Our Arctic Neighbors: Murmansk port expands with new oil terminal

Construction of a new deepwater port on Kola Bay in Murmansk Oblast will begin soon, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said at a government meeting Aug. 25. “This is a move in the right direction,” Prime Minister Vladimir Putin commented, adding that development of transportation infrastructure is a priority for Russia.

The government has allocated 100 million rubles ($4 million) for development of the Murmansk transport hub this year. This will include modernizing the existing terminals at Murmansk port on the east coast of Kola Bay and constructing new port terminals for coal, oil and containers on the west coast of the bay, an area which is hardly used at the moment. The project also entails building a 16-mile railway line to the new terminals.

Oil company Sintez Petroleum, one of the major investors in the Murmansk transport hub, has been awarded a 49-year lease for land on the west coast of Kola Bay for construction of the oil terminal.

By 2010 the Murmansk transport hub will carry an estimated 28.5 million metric tons of cargo each year, increasing to 39 million by 2015 and 52 million by 2020, Russian media reported. The total cost of the modernization is expected to total about 300 billion rubles ($12.1 billion).

—Sarah Hurst