NARO-FOMINSK (Moscow Region), August 2 (RIA Novosti) - TNK-BP [RTS: TNBP], a Russian-British joint oil venture, said Wednesday it planned to supply oil to energy-hungry China via a terminal in south Siberia.
TNK-BP Executive Vice-President Anthony Considine said the project to build an oil terminal in the city of Barabinsk in the Novosibirsk Region was still at the designing stage, and the construction was expected to be completed in 2007.
Considine said TNK-BP intended to use the terminal, capacity of 3 million metric tons, to supply light crude to China.
Considine also said TNK-BP was interested in oil deliveries via the Atasu-Alashankou pipeline in Kazakhstan.
Considine said Kazakhstan was using this pipeline for oil deliveries to China, and TNK-BP would also like to transport crude in this direction.
But Considine said China was interested in the supply of light crude, which TNK-BP could not yet deliver via Kazakhstan. To solve the problem, the company is considering supplying lower-quality Russian oil for use in Kazakhstan, while Kazakh light oil will go to China.
Considine said TNK-BP would like to supply light crude to China via the Kazakh pipeline when its volumes grew to sufficient amounts. The company has already filed an application on the delivery of oil via this pipeline. Deliveries could start already this year, the executive vice-president said.
