Moscow Moves to Control Direction of Northern Oil Exports; Druzhba Pipeline Threatened

by Kent F. Moors, Ph.D.; Contributing Editor

Recently, a source within the Russian Ministry of Industry and Energy (MIE) confirmed that the government has approved plans to build a new export crude oil pipeline bypassing Belarus. The new line should parallel the current Baltic Pipeline System (BPS) and has the provisional working title of BPS-2. Initial estimates put the length of BPS-2 at 950 kilometers and the construction cost at about $2 billion. More importantly, it could carry a daily volume capacity of about 1 million barrels, enough virtually to eliminate the need for the current Druzhba export pipeline crossing Belarus.

Several sources have indicated for months that the route of the new pipeline is decided. Semyon Vainshtok, head of the Russian state-controlled crude oil pipeline monopoly Transneft, noted in July that the preliminary studies are virtually complete. The new pipeline will run from Unecha (in the Bryansk region, near the Russian-Belarusian border)) to Primorsk northwest of St. Petersburg on the Gulf of Finland. Primorsk already constitutes the seaport from which the greatest increase in Russian export volume moves. “Expansion is called for at Primorsk, given what the government has decided,” noted a Transneft contact. “There is no question this is intended to reduce reliance upon throughput countries for deliveries [of Russian crude] to Europe,” he added.

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