TNK-BP to Export Crude Via Bryansk Oil Loading Rack of RussNeft

He remarked that out of the three million ton annual capacity of this oil loading rack TNK-BP is to transship 1 million next year.
M.Gutseriev expressed hope that next year the oil loading rack will earn $30 million net profit for the company.
President of RussNeft also mentioned that the oil loading rack is eyed by the company “as the first stage of putting up its own refinery in the area.” “An oil loading rack must be built at any refinery before it is started up or later,” said he.
At the same time M.Gutseriev informed that presently it was better for the company to buy a refinery than to build a new one because it could take more than five years. The head of RussNeft stressed that presently the company was still considering the possibility of building such a refinery. It was reported earlier that this summer RussNeft had started up the oil loading rack supplied with an on-stop loading unit not far from railway station Zhecha in the Bryansk region. The terminal is designed to annually transship 5 million tons of crude oil which capacity to be subsequently raised to 7 million tons.
The crude oil transshipped at the terminal can be transported by railway to Mozyr and Novopolotsk Refineries in the Republic of Byelorussia, Baltic States and Eastern Europe.
At the press-conference M.Gutseriev spoke about the interest of the company in purchasing the stake possessed by Oil Company Yukos at Transpetrol, a Slovakian pipeline company. “They are offering this stake for sale. We want to buy it,” said M.Gutseriev.
He clarified that RussNeft delivers its own crude to this area. “To deliver crude oil there it is interesting for us to have this pipe,” he pointed out.
Talking about the price at which the Yukos stake at Transpetrol could be offered for sale M.Gutseriev informed that it might be several millions higher than paid by Yukos (Yukos bought it in 2001 for $74 million – ANI).
M.Gutseriev showed interest in buying the Syzran Refinery also possessed by Yukos where RussNeft processes some of its crude oil, as well as refining assets in Bashkiria.
If refineries in Syzran and Bashkiria are offered for sale RussNeft will probably consider the possibility of buying them, pointed out President of RussNeft. However he expressed doubt that these assets would be offered for sale at all.
M.Gutseriev added that after buying Orsk and Krasnodar Refineries he must first of all make his own refineries work to capacity. At the same time he mentioned that the company was looking to continue its work (crude oil processing – ANI) at the Syzran Refinery.
December 2001 Yukos bought 49% stake at Transpetrol at a privatized tender organized by the government of Slovakia, having paid for it $74 million. Earlier it was reported that Yukos also acquired a preferential right to buy out more shares in case of further privatization of Transpetrol.
Later Austrian OMV and Transpetrol signed an agreement on establishing a joint venture for construction of a new oil pipeline capable of transshipping nearly 3.6 million tons of crude from Bratislava (Slovakia) to the refinery in the town of Shvehat, Austria, owned by OMV.
Moreover the companies signed a contract on delivery of 2 million tons a year of Yukos crude oil for 10 years.
The pipeline capacity was planned to be increased up to 5 million tons a year through joining additional transfer pumps.
It was reported earlier that Yukos had not complied with its commitments on the contracts for crude oil export deliveries after the company’s main production asset Yuganskneftegaz was sold.  
Swiss company Petroval, a trading partner of Yukos, informed its clients that the deliveries could not by made and declared force majeure.
The crude oil delivered form Yukos resources could have made 20% of the total refining capacity of the Shvehat Refinery. The deliveries to the Shvehat Refinery were scheduled to start beginning January 2006.
Transpetrol pipeline network has 1,032 km length and 21 million ton capacity. In 2002 a total of 9,446,000 tons of crude oil was transported via Transpetrol.