OREANDA-NEWS. On August 06, 2008 Federal Tariff Service has raised tariffs for pumping oil via Transneft's trunk pipeline system, FTS reported.

The tariff for shipping crude to Russian refineries and outside the customs union will be RUB 15.41 per 100 tons per km, not including VAT. Based on the decision, the proportion of average tariff for oil transportation service will reach 3.78% for shipments to Russian refineries and 2.71% for exports.

FTS explains this decision by factoring in the cost of financing construction of a number of facilities as part of the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline, including interest payments for loans raised to finance construction of this pipeline system.

In addition, FTS Board has approved the grid tariff to pump crude via the reverse branch of the ESPO pipeline at RUB 981.64 per ton. This branch will soon begin to receive crude from companies which started to tap fields along the pipeline. The first stage of Transneft's ambitious project will be completed in late 2009 and a preliminary reverse tariff matches the projected tariff for the entire first stage.