Russian oil company LUKoil announced that it intends to cut oil product exports through Baltic ports and route them through a new oil terminal under construction on the Gulf of Finland

LUKoil officials said they plan to cut all Baltic exports by 2004, when the $235 million refined oil products terminal in Vysotsk is expected to begin operations, thus allowing it to export all its oil products directly from Russian territory. The news could spell trouble for the Latvian oil shipping firm Ventspils Nafta. LUKoil is one of the largest exporters of crude oil through the Ventspils Nafta's port in Ventspils. The Russian oil giant is not, however, a major exporter of other oil products via Latvia.But Ventspils Nafta officials brushed off the news. Last year the Russian oil company comprised 11 percent of all crude reloaded by Ventspils Nafta. Haim Kogan, director of LUKoil's Baltic arm, said earlier this year that the company plans to export 1.2 million to 1.5 million tons of oil and up to 600,000 tons of oil products via Latvia.