Transneft to replace oil by diesel fuel in the Baltic pipeline system
Transneft considers possibility to start pumping of oil products via the Baltic pipeline system (BTS), which is used for oil export today. This will allow it to load the pipe’s capacity that is not enough loaded because of competition with port of Ust-Luga. The project is real technically and oil companies and Novorossiysk commercial sea port (joint venture of Transneft and Summa, which owns terminals in the BTS’s final point – port of Primorsk, where volume of oil transshipment falls) are interested in it.
The Baltic pipeline system can start pumping of oil products. As market sources told the Kommersant, Transneft considers possibility to reformat one of BTS’ two strings, via which oil is pumped, into an oil-products pipeline. The idea is discussed now, one of the Kommersant’s sources, who is close to the monopoly, says. Transneft’s representative confirmed this information: “Excess capacity of oil transportation will be used for oil products pumping and this will allow us to optimally load the pipelines and to save funds of the main oil-product pipelines development program”. The volume of oil products supply may be 15 million tons, but the Kommersant’s sources don’t rule out that the capacity will be up to 30 million tons.
BTS connects pipelines with the export pipeline Druzhba and sea terminals – the Primorsk commercial port and Ust-Luga. Its maximal capacity is 75 million tons. But from 2012, after launch of terminals in Ust-Luga, a part of the supplies were reoriented to the new port, where the oil transshipment grew by 64% to 23.3 million tons in 2013; the transshipment in Primorsk fell by 20% to 54.4 million tons.
