MOSCOW - Russian safety watchdog Rostekhnadzor said the Baltic oil terminal Ust-Luga, due to be launched later this year, has sustained heavy damage from landslides that could cause a serious accident.
Earlier this week Rostekhnadzor’s head Nikolai Kutyin told Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin in a letter, seen by Reuters, that as of Nov. 16 the port’s quayside had been mauled by three big landslides.
He said Rostekhnadzor saw a danger of "an accident while using this object with heavy economic and ecological consequences".
A source close to the port said Sechin was due to chair a meeting to discuss the situation in Ust-Luga on Friday.
The oil trading community is closely watching the development around the outlet, which is designed to handle oil from the newly built Baltic Pipeline System (BTS-2) pipeline – a project envisaged to bypass transit countries.
