Russia's Crude Exports to Europe Will Not Be Affected by Increased Supplies to Asia

Russia's crude exports to Europe will not be affected by increased supplies to Asian markets, Russia's deputy prime minister Arkady Dvorkovich said Tuesday. 

"[Russia's crude] supplies to eastern markets will grow but this will not have a negative effect on [exports to] Europe," Dvorkovich told reporters at a media briefing. 

In late December, Russia commissioned the second stage of the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline, doubling export capacity at the Pacific port of Kozmino to 30 million mt/year (600,000 b/d). 

The exports can be expanded further to 45 million mt/year, Russia's president Vladimir Putin said at the launch. 

The ESPO pipeline is designed to carry Russia's East Siberian crude to the markets of Asia-Pacific. 

Russia plans to pump 21 million mt of crude oil to Kozmino this year, including 3 million mt to be delivered by rail, compared with total exports of around 16 million mt/year in 2012, according to Russian national crude pipeline operator Transneft. 

In 2014, ESPO crude loadings via Kozmino are expected to reach 24 million-25 million mt, Transneft said in late December, adding that it expects the volumes to rise to 30 million mt/year in 2015. 

According to Russian media, Russia's state-owned Rosneft and China's CNPC are in talks to increase crude supplies to China via an ESPO offshoot to 25 million mt/year from the current 15 million mt/year. 

Starting January 1, 2011, Rosneft and Transneft supply 15 million mt/year of crude to China via the ESPO offshoot under a 20-year contract.