Baltic Pipeline System

The Baltic Pipeline System (BPS) is a Russian oil transport system operated by the oil pipeline company Transneft. The BPS transports oil from the Timan-Pechora region, West Siberia and Urals-Volga regions to Primorsk oil terminal at the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland.

History
The project started in 1997 and construction was completed in December 2001. In April 2006 the Baltic Pipeline System reached full design capacity.

Technical features
Main elements of the BPS-1 are:


 * Yaroslavl-Kirishi pipeline
 * Kirishi pumping station
 * Kirishi-Primorsk pipeline
 * Oil terminal in Primorsk.

The capacity of the BPS-1 is 76.5 million tons of oil per year.

Controversy
During planning and construction stages, the project was criticized by environmentalists, mainly because of the Baltic Sea's status as a particularly sensitive sea area and Primorsk’s proximity to the Beryozovye Islands nature reserve, a major bird sanctuary protected by the Ramsar Convention.

BPS-2
The Baltic Pipeline System-2 (BPS-2) is a second trunk line of the system running from the Unecha junction of the Druzhba pipeline near the Russia-Belarus border to the Ust-Luga terminal on the Gulf of Finland with a 172 km long branch line to the Kirishi oil refinery. The construction of the BPS-2 started on 10 June 2009 and it entered in function in late March 2012.