Russia's crude exports to Europe will not be affected by increased supplies to Asian markets, Russia's deputy prime minister Arkady Dvorkovich said Tuesday.
"[Russia's crude] supplies to eastern markets will grow but this will not have a negative effect on [exports to] Europe," Dvorkovich told reporters at a media briefing.
In late December, Russia commissioned the second stage of the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline, doubling export capacity at the Pacific port of Kozmino to 30 million mt/year (600,000 b/d).
The exports can be expanded further to 45 million mt/year, Russia's president Vladimir Putin said at the launch.
The ESPO pipeline is designed to carry Russia's East Siberian crude to the markets of Asia-Pacific.
Russia plans to pump 21 million mt of crude oil to Kozmino this year, including 3 million mt to be delivered by rail, compared with total exports of around 16 million mt/year in 2012, according to Russian national crude pipeline operator Transneft.
In 2014, ESPO crude loadings via Kozmino are expected to reach 24 million-25 million mt, Transneft said in late December, adding that it expects the volumes to rise to 30 million mt/year in 2015.
According to Russian media, Russia's state-owned Rosneft and China's CNPC are in talks to increase crude supplies to China via an ESPO offshoot to 25 million mt/year from the current 15 million mt/year.
Starting January 1, 2011, Rosneft and Transneft supply 15 million mt/year of crude to China via the ESPO offshoot under a 20-year contract.
