Construction of the £20-million, 60-km long, pipeline, which will have a total capacity of around 3.6 million tons/yr, will begin before the end of 2004; in addition, a 10-year supply contract for 2 million tons/yr of crude oil was also signed. Gerhard Roiss, OMV’s deputy CEO responsible for refining and marketing, emphasized the strategic importance of this project for the group: “Thanks to this contract, we will be able to directly supply our Schwechat refinery with Russian oil, in addition to oil from the Adria-Vienna pipeline. This supply diversification will also generate cost benefits with respect to both products and logistics.” Deliveries will begin in January, 2006, with annual volumes of about 20% of the capacity of the Schwechat refinery. Through construction of additional pumping stations, the capacity of the pipeline will ultimately be increased to 5 million tons/yr. Prices for the crude oil will be in line with existing oil supply contracts between Yukos and refineries in the region, and implementation of the project follows a memorandum of understanding regarding the construction of the new pipeline and respective crude oil deliveries which was signed by Yukos and OMV in August.