Russia Prepares Draft to Build Second Baltic Pipeline Link

The Russian Ministry of Industry and Energy and Russian pipeline monopoly Transneft have prepared a draft for the construction of a second pipeline leading to the Baltic port of Primorsk, which aims to reduce Russia's dependence on Belarus for transit, a senior Russian minister said yesterday.

The project was presented to the Ministry of Economic Development, said Russian deputy minister of Economic Development Kirill Androssov, cited by Interfax.

'We received the appropriate documents (...). But the decision has not yet been taken,' he said.

Russia started to explore the possibility of increasing the capacity of its Baltic pipeline system after a quarrel between Moscow and Minsk in January, which interrupted oil supply from the Druzhba pipeline to several countries in Europe for three days.

Once this project is complete, the capacity of the pipeline could rise by 75 million tons to 150 million tons per year, Interfax reported.

The cost of the construction project is estimated at 2 bln usd.