Platts Oilgram News - 01.22.10
Russian crude exports to Asia set to double
SUMMARY: London—Russian oil exports to Asia are set to more than double over the next five years, reaching more than 1 million b/d by 2014, US-based analysts at Energy Security Analysis Inc said January 21.
The increase is mainly due to the startup late last year of the ESPO pipeline designed to export crude from East Siberia to Asian markets via Russia’s Pacific Ocean coast, ESAI analyst Andrew Reed said in a presentation via the internet.
At the same time, shipments to Russia’s traditional export market in Europe are set to decline by around 500,000 b/d, with the fall mainly coming from the Black Sea, Reed said, adding that Russia was about to undergo a “rapid shift” in the location of its oil production and exports.