Putin turns on the taps at Baltic export facility

Primorsk, Russia: Prime Minister Vladimir Putin turned on the taps on Wednesday at a new, Baltic Sea oil-export facility, the latest project by Russia to bypass fickle transit countries and get its vast and increasingly valuable natural resources directly to Western markets.

The event on the wind-swept northern shores of the Gulf of Finland came at the end of a trip to his hometown of St Petersburg - his first since becoming premier.

The trip also signalled the growing list of priorities that he intends to target in his new occupation.

The 'Sever', or 'North', terminal at the port of Primorsk, about 120 kilometres northwest of the northern city, will handle Russia's growing production of value-added oil products, such as diesel fuel, jet fuel and kerosene, and officials boasted of the facility's modern infrastructure and technology.

Putin opened the taps to fill a new Russian tanker not with the traditional turn of a valve, but with a click of a computer mouse.

The terminal, Putin said, will help Russia diversify its export potential for oil and refined oil products and will push Russian oil companies and refineries to modernise their operations and export more refined oil products.