Offshore staff
MOSCOW -- Gazprom’s management committee has been reviewing construction progress on the Dzhubga-Lazarevskoye-Sochi gas pipeline, much of which will follow an offshore route under the Russian sector of the Black Sea.
Pre-construction operations for the 159.5-km (99-mi) offshore section are nearing completion. Implementation of the linear part is due to start in March, as soon as weather conditions improve. Horizontal directional drilling is being performed at present to install the pipeline landfall sections. At one section, near Novomikhailovskoye, drilling operations have been completed.
The pipeline is being built to provide gas supplies to Sochi as the location for the Winter Olympics in 2014, and to meet energy needs on the Russian part of the Black Sea coast. Construction should be completed this spring.
Offshore, the pipeline will be laid on the floor of the Black Sea, around 4.5 km (2.8 mi) from the shore and following a route parallel to the coastline, terminating at the Kudepsta gas distribution station near Sochi. The 53-cm (20.8-in.) diameter pipeline is designed to deliver around 3.8 bcm/yr of gas.
According to Gazprom, horizontal directional drilling is the optimum coastline crossing technique, as this minimizes environmental impact on vulnerable coastal eco-systems.
Gazprom has also created a project management department to coordinate engineering and construction activities for South Stream, another proposed new pipeline to take gas across the Black Sea to southern and central Europe.
This new body will be responsible for constructing the offshore section of the pipeline, expanding the gas transmission capacities in Russia required for ensuring gas delivery from country’s unified gas supply system via South Stream, upgrading the existing gas transmission infrastructure facilities, and building new facilities in the countries participating in the project.
The 900-km (559-mi) offshore section will be laid on the seabed from the Beregovaya compressor station on the Russian coast to the Bulgarian coastline. Maximum water depth along the route will be over 2,000 m (6,561 ft). Annual capacity of the offshore section will be 63 bcm.
01/15/2010
