Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will attend the ceremony of launching the East-Siberia - Pacific Ocean oil pipeline during his visit to the region on December 28-29, the government press office said on Sunday.
During his visit to the Primorye Territory in the Russian Far East, Putin will see the launch of the first leg of the project, which is designed to pump up to 1.6 million barrels (220,000 tons) of crude per day from Siberia to Russia's Far East and then on to China and the Asia-Pacific region, the press office said.
"During his stay in Nakhodka, Putin will participate in the ceremony of launching the East Siberia - Pacific Ocean oil pipeline. The chairman of the Russian government will visit the specialized maritime oil-loading port of Kozmino, the final point of the ESPO project, from which the first batch of oil will be shipped," the press office said.
The project's first leg envisages the construction of a 2,757-kilometer (1,713-mile) section with a capacity of 30 million tons (220.5 million barrels) of oil per year. It will link Taishet, in East Siberia's Irkutsk Region, to Skovorodino, in the Amur Region, in Russia's Far East.
The second stretch will run 2,100 kilometers (1,300 miles) from Skovorodino to the Pacific. It will pump 367.5 million barrels of oil annually.
MOSCOW, December 27 (RIA Novosti)
