RusEnergy

MOSCOW, April 25 (RIA Novosti) - Russian state-run oil pipeline operator Transneft said Tuesday it plans to transport 1.3 million metric tons of oil per year (26,000 bbl/d) to China via a pipeline running across Kazakhstan. Chief executive Semyon Vainshtok said companies, including Russian-British joint venture TNK-BP, had already begun supplying the Atasu-Alashankou oil pipeline, which went on stream in December. "Russian oil will be pumped in the amount of 1.3 million metric tons," Vainshtok said. He added that the companies had already supplied 300,000 metric tons of oil via the pipeline, which is expected to start pumping crude to energy-hungry China in mid-2006. The pipeline is the second part of the Kazakhstan-China inter-state oil transportation project and has a capacity of 10 million metric tons a year. It is expected to double its capacity in the future.