Transneft to update all petroleum product inventory systems at Sheskharis pumping station in late 2026

MOSCOW. July 30 (Interfax) - Transneft plans to update all the inventory systems for petroleum products at the Sheskharis pumping station in Novorossiysk at the end of 2026.

"Sheskharis currently uses nine systems for measuring the quantity and quality of oil and petroleum products for inventory purposes. They are currently undergoing reconstruction, which includes the complete replacement of the technological equipment used to ship petroleum products. Over the last few years, work has been carried out to replace the inventory systems for tanker shipments of gasoline and diesel fuel, and at the end of 2026 we plan to update all of the inventory systems at Sheskharis," Sheskharis chief engineer Artem Sidakov is quoted as saying in corporate publication Pipeline Oil Transport.

Sheskharis is an export complex with deep-water berths on the Black Sea. The main storage capacity of over 1 million cubic meters (mcm) is located at the Grushovaya oil depot, 300 meters above sea level. The petroleum products are transported via pipeline and via railway to transfer trestles operated by JSC Transneft Terminal. Diesel fuel, gas oil, fuel oil and petrol arrive via railway. All types of petroleum products are exported, and fuel oil is also used for bunkering ships.

The elevation difference on the natural terrain allows the products to flow from Grushovaya to Sheskharis by gravity. The oil depots are connected by a technological tunnel of 5 meters in diameter, which houses the oil and petroleum product pipelines. Built in 1967, the tunnel was used to transport oil and petroleum products to the berths of the Sheskharis oil district, but it has now exhausted all of its technical resources. After a new, unattended tunnel was commissioned in 2015, passing through the Markotkh mountain range, the old tunnel was decommissioned for reconstruction work. The new tunnel is 3.2 kilometers in length and houses nine pipelines, seven of which are designed for transporting oil, diesel, fuel oil and gasoline. The new Grushovaya-Sheskharis tunnel has become part of the Yug export pipeline.

The tank farm at the Sheskharis pumping station can hold 1.6 mcm of oil and petroleum products. This will reach 1.8 mcm once the reconstruction is complete.