MOSCOW, April 26 (RIA Novosti) - President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean oil pipeline should pass outside the drainage basin north of Lake Baikal, upsetting plans of the country's state oil pipeline monopolist.
Environmental groups welcomed the move, which put a dent in proposals by state pipeline monopoly Transneft to build a section of the $11.5-billion pipeline along the shore of the world's largest freshwater lake, an environmentally sensitive zone on Unesco's list of World Heritage Sites.
Speaking at a meeting of Siberian regional leaders in the West Siberian oil city of Tomsk ahead of talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Putin said the pipeline should run beyond a proposed line 40 km to the north of the lake.
"The route should go to the north of the zone academician Laverov proposed," Putin said.
Academy of Sciences Vice President Nikolai Laverov proposed that the pipeline should run along the line of the watershed to the north of Baikal.
Alexei Yablokov, the leader of the Green Party of Russia, said Putin's statement was "a great victory for public pressure."
"This is the correct decision," he said. "It will save Baikal."
Transneft chief executive Semyon Vainshtok said that the length and cost of a new route for the pipeline could be estimated within two months.
"I cannot say at this point how much longer the new route will be, nor how much more it will cost, [as] this will take preliminary research. The new route will have to be studied first, and then we will be able to give precise figures," he said.
Vainshtok said he had been unprepared for Putin's decision, but that the project would go ahead as scheduled. He said construction would start simultaneously from both ends - and could start as early as the end of this week - and that Transneft would draft a new feasibility study and conduct an environmental study for the new route.
"As of today we have carried out all procedures necessary to start construction, and are ready to start realization of this grand and unique project on Friday," he said. "Skovorodino [the pipeline's starting point] is ready for construction work."
Transneft's previous plans had included a stretch of the pipeline running 800 meters from the shore of Baikal. The proposals were slammed by environmentalists, who said any leaks from the pipeline could cause irreparable damage to the lake.
Environmentalists had run a vigorous campaign against the original route, including a March 19 demonstration of about 5,000 protestors in the East Siberian city of Irkutsk, near the lake.
Yevgeny Schwartz, head of conservation programs with the World Wildlife Fund in Russia, said the decision could signify a "turning point" in Russia's development, and that it would not follow the example of countries like Nigeria, where state monopolies are more important than legal and parliamentary opinions.
The East Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline is slated to carry up to 80 million metric tons a year (1.6 mln of bbl/d) from Taishet in the Irkutsk Region to Perevoznaya Bay in the Primorye Territory. The pipeline could also supply oil to the Asia-Pacific region, most likely Japan and energy-hungry China. The first stage of construction is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2008.
Putin said construction of an oil refinery on the border in Russia's Far East would help derive maximum profits from the pipeline. He said the scale of the project was unprecedented and would open up new markets, while an oil refinery would make sure the pipeline produced maximum possible benefits.
"We should consider in advance the construction of an oil refinery complex, plants and enterprises in Russia so that our economy will maximally benefit from the country's export capabilities," Putin said.
Putin cited data from the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade that estimated the cost of the refinery at between $2.19 billion and $2.92 billion, and said state-owned oil company Rosneft could start construction next year.
Earlier this month, Rosneft Vice President Alexei Kuznetsov said the company had been considering constructing of an oil refinery on the pipeline, and that it would have output capacity of 20 million tons per year.
