The Baltic Pipeline System (BPS) is a Russian oil transport system operated by the oil pipeline company

Transneft Joint Stock Company Transneft (russian: Транснефть) is a state-controlled pipeline transport company headquartered in Moscow, Russia. It is the largest oil pipeline company in the world. Transneft is operating over of trunk pipeline ...

. The BPS transports oil from the Timan-Pechora region,

West Siberia Western Siberia or West Siberia (russian: Западная Сибирь, Zapadnaya Sibir'; kk, Батыс Сібір) is a part of the larger region of Siberia that is mostly located in the Russian Federation. It lies between the Ural region an ...

and

Urals The Ural Mountains ( ; rus, Ура́льские го́ры, r=Uralskiye gory, p=ʊˈralʲskʲɪjə ˈɡorɨ; ba, Урал тауҙары) or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through European ...

Volga The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the List of rivers of Europe#Rivers of Europe by length, longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Cas ...

regions to Primorsk oil terminal at the eastern part of the

Gulf of Finland The Gulf of Finland ( fi, Suomenlahti; et, Soome laht; rus, Фи́нский зали́в, r=Finskiy zaliv, p=ˈfʲinskʲɪj zɐˈlʲif; sv, Finska viken) is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland to the north and E ...

History

The project started in 1997 and construction was completed in December 2001. In April 2006 the Baltic Pipeline System reached full design capacity.

Technical features

Main elements of the BPS-1 are: *

Yaroslavl Yaroslavl ( rus, Ярослáвль, p=jɪrɐˈsɫavlʲ) is a city and the administrative center of Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, located northeast of Moscow. The historic part of the city is a World Heritage Site, and is located at the confluence ...

Kirishi Kirishi (russian: Ки́риши, ) is a town and the administrative center of Kirishsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Volkhov River, southeast of St. Petersburg. Population: It was previously kno ...

pipeline * Kirishi pumping station * Kirishi-Primorsk pipeline * Oil terminal in Primorsk. The capacity of the BPS-1 is 76.5 million tons of oil per year.

Controversy

During planning and construction stages the project was criticized by environmentalists, mainly because of the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

's status as a particularly sensitive sea area and Primorsk’s proximity to the

Beryozovye Islands Beryozovye Islands (russian: Берёзовые острова, Finnish: Koivisto, Swedish: Björkö; literally: "Birch Islands"), alternatively spelled Berezovye Islands, is an island group in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. The islands are situated at ...

nature reserve, a major bird sanctuary protected by the

Ramsar Convention The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of Ramsar sites (wetlands). It is also known as the Convention on Wetlands. It i ...

BPS-2

The Baltic Pipeline System-2 (BPS-2) is a second trunk line of the system running from the

Unecha Unecha (russian: Уне́ча), a town and the administrative center of Unechsky District in Bryansk Oblast, Russia, stands on the Unecha River (within the Dnieper's basin) southwest of Bryansk, the administrative center of the oblast. Populat ...

junction of the

Druzhba pipeline The Druzhba pipeline (russian: нефтепровод «Дружба»; also has been referred to as the Friendship Pipeline and the Comecon Pipeline) is one of the world's longest oil pipelines and one of the largest oil pipeline networks in th ...

near the Russia-Belarus border to the

Ust-Luga Ust-Luga (russian: Усть-Луга, lit. ''mouth of the Luga'', Votian: ''Laugasuu'', lit. ''mouth of the Luga'', fi, Laukaansuu) is a settlement and railway station in Kingiseppsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, near the Estonian border ...

terminal on the

with a long branch line to the Kirishi oil refinery. The construction of the BPS-2 started on 10 June 2009 and it entered in function in late March 2012.

References

External links