MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian oil pipeline monopoly Transneft said on Thursday its recent inspection had confirmed serious construction delays on a pipeline to China but did not say if the start-up would be delayed as well.
"The management board highlighted that construction work was falling seriously behind schedule and that there was no construction work at all on a 704-km section, representing 26 percent of the whole route," Transneft said in a statement. It said the delays were mainly due to a lack of qualified workers.
The newly appointed head of Transneft, Nikolai Tokarev, has already said his firm was three to four months behind schedule in constructing Russia's first pipeline to Asia, as some contractors had failed to deliver work on time.
Tokarev took office as president of Transneft last month after President Vladimir Putin dismissed the previous long-serving head, Semyon Vainshtok.
Tokarev's statement about delays came as a surprise. Vainshtok had been seen as one of Russia's most effective state managers because he never delayed a project and had said the $11 billion Asian pipeline would begin on schedule.
The statement comes at a time when the expected main user of the new route, state-controlled Rosneft, struggles to find a pricing compromise with China and says it will not supply its crude cheaply.
The first 600,000-barrel-per-day section of the pipeline is due to be commissioned by the end of 2008 and Tokarev has said supplies to China would begin on time. On Thursday, the firm said the first phase pipeline was 41 percent complete instead of a projected 60 percent, while pumping stations were 24 percent ready instead of 56 percent.
