Russia opens Pacific oil terminal

Russia opens Pacific oil terminal    Russia opened a new terminal near the Pacific port of Vladivostok on Monday that is aimed at delivering oil to other countries in Asia.
   Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was present as the first tanker was being loaded with oil for a customer in Hong Kong. In addition to China, Russia intends to sell oil to Japan and South Korea.
   Putin said Monday’s ceremony was a landmark event for the oil sector and region, “a strategic project enabling us to enter entirely new, emerging and promising Asia-Pacific markets.”
   The Moscow Times said $12 billion was spent to build a 2,694-kilometer pipeline from oil fields in Eastern Siberia to a railway station in Skovorodino from where it's transported by rail to the port of Kozmino. Another $2 billion was spent developing the port.
   The newspaper said the state pipeline monopoly plans to spend another $10 billion to extend the pipeline 1,305 miles to Kozmino by 2014.