AFP reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin unveiled the final extension of a new USD 25 billion oil pipeline to the Pacific that marks the energy power's gradual shift away from weak European markets.
The East Siberia-Pacific Ocean link is also expected to expand sales to the US and fulfill Putin's dream of cementing Russia's place as a dominant force in international crude markets.
Moscow hopes to turn the price of oil transported through ESPO into a benchmark in the Asia-Pacific region that competes with West Texas Intermediate the US oil standard whose price some traders believe is too heavily based on domestic political factors.
But analysts worry that Russia may lack enough accessible oil in its underdeveloped East Siberia fields to keep the line fully flowing despite strong demand in China and Japan.
Sberbank Asset Management energy analyst Valery Nesterov said that"There is just enough East Siberian oil for the existing pipeline.But expanding this pipeline further would be impossible without West Siberian oil and that oil is already meant to go west."
