Russia to ship oil to China via Arctic Ocean

According to The Moscow Times, Russia's largest shipping line, state-owned Sovkomflot, has agreed to ship oil to China via the Arctic Ocean on an east-bound route along the country's northern coast. The country's development bank approved $293 million for the purchase of two Finnish-designed, ice-breaking tankers, and Sovkomflot has taken control of one. The other is still being completed. Originally, the shipper planned to use the vessels to transport oil from a particular offshore development, but delays with that project prompted them to change plans, and instead ship oil from Murmansk to China. One petroleum analyst called the plan "exotic" and added that it would best suit minor oil fields near the Arctic shore. Last October, one Sovkomflot representative said that the company planned to begin east-bound Arctic shipments in 2010. Read much more, here.