The quality of ESPO Blend loaded at Kozmino and Urals is likely to deteriorate in the near future as Russian crude pipeline operator Transneft is committed to shipping 300,000 b/d of better-quality crude to China by 2018. Production of lighter, sweeter crude from mature fields in west and central Siberia is stagnant, while production of heavy sour crude in Russia is rising. The pipeline operator says that heavy, sour crude inputs to its system have risen by 10mn t/yr (200,000 b/d) over the past couple of years and that this trend will continue.
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