Due to be completed by the end of next year, it will transport crude from the Chayvo oilfield across the island and the Straits of Tatar to the DeKastri terminal in the Khabarovsk Krai, according to ENL.

“The pipeline design capacity is approximately 12 million tons of oil a year [and] was especially designed to meet the challenges unique to Sakhalin,” ENL said in a statement.

“To ensure safe operations, advanced technologies will be used, including directional drilling for subsurface crossing of water bodies, automated shut-off valves for emergencies, and state-of the-art software-based leak detection system, which has been validated by 10 years of extensive use by ExxonMobil and the oil industry world-wide.”

Nippon Steel Corporation, its Russian affiliate NS Nephtegazstroy Limited, and two Russian companies – LUKoil-Neftegazstroy and SMU-4 – are involved in the construction of the pipeline. More than 80% of the pipe is supplied by the Russian Vyksa Metallurgical Plant.

The Sakhalin-1 consortium is made up of operator ENL (30%), Sakhalin Oil and Gas Development Co Ltd (30%), ONGC Videsh Ltd (20%), Sakhalinmorneftegaz-Shelf (11.5%) and RN-Astra (8.5%).