Russia’s Rosneft has started construction of an Arctic oil terminal at the Bukhta Sever port, in the framework of its Vostok Oil project. The state-owned firm said the port will become Russia’s largest oil terminal with 102 reservoirs to be built by 2030.
Located near Dikson in northern Krasnoyarsk Kray, the oil terminal is expected to facilitate development of the Northern Sea Route and will store oil delivered from the Vankor and Payakha clusters of Rosneft’s Vostok project via 770 km long pipeline.
The first phase of the project will involve the construction of three cargo and two oil berths totalling nearly 1.3 km in length. The project will also include an acceptance and shipment point with 27 tanks of 30,000 cu m each and auxiliary infrastructure.
Rosneft plans to tranship some 30m tonnes of oil through the Bukhta Sever port per year initially, with a gradual increase to 100m tonnes by the end of this decade. Located on the Taimyr Peninsula, the Vostok Oil project is estimated to hold over 6bn tonnes of liquid hydrocarbons.
Vostok Oil’s development comes at a time when Russian energy is under growing pressure in the global market. Sanctions imposed in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will eventually result in a market embargo in Europe. The project is also having major issues with investors, with Singapore commodity firm Trafigura exiting the project and oil trader Vitol also looking to exit.
