Primorsk is a coastal town in Vyborgsky District

Vyborgsky District

Vyborgsky District is the name of several administrative and municipal districts in Russia.*Vyborgsky District, Leningrad Oblast, an administrative and municipal district of Leningrad Oblast...

 of Leningrad Oblast

Leningrad Oblast

Leningrad Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . It was established on August 1, 1927, although it was not until 1946 that the oblast's borders had been mostly settled in their present position...

, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

, and the largest Russian port on the Baltic

Ports of the Baltic Sea

There are over 200 ports in the Baltic Sea. When only those ports that handle minimum of 50,000 tonnes of cargo annually, and where at least part of this cargo is international, are taken into account the number of ports reaches approximately 190. In 2008, the total amount of cargo handled in the...

. It is located on the Karelian Isthmus

Karelian Isthmus

The Karelian Isthmus is the approximately 45–110 km wide stretch of land, situated between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga in northwestern Russia, to the north of the River Neva . Its northwestern boundary is the relatively narrow area between the Bay of Vyborg and Lake Ladoga...

, 137 kilometres (85.1 mi) west of St. Petersburg

Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

, at the northern coast of the Gulf of Finland

Gulf of Finland

The Gulf of Finland is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland and Estonia all the way to Saint Petersburg in Russia, where the river Neva drains into it. Other major cities around the gulf include Helsinki and Tallinn...

, near Birch Islands, protected as a sea bird sanctuary. Population:

History

Primorsk was first attested in Russian chronicles as Beryozovskoye . The original Finnish name Koivisto, means "A group of birch trees, Birch forest". Swedish name Björkö means "Birch island". In 1268, when the Hanseatic merchants from Gotland

Gotland

Gotland is a county, province, municipality and diocese of Sweden; it is Sweden's largest island and the largest island in the Baltic Sea. At 3,140 square kilometers in area, the region makes up less than one percent of Sweden's total land area...

 petitioned the Novgorod Republic

Novgorod Republic

The Novgorod Republic was a large medieval Russian state which stretched from the Baltic Sea to the Ural Mountains between the 12th and 15th centuries, centred on the city of Novgorod...

 to secure their passage to the Neva River

Neva River

The Neva is a river in northwestern Russia flowing from Lake Ladoga through the western part of Leningrad Oblast to the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland. Despite its modest length , it is the third largest river in Europe in terms of average discharge .The Neva is the only river flowing from Lake...

. Swedes annexed the region during the Third Swedish Crusade

Third Swedish Crusade

The Third Swedish Crusade was a Swedish military expedition to Karelia in 1293, an area controlled by Novgorod. As the result of the attack, Viborg Castle was established and western Karelia remained under Swedish rule for over 400 years....

. The Russians retook the islands at the close of the Great Northern War

Great Northern War

The Great Northern War was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in northern Central Europe and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swedish alliance were Peter I the Great of Russia, Frederick IV of...

 in 1721. Thereupon the city shared the fate of the Karelian Isthmus. During the period through history area was populated by Finns until 1940, when the original population was forced to leave and was substituted by new habitants of peoples of the Soviet Union.

Primorsk evolved in the 20th century as an outport for the town of Vyborg

Vyborg

Vyborg is a town in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, situated on the Karelian Isthmus near the head of the Bay of Vyborg, to the northwest of St. Petersburg and south from Russia's border with Finland, where the Saimaa Canal enters the Gulf of Finland...

. It achieved town status in 1940. It was captured by the Soviets on 18 June 1944 and transferred as part of the Paris Peace treaty. The Finnish population was substituted bu Russians. The town was renamed Primorsk in 1948

Economy

It is the site of the largest Baltic Sea

Baltic Sea

The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...

 oil terminal. It was developed by the Putin

Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...

 administration as a terminus of the Baltic Pipeline System

Baltic Pipeline System

The Baltic Pipeline System is a Russian oil transport system operated by the oil pipeline company Transneft. The BPS transports oil from the Timan-Pechora region, West Siberia and Urals-Volga regions to Primorsk oil terminal at the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland.-History:The project started...

 at a cost of two billion US dollars. The terminal started to operate in December 2001, supplanting Ventspils

Ventspils

Ventspils is a city in northwestern Latvia in the Courland historical region of Latvia, the sixth largest city in the country. As of 2006, Ventspils had a population of 43,806. Ventspils is situated on the Venta River and the Baltic Sea, and has an ice-free port...

 and other foreign rivals within one year.http://www.ft.com/cms/s/05ff71f8-7b60-11db-bf9b-0000779e2340.html. The town is on the railway line linking St Petersburg to Vyborg and is also linked by bus to other localities nearby.

Primorsk oil port

Crude oil export through Primorsk, September 2006	5,863,000 t (ranked 1st in Russia)
Key charterers from Primorsk, September 2006
Gunvor Gunvor (oil trader) Gunvor Group Ltd is an energy trading company registered in Nicosia, Cyprus , with major trading operations in Geneva and Singapore. The company operates in the trade, transport and storage of petroleum and other energy products, as well as having investments in oil terminal and port facilities...	29%
Litasco	17%
Neste	10%
Petrovit	10%
Glencore Glencore Glencore International plc is a multinational mining and commodities trading company headquartered in Baar, Switzerland and with its registered office in Saint Helier, Jersey...	7%
Stasco	5%
other	22%
Key owners chartered from Primorsk, September 2006
Heidenreich Heidenreich Heidenreich is a German surname which may be translated as "Land of the Heather," or "Power of the Heathens," or "Realm of the Heathens":* Heidenreich of Chełmno, first bishop of the Bishopric of Chełmno, 1245–1263...	14%
Neste	14%
Marmaras	10%
Minerva Minerva Minerva was the Roman goddess whom Romans from the 2nd century BC onwards equated with the Greek goddess Athena. She was the virgin goddess of poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, weaving, crafts, magic...	10%
Eiger Eiger The Eiger is a mountain in the Bernese Alps in Switzerland. It is the easternmost peak of a ridge crest that extends across the Mönch to the Jungfrau at 4,158 m...	7%
Stena Bulk	7%
Teekay	7%
Sibneft	5%
other	26%