Rosneft Oil Co. OJSC (Moscow, Russia) has announced plans to develop a USD 14 billion petrochemical refinery in the Primorye region of Russia off the Pacific Coast. Crude oil for the project will be supplied from the new East Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) oil pipeline. The refinery will be built in two phases, with the first phase scheduled for commissioning in 2012 and the second by 2017. The first phase will have a capacity to process 47 million barrels per year of oil, equivalent to 20 million tons per year. Construction is likely to start by September. The company plans to approach the board for project approval within the next six months after the ongoing feasibility study is complete. A market analysis for insights into trends, demand and sales projections, and growth opportunities is currently under way. In addition, after the completion of the ongoing front-end engineering and design activities, the company will ascertain the refinery’s configuration and estimate the total cost of the project. The proposed site is located near the end of Phase II of the upcoming ESPO pipeline. Russia is building the 4700km pipeline to transport oil from fields in east Siberia to China. Transneft AK OAO (Moscow), a state-owned oil transportation firm, is building the pipeline, which stretches from Taishet in East Siberia to Kozmino Bay in the Pacific Ocean through China. The Taishet-Skovorodino link, the first stage of the project, is scheduled for commissioning later this year. The second leg of the pipeline, the Skovorodino-Kozmino Bay section, is slated for completion in 2013-14. The ESPO pipeline will transport 320,000bpd of crude oil from Russia to the Daqing oil field in China through a 67km spur line under a 20-year supply agreement signed between the nations in February this year. The pipeline, with a total transportation capacity of 640,000bpd of oil, will also export crude oil to other Asian markets, such as Japan and Korea.
