Japan will be ready to buy crude shipped via Russia's massive East Siberia-Pacific Ocean (Espo) pipeline when the first 600,000 b/d phase opens officially on Dec. 25. Half the crude will be sent to China via a pipeline spur from Skovorodino, the endpoint of Espo's first phase, although there are questions as to whether the spur will be ready. The other half will be sent by rail to the new Pacific export terminal of Kozmino, where Japan will buy the oil on a spot basis, a source from Japan Petroleum Exploration (Japex) told International Oil Daily at a Sakhalin conference last week. Japex is a shareholder in Sodeco, the Japanese consortium that owns 20%
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