled far just to reach Kozmino, located near Russia’s borders with China and North Korea. Russia’s new East Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) oil pipeline originates in Tayshet, to the northwest of Lake Baikal in Russia’s Irkutsk Oblast. From there, it heads east for nearly 3,000 kilometers before reaching Skovorodino (Amur Oblast) where the fuel is loaded onto a train for the 2,100-kilometer trip to Kozmino.
Russia’s Transneft oil-transport company spent some US$12 billion to build the new oil pipeline and will have to spend another $10 billion to complete the pipeline from Skovorodino to Kozmino. Transneft also spent some $2 billion building a new terminal at Kozmino.
The article later notes that this development will eventually allow Russia to export 30 tons of oil to China annually.
