ESPO contractor lays underwater pipeline across Angara River
IRKUTSK. March 15 (Interfax) - Contractor CJSC Vozrozhdeniye has completed laying an underwater section of the backup line of the Eastern Siberia - Pacific Ocean oil pipeline in a trench across the Angara River, LLC ESPO Project Management Center, a division of pipeline monopoly Transneft, reported in a statement.
The width of the river at the point of the crossing is 2,940 meters, and the depth ranges from 3.4 meters to 10.6 meters. The underwater trench lies at a depth of 14.3 meters.
From February 14 to March 13 the contractor worked round the clock to pull 19 lengths of pipeline from the right bank to the left bank of the river and weld joints The length of the pipeline section pulled across is 3,090 meters. The underwater pipeline consists of 268 pipes with diameter of 1067 mm and wall thickness of 25 mm.
Following monitoring of the laid pipeline, there are plans to conduct hydraulic testing for strength and tightness together with onshore sections.
The backup line across the Angara will ensure safe operation and uninterrupted flow of oil through the ESPO pipeline system, the company said.
The design documentation for construction of reserve lines at underwater crossings across the Angara and Aldan rivers and the Ust-Ilimskoye reservoir was done by OJSC Giprotruboprovod. The three new underwater crossings are scheduled to be commissioned at the end of 2012.
Construction of the underwater pipeline across the Angara was begun in June 2011. The cross is in the Irkutsk Region, at the 288-km point of the ESPO pipeline. The plan for the underwater pipeline calls for building a backup line 100 meters from the main line. The length of the underwater section of the trunk pipeline will be 5,377 meters.
The ESPO is being built to take oil to markets in the Asia-Pacific region. The first phase, which included the pipeline section from Taishet (Irkutsk Region) to Skovorodino and the Kozmino oil loading terminal on the Pacific coast, was launched at the end of 2009. The oil is taken buy rail from Skovorodino to the port. The second phase calls for building the section from Skovorodino to the Pacific coast and expanding the capacity of the marine terminal.
