OREANDA-NEWS. February 08, 2007. Petersburg Oil Terminal, Russia’s largest oil-product exporting port, plans to spend as much as $200 million on modernizing facilities as it seeks to expand annual loading capacity by a quarter to 15 million metric tons.

The plans for the next two years include constructing a rail unloading area, upgrading existing facilities and training personnel, Kirill Kotin, a spokesman for the company, said in a telephone interview. The terminal is part of the St. Petersburg harbor complex on the Baltic Sea.

“Based on our previous activities and development, we estimate that further modernization will cost $150 million to $200 million,” Kotin said.

The port is now operating near its full annual capacity of 12 million tons and ships diesel, oil products and bunkering oil, Kotin said. Bunkering oil is also known as shipping oil. Management may consider exporting gasoline and kerosene after the upgrade is complete if demand continues to grow, he said.

Russia’s government has sought to boost export capacity on the Baltic Sea to compete with ports in Latvia and Estonia. The terminal shipped 11,5 million tons of oil products in 2007, 8,5 percent more than the previous year, according to its web site.