"Polotsktransneft Druzhba" maintains the system's readiness to resume oil transit to the Baltic countries

March 15, Minsk / Anna Kot - BELTA /. Polotsktransneft Druzhba OJSC is maintaining the technical readiness of oil pipelines for the resumption of Russian oil pumping to the Baltic states. This was reported to a BELTA correspondent by Vasily Drobotov, the company's chief engineer. As previously reported by Anatoly Demin, Deputy Vice President of Transneft JSC, the company intends to continue operating the Druzhba oil pipeline regardless of the construction of the Baltic Pipeline System-2 (BTS-2). According to him, despite the rather long service life of the Druzhba-1 oil pipeline, the transportation volumes through the two stages of the Druzhba Main Oil Pipeline are such that BTS cannot cover them. Therefore, regardless of BTS, Druzhba will continue to be operated. Anatoly Demin noted that Transneft is currently doing everything necessary to maintain the pipeline in good condition. In May-June 2011, the company will begin construction of new pipeline sections bypassing recreational areas in Penza and Oryol - 78 km of pipeline and a new pumping station will be built in the Penza region, and 58 km of the main pipeline are planned to be laid around Oryol. The work will be completed in 2012. The Druzhba oil pipeline, approximately 6,000 km long, passes through the territories of 10 countries - Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary. The official commissioning ceremony of Druzhba-1 took place in 1964, and the construction of the Druzhba-2 oil pipeline was completed in 1974. Magistralnye nefteprovody Druzhba OJSC is a subsidiary of Transneft. Its system includes 8,900 km of pipelines, 45 pumping stations, 38 intermediate pumping stations, and tank farms with a capacity of 1.5 million cubic meters of oil. The longest section of the Druzhba oil pipeline runs through Belarus - 2910 km. Vasily Drobotov, chief engineer of Polotsktransneft Druzhba OJSC, emphasized that the company is carrying out all necessary work on current capital repairs, modernization, and reconstruction of the Druzhba-1 and Druzhba-2 oil pipeline sections under its management. This applies to the Polotsk-Mažeikiai and Polotsk-Ventspils sections, along which the pumping of Russian oil was suspended in August 2006 and January 2003, respectively. Last year, Polotsktransneft Druzhba OJSC completed the reconstruction of the underwater crossings of the Unecha-Polotsk-1,2 oil pipelines across the Dnieper River. The replacement of shore valves, the dismantling of the reserve and installation of the main lines of the Unecha-Polotsk-2 oil pipeline, as well as the re-laying of main communication cables in the riverbed part of the underwater crossing using horizontal directional drilling were carried out. The volume of investment in fixed assets last year amounted to Br19 billion, an increase of 20.3% in comparable prices compared to 2009. This year, Polotsktransneft Druzhba OJSC plans to invest more than Br20 billion in fixed assets. In 2011, the joint-stock company intends to reconstruct the underwater crossing of the Surgut-Polotsk oil pipeline across the Western Dvina River. The construction project includes the re-laying of main communication cables under the riverbed part of the river using horizontal directional drilling, and the installation of stationary launch-receive chambers for cleaning devices and diagnostic equipment for the reserve oil pipeline. In addition, the company is carrying out repair work on defective sections of oil pipelines and local insulation replacement. Defects requiring priority repair have been fully eliminated, noted Vasily Drobotov. The Baltic Pipeline System-2 is a pipeline system under construction that will connect the Druzhba oil pipeline with Russian seaports on the Baltic Sea along the route from Unecha (Bryansk region) to Ust-Luga (Leningrad region). The BTS-2 route runs through the Bryansk, Smolensk, Tver, Novgorod, and Leningrad regions. The length of the oil pipeline is 1000 km. Construction work on BTS-2 began on June 10, 2009, in the city of Unecha. As of February of the current year, the infrastructure and facilities of the Baltic Pipeline System-2 were 90% ready. Currently, the construction of the linear part of BTS-2 has been completed, and hydraulic tests of the oil pipeline are underway. It is predicted that the first tanker will be loaded with oil supplied via BTS-2 as early as December 2011. In the first stage, BTS-2 plans to transport 30 million tons of crude oil per year. The construction of the second start-up complex will increase the throughput capacity of the Baltic Pipeline System-2 to 50 million tons of oil per year. Polotsktransneft Druzhba Open Joint Stock Company is the successor to the Novopolotsk Republican Unitary Enterprise for Oil Transportation (NRUPTN) "Druzhba," which was reorganized into Polotsktransneft Druzhba OJSC at the end of 2010. The oil pipelines operated by Polotsktransneft Druzhba OJSC are part of the Druzhba transcontinental main oil pipeline system. The main task of the joint-stock company is the transportation of Russian oil from the West Siberian region, Tatarstan, and the Volga region to Belarus (Naftan OJSC). The oil pipelines operated by the organization also allow for transit transportation of oil to the Baltic states. -0-