Russia plans to launch larger than ever oil tankers for use in Gulf of Finland

According to Transneft, 150,000-tonne vessels would cut down traffic volume

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Russia plans to start using 150,000-tonne tankers while shipping oil across the Gulf of Finland. The plan was revealed by the Russian oil transportation company Transneft CEO Semjon Vainshtok at the St. Petersburg economic forum.
      "We are currently holding negotiations with the Sovkomflot company over the planning of 150,000-tonne oil tankers. The vessels would fit through the Denmark Straits", Vainshtok answered to a Helsingin Sanomat question about the oil transports.
      According to Vainshtok, the use of larger vessels translates to fewer oil tankers in the Gulf of Finland.
      At present, oil shipments are primarily taken care of by using 100,000-tonne vessels, for tankers larger than that would float too deep to pass through the Skagerrak and Kattegat and out into the North Sea.
     
Russia has decided to build a new oil pipeline from the south to the Primorsk port. The new pipeline would increase the port’s capacity from 70 million to 120 million tonnes of oil per year.
      The project is still in its planning stages. Vainshtok reckoned once completed the pipeline would come with a price tag of around 2.5 billion US dollars.
      "There is no need to expand the port because of the new pipeline", the CEO added.
      Transneft does not take care of the sea transports, but it owns the oil pipe and the Primorsk port facility.
      Last year, some 140 million tonnes of oil was shipped through the Gulf of Finland. According to estimates this figure may double in the near future. Concerns have been raised in Finland and elsewhere about the catastrophic impact of a major spill in the region.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Gulf of Finland feels impact of change in Russia (6.3.2007)

Helsingin Sanomat