Russian oil supplies to China resume after quake
Source: Agencies |
October 15, 2011, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
AN earthquake struck Russia's Far East near the Chinese border yesterday, shaking buildings hundreds of kilometers away and temporarily halting almost all Russian oil supplies to China.
Schools were evacuated in one Russian city and office workers fled buildings across the border in China, but no casualties or significant property damage was reported.
The 6.1-magnitude quake struck near Skovorodino in the Amur region, about 210 kilometers north of China's Heilongjiang Province.
Russian oil pipeline monopoly Transneft said it halted oil shipments to China on the 300,000 barrel-per-day East Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline after the quake, adding that the pipeline itself had not been damaged. The supply of oil to China has since resumed.
Transneft spokesman Igor Dyomin said the company also stopped loading railway cars destined for the port of Kozmino on the Sea of Japan, an export route for another 300,000 barrels per day of oil to China and other Asia-Pacific nations including South Korea, Japan and the United States.
"The company halted supplies as a preventive measure," said Dyomin, adding that the power supply to some pumping stations was interrupted and reserve capacity was plugged in.
Chandeliers shook and schools were evacuated in Chita, a city about 700km southwest of the epicenter, Itar-Tass news agency said.
Tremors were also felt in the border city of Blagoveshchensk, 500km southeast of the epicenter.
In the Chinese city of Heihe, people in an 18-story government building felt tremors and ran outside, Xinhua news agency quoted a city official as saying.
"The ground kept shaking for one or two minutes and as I was running out of my house, I heard my bowls and plates knocking against one another in the cabinet," Xinhua quoted Li Guiquing, a resident of Beiji Village in the border province, as saying.
There were no immediate reports of casualties or property loss.
State-controlled Transneft, which operates Russia's 50,000km pipeline network, has continued receiving oil from producers and shipping oil from Kozmino, Dyomin said.
"We have enough oil reserves at Kozmino to carry out continuous loadings," he said.
Transneft began shipping oil along the first stage of the ESPO pipeline, which runs in a 2,757km arch around Lake Baikal, on January 1.
Before then, oil from Russia had been transported to China by rail.
Schools were evacuated in one Russian city and office workers fled buildings across the border in China, but no casualties or significant property damage was reported.
The 6.1-magnitude quake struck near Skovorodino in the Amur region, about 210 kilometers north of China's Heilongjiang Province.
Russian oil pipeline monopoly Transneft said it halted oil shipments to China on the 300,000 barrel-per-day East Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline after the quake, adding that the pipeline itself had not been damaged. The supply of oil to China has since resumed.
Transneft spokesman Igor Dyomin said the company also stopped loading railway cars destined for the port of Kozmino on the Sea of Japan, an export route for another 300,000 barrels per day of oil to China and other Asia-Pacific nations including South Korea, Japan and the United States.
"The company halted supplies as a preventive measure," said Dyomin, adding that the power supply to some pumping stations was interrupted and reserve capacity was plugged in.
Chandeliers shook and schools were evacuated in Chita, a city about 700km southwest of the epicenter, Itar-Tass news agency said.
Tremors were also felt in the border city of Blagoveshchensk, 500km southeast of the epicenter.
In the Chinese city of Heihe, people in an 18-story government building felt tremors and ran outside, Xinhua news agency quoted a city official as saying.
"The ground kept shaking for one or two minutes and as I was running out of my house, I heard my bowls and plates knocking against one another in the cabinet," Xinhua quoted Li Guiquing, a resident of Beiji Village in the border province, as saying.
There were no immediate reports of casualties or property loss.
State-controlled Transneft, which operates Russia's 50,000km pipeline network, has continued receiving oil from producers and shipping oil from Kozmino, Dyomin said.
"We have enough oil reserves at Kozmino to carry out continuous loadings," he said.
Transneft began shipping oil along the first stage of the ESPO pipeline, which runs in a 2,757km arch around Lake Baikal, on January 1.
Before then, oil from Russia had been transported to China by rail.
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