Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who officially launched on Monday the East-Siberia - Pacific Ocean (ESPO) oil pipeline, said it was a project of strategic importance for Russia.
During his visit to the region, the Russian premier took part in the official ceremony of pumping the first batch of Siberian oil into an oil tanker at the specialized maritime oil-loading port of Kozmino, the final point of the ESPO project.
"It is an important event for Russia. It is a strategic project, which enables to enter new markets in the Asia-Pacific region," Putin said, adding that Russia's current presence in the region's markets was "insufficient."
He said that the project's first leg cost 360 billion rubles ($12.1 billion), and 60 billion rubles ($2 billion) were allocated the construction of the port in Kozmino.
The premier added that despite the global financial crisis, the construction of the first leg was completed in five years, as scheduled.
The ESPO project 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 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 Ocean. It will pump 367.5 million barrels of oil annually.
KOZMINO (Far East), December 28 (RIA Novosti)
