S.Korea wants a spur of Russia's Asia oil pipeline

MOSCOW, Sept 24 (Reuters) - South Korea is interested in getting a spur of the Asian pipeline being built by Russian pipeline monopoly Transneft (TRNF_p.MM), the company's vice president, Mikhail Barkov, told Reuters on Wednesday.

"That idea was floated (by South Korea) at the level of the diplomatic mission, so there is such an idea. But there is no concrete proposal," Barkov said.

Transneft is building the 600,000 barrels-per-day link to the border with China to help Russia, the world's No.2 oil exporter, diversify its exports away from European markets.

A source close to the South Korean embassy in Moscow confirmed on Wednesday that South Korea is interested in the pipeline project and in importing Russian oil, which would allow the country to diversify imports away from the Middle East.

"We would like to take part, but it all depends on the decisions of Transneft," the source said on condition of anonymity.

(Reporting by Katya Golubkova, writing by Simon Shuster; editing by Christopher Johnson)