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Semyon Vainshtok: I want to inform you that we have fulfilled your instruction to increase the Baltic Pipeline System’s productivity. We will finish developing the pipeline system by the end of this month, and this will take us to a total of 74 million tons of oil a year.

Vladimir Putin: I was told 72 million.

Semyon Vainshtok: Yes, but we recalculated our possibilities and reached a total of 74 million. This is more than the ports of Novorossiisk, Tuapse, Odessa, Yuzhny and Batumi all together. What is taking shape today is a fully formed port, one of the world’s biggest oil terminals.

We are also working actively on our projects in the eastern part of the country. We have already built around 430 kilometres of pipeline. The oil pumping station in Taishet has been completed and will begin operation in the coming four-five days. So far, everything is going according to schedule. Anything can happen, but so far everything is going fine.

We will start construction of an oil terminal on the Pacific coast at the Bay of Kozmino next April and we see no reasons today why this should not be successful.

Finally, regarding your instructions on the Burgas-Alexandropoulis (oil pipeline) project, we are working actively. An agreement has already been signed between Gazpromneft, Transneft and Rosneft on creating an enterprise in which each of these three companies will hold a stake of one third. We have drafted an intergovernmental agreement that was sent on November 3 to Bulgaria and Greece where it is now being discussed. Again, if nothing goes wrong, we will be within our schedule for this year, but this is more the Foreign Ministry’s work now. Transneft approved the decision to take part in the Burgas-Alexandropoulis project at a meeting of its board of directors on November 3, and so we are on schedule in every respect.

Vladimir Putin: Very good.