CPC to abandon gas turbine units for powering main pumps, transition to external power supply to begin in June 2025

MOSCOW. Sept 5 (Interfax) - The Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) is going to abandon gas turbine units for powering main pumps, the company's in-house journal "Panorama CPC" said.

Most of the main pumps in the Tengiz-Novorossiysk pipeline system are driven by an electric motor, but at several oil pumping stations Siemens gas turbines are used.

"The current replacement of gas turbine units at three pumping stations will significantly reduce the operating costs of the specified pipeline system facilities. At the same time, the condition and availability of spare parts for the mainline pumps and their drives are too important for oil transport to continue to depend on supplies from abroad. The closure of three Russian gas turbine stations would lead to a reduction in the nominal throughput capacity of the pipeline system from 81.5 to 65.5 million tonnes of oil per year," the publication said.

In his interview with Panorama CPC the consortium's general director Nikolai Gorban, said the program was scheduled to start in June 2025, immediately after the completion of factory acceptance tests of a domestic mainline pumping unit with an 8.3 MW electric motor. Transneft will deliver a prototype to the consortium in February.

It is noted that CPC will maintain oil pumping volumes throughout the installation period of the equipment. Process piping and shut-off valves will be installed to allow both the old and new pumping stations to operate during the transition period.