Vostok Oil: One Tanker, Four Trillion Rubles

Every headline number behind Vostok Oil — from the tanker fleet and shipping target to the resource base and flagship well — has failed to survive contact with what Rosneft has actually drilled, built, or shipped. Four trillion rubles into the project, Rosneft has filled a single tanker. The Valentin Pikul spent 84 days moored at Bukhta Sever's single loading berth before its cargo was loaded for the run to China along the Northern Sea Route. Its sister ship, the Akademik Gubkin, is right behind it. Rosneft's own operating plan calls...