A second crude oil pipeline built under the framework of the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline system has entered commercial operations. The pipeline stretches over 940 km from Skovorodino in Eastern Siberia (Russia) to Mohe at the Russian-Chinese border and down to the Chinese city of Daqing. The oil is supplied by Rosneft and the buying company is Petrochina, which will process it in three Northern China refineries. It was built by CNPC in November 2017.
The project was launched in 2013, when PetroChina and Russia signed a 30 Mt/year supply agreement, aiming to fill the annual supply gap caused by the decline of crude oil production in northeast China. It is expected to double China's imports of crude oil from Russia from the current 15 Mt/year to 30 Mt/year. The facility is also expected to increase Russia's market share in the Chinese gas market.