Putin Sets Zapolyarnoye-Purpe Oil Pipeline in Motion

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has signed instructions to design and build a trunk pipeline along the Zapolyarnoye-Purpe-Samotlor route, the Yamal Nenets governor's office reported in a news release. The pipeline will carry oil from the Yamal Nenets autonomous District and the northern part of Krasnoyarsk Territory. 

the project will be financed by Transneft and construction will take place in two stages. The first stage will cover the design and construction of the Purpe-Samotlor segment of the pipeline, while the second stage will cover the same for the Zapolyarnoye-Purpe segment.

The Energy and Natural Resources ministries are to work with Transneft to submit a proposal to the government within three months on the throughput capacity of Zapolyarnoye-Purpe segment of the pipeline taking into account geological studies and the development of fields in Yamal Nenets and Krasnoyarsk.

The Purpe-Samotlor pipeline which is to be launched in 2012, links the east and west directions of the trunk pipeline system. The Purpe-Samotlor segment is 429 kilometers long and has a throughput capacity of 25-50 million tons per year. The Zapolyarnoye-Purpe pipeline links fields in Yamal to the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline (VSTO). It is estimated that the first pipeline will cost 45 billion rubles and the second, 70 million rubles.