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Kozmino Bay near Primorye’s city of Nakhodka is approved as the final terminal of the Pacific oil pipeline, president of the pipeline monopoly Transneft Semyon Vainshtok told a press conference in Irkutsk July 28 voicing a decision which had been persistently backed by ecologists.

The terminal for the pipeline which will stretch from the Siberian city of Taishet to the Pacific Coast was finally chosen as the alternative to the formerly proposed terminal in Perevoznaya Bay, 26 kilometers from Vladivostok. In June 2005, after considering more than 10 variants for its Pacific pipeline, Transneft ruled that Perevoznaya would be the best final point for the route. Local environmentalists opposed the decision claiming that Perevoznaya was the worst ecological option.

According to Alexander Kirillichev, Chairman of Primorye Shipping Company’s Board of Directors, the Kozmino Bay option is also a better economical decision. “The bay can accept oil-loading ships with a carrying capacity up to 300,000 tons, while the Perevoznaya Bay is of shallow depth which would demand dredging work,” Kirillichev was quoted by Primorye Television as saying.

Kozmino Bay is part of Nakhodka’s county, which has four ports with an annual cargo turnover of 37 million tons. After finishing the pipeline construction, the cargo turnover is expected to reach 90 million tons.

Choosing Kozmino Bay over Perevoznaya is very timely and gives hope for preservation of the Far Eastern leopard area, experts from ecological Phoenix Fund said Monday commenting on Vainshtok’s statement. Russia's only marine preserve and nature preserve ‘Kedrovaya Pad’, located near Perevoznaya Bay, are home to Amur leopards, with only 30 to 40 remaining in the wild.

According to Vainshtok, the feasibility study of the second leg of the pipeline should be completed by October, news reports said. So far, Vainshtok said, 124 kilometers of the pipe has been constructed, and the next 276 kilometers of the route have been prepared for laying the pipe. “The construction is being performed with modern technologies applied,” Vainshtok stressed.

The company started constructing the pipeline in April, with the initial plan projecting the pipe to stretch 800 meters from Lake Baikal. Subsequently, President Vladimir Putin ruled that for environmental safeguard purposes, the pipeline should route at least 40 kilometers north of the lake.

The $11.5 billion pipeline with a projected shipping capacity of 80 million tons of crude oil per year is slated to supply oil from Eastern Siberia to the Pacific Ocean increasing exports to the Pacific Rim countries such as China, Japan and South Korea.