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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Tokarev, Transneft holds a special place in the energy sector. How much does it transfer?

President of Transneft Nikolai Tokarev: Eighty-three percent of all oil produced in Russia…

Vladimir Putin: …passes through the transit system.

Nikolai Tokarev: And 30 percent of oil products.

Vladimir Putin: So, the company’s place is really unique for the entire energy industry.

Nikolai Tokarev: Mr President, in terms of Transneft assets, before anything, it is 123,000 professionals working in 64 Russian regions. It is 67,000 kilometres of oil trunk pipelines and more than 500 oil pumping stations. These are enormous figures.

The team ensures accurate, steady and reliable operation, performing all obligations with respect to oil transits across Russia and beyond. I should say that this became possible due to the fact that the company has experienced the fastest growth in the past 15 years. The company has completely transformed through this period.

We have built 24,500 kilometres of new pipelines, including 10,500 kilometres as part of large significant projects. These include the ESPO-1 and ESPO-2 pipelines (Eastern Siberia – Pacific Ocean), the Baltic Pipeline System-2, the Kuyumba-Taishet and the Zapolyarye – Purpe – Samotlor oil trunk pipelines. We expanded the capacity of the oil product pipeline to Primorsk by 25 million tonnes and carried out total upgrade of all technological processes.

I believe that this transformation has brought a very important advantage: today there is no pumping capacity shortage in any direction. In the past, oil companies had to rack their brains and look for ways to export their oil or sell it domestically. Today, the ESPO may be the only project with slight limitations. It is a premium project; everybody wants to use it, so operations are at full capacity.

Vladimir Putin: To Asia?

Nikolai Tokarev: Yes, to China and the Asia-Pacific. Currently, the second leg of the ESPO pipeline transfers 50 million tonnes of oil and the first leg transfers 80 million, including 30 million to Mohe City, China.

During this time, we achieved full import substitution in the production of main line pumps. We used to import them from abroad, sourcing them from Ukraine. Today, we make the entire range of products in this category in Chelyabinsk, at our companies. Our companies manufacture the electric drives and motors for these pumps, giving the company everything it needs. We are now working with the railways to make traction motors for locomotives at our plants.

We used to buy turbulent viscosity reducing additives from US companies. Not anymore. Today, we make them in Tatarstan at our plant. This is how we have achieved import substitution for the 29 items included in our programme.

I am not even talking about the company’s digital transformation. We plan to invest some 30 billion rubles over the next three years in this area. This will enable us to achieve all our planned targets under our programmes.

This year, our main objectives include making our oil pipelines more reliable and less prone to accidents. Even today, our accident rate is ten time lower than the global average or the median values, but we want zero accidents. We have this objective and we can deliver on it.

It is for this reason that we have earmarked 175 billion rubles in investment for technical retooling, upgrades and capital repairs at our facilities. So far, all this is going as planned.

Apart from manufacturing, the company is also serious about its social policy. We operate our own private pension fund, which serves 31,000 retirees. The average corporate pension is 10,000 rubles. We also have a housing policy. We help families with children, offer trips to health resorts, corporate health insurance plans, and promote a healthy lifestyle. We are committed to these priorities.

Charity is another priority. Over the past three years, we helped carry out major renovations at 107 schools, mostly in small communities. This included repairs, buying equipment for chemistry, physics and maths classes, computers – everything that is needed for an interesting and well-organised education experience.

We carried out repairs at 55 healthcare facilities, including building new rural paramedic centres and renovating outpatient clinics. Mobile clinics are a new area that is dynamically developing at the moment. We assist the regions in buying these mobile clinics, which are based on large trucks. They offer the full range of healthcare services enabling people to undergo medical examination in the most remote areas. We bought two mobile units here in central Russia, to help the Tula Region.

In terms of culture, we have been supporting the Moscow Kremlin Museums for quite some time now. Our company fully finances the renovation the Kremlin’s Assumption Cathedral. There is also the Tretyakov Gallery. Our subsidiaries do the same kind of work.

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