Gazprom starts 5,000-km Eastern Gas Supply System project
MOSCOW. March 22 (Interfax) - Gazprom is beginning to implement the huge project to build the Eastern Gas Supply System (EGSS), which will stretch over more than 5,000 km.
The EGSS project was brought up for discussion by the Russian gas giant's management board for the first time on Thursday, and the report will subsequently be presented to the company's board of directors.
"The main purpose of the project is to develop the Eastern Gas Supply System of the Russian Federation in regions of Eastern Siberia and the Far East," the government said in the updated national territorial planning scheme in the area of federal transport (as regards pipeline transport), which now includes this project.
The project calls for the comprehensive development of gas transport capacity in Eastern Russia and its subsequent connection with gas infrastructure in the western part of the country, Gazprom said in a press release.
"This will ensure additional reliability and flexibility of gas supplies to domestic consumers and open up new opportunities to develop the gasification of regions in Siberia and the Far East," the company said.
President Vladimir Putin earlier issued orders to bring piped natural gas service to regions that did not previously have access to it, including Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Jewish Autonomous Region.
The EGSS will run from the northern part of the Yamal Peninsula in the Arctic to Khabarovsk Territory in Russia's Far East and will have design capacity to carry 28.5 billion cubic meters of gas per year, according to the territorial planning scheme.
Siberian line
The gas transport corridor begins on the Yamal Peninsula, in the Yamalsky district of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District, and runs through the Nadymsky and Purovsky districts and Noyabrsk. In the Khanty Mansi Autonomous District, it crosses the Surgutsky district, Kogalym and Nizhnevartovsky district, and in Tomsk Region it runs from the Alexandrovsky to the Zyryansky district. Gas pipelines have already been laid from the central districts of Yamalo-Nenets to Tomsk Region, which here the project will involve expanding the gas transport system.
In the Kuznetsk Basin, the planned pipeline only crosses the Mariinsky municipal district. In Krasnoyarsk Territory, pipeline has been laid from the Bolsheuluisky to the Nizhneingashsky district, and in the Yemelyanovsky district, approaching Krasnoyarsk, near the village of Pamyati 13 Bortsov.
The government press service said a month ago after a meeting between Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak and Krasnoyarsk Governor Mikhail Kotyukov that Gazprom was conducting design and survey work on the gas pipeline section to Krasnoyarsk.
In Irkutsk Region, the pipeline runs from the Taishetsky district to the outskirts of Irkutsk (Usolsky and Slyudyansky districts). Gazprom's Kovykta field, the starting point of the Power of Siberia gas pipeline, is also located in Irkutsk Region.
Eastern line
Another part of the EGSS is a connector between the Power of Siberia and Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipelines that will run across Amur Region (Seryshevsky-Arkharinsky districts), the Jewish Autonomous Region (Obluchensky, Birobidzhansky and Smidovichsky districts) and Khabarovsk Territory (Amursky, Nanaisky and Khabarovsky districts).
In an article in the Energy Policy journal in January, Novak called this section one of the first stages of the EGSS.
"The gradual implementation of the System of Trunk Gas Pipelines Eastern Gas Supply System project, in the first stage of which there are plans to connect the Power of Siberia and Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok trunk pipelines, has begun, and the subsequent stages call for the construction of the Power of Siberia 2 trunk gas pipeline," Novak said.
"Design and survey work is now underway for the construction of the Belogorsk-Khabarovsk gas pipeline stretching about 830 km from the Amur Gas Processing Plant to the tie-in to the system of the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok trunk gas pipeline near Khabarovsk. Completion of construction is planned for 2029," Novak said at the time.
This connector will essentially link the Yakutsk and Sakhalin gas production centers, increasing the reliability of gas supplies for the whole region. Gazprom's Chayanda field, the foundation of the Yakutsk production center, is expected to reach full design capacity in 2024.
Gazprom, meanwhile, has also announced the start of the first phase of the project, involving the connection of the Power of Siberia and Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipelines. "Construction of the Belogorsk-Khabarovsk section of the Eastern Gas Supply System began in 2024 for this purpose," Gazprom said. Design and survey work is also underway on other sections of the system.
Technology
Gazprom might use innovative pipes intended for a higher operating pressure of 150 atmospheres (14.7 Mpa) made from higher strength steel to build the new pipeline system. All Russian pipe plants have the competency to manufacture new-generation large-diameter pipes from K70 steel.
Using pipes that can handle higher pressure will make it possible to build pumping stations further apart, which will reduce the cost of the project.