Russia may launch 2nd leg of baltic pipeline system

The second trunk line of the Baltic Pipeline System (BTS-2) to transport oil to Europe may be launched at the end of February or in early March, Igor Dyomin, spokesman of Russia's oil pipeline monopoly Transneft, said on Tuesday. The BTS-2 pipeline project is implemented to secure reliable supplies of oil to European consumers. The 1,000-kilometer pipeline, with an annual capacity of 30 million metric tons of oil, runs from Unecha in western Russia to the Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga in the country's northwest, bypassing Belarus. "Preparations to launch the oil terminal [in Ust-Luga] are well under way. We think [the pipeline launch] could be in late February or in early March," Dyomin told Prime news agency. The BTS-2 launch has been suspended several times since October 2011 owing to problems in bottom dredging operations. Dyomin also said that Transneft had not worked out an oil export schedule through the BTS-2 for the first quarter of 2012 and tariff price for oil transportation yet.