- HOUSTON -- The first shipment
of Russian oil directly to the United States arrived in Houston on Wednesday,
and U.S. officials hailed the delivery as a step toward reducing dependence
on Middle East oil.
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- Mikhail Brudno, first vice president of No. 2 oil company
Yukos, which made the shipment, said it would be the first of five or six
to the United States this year.
-
- The 200,000-metric-ton shipment arrived in the Port of
Houston aboard the supertanker Astro Lupus.
-
- Brudno said the shipment had been purchased by Exxon
Mobil Corp. and another buyer, whom he declined to identify.
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- Yukos announced in May that it would send its first tankers
to the United States this summer. That announcement followed a summit meeting
in Moscow at which President George W. Bush and President Vladimir Putin
signed an energy cooperation statement.
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- Michael Smith, U.S. assistant secretary of energy for
fossil fuels, said at a news conference Wednesday that Russia needs to
increase its share of world oil exports and the United States must diversify
its sources of oil.
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- "I hope this will be the first of many shipments
in the future," Smith said.
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- U.S. Representatives Ken Bentsen and Nick Lampson said
the shipment was a necessary first step to increase U.S. sources for oil.
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- "This opens up the lines for more oil in the market
to meet our demands," Bentsen said. "We're always going to want
to expand the marketplace."
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- Russia currently supplies a tiny percentage of U.S. imports,
and oil is its chief export.
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- Shipping to the United States, however, is costly because
of Yukos' lack of infrastructure -- primarily deep-water ports -- and increased
transportation needs, Misamore said. The company would need to add infrastructure
before it can really make a dent in the U.S. market, he said.
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- http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2002/07/05/042.html
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