South Stream is a step ahead

The South Stream project envisages the construction of four 32 in. dia. gas pipeline strings under the Black Sea at the maximum depth of up to 2250 m. They will be laid from the Russkaya main compressor station that will be constructed on the Russian coast to the Pasha Dere receiving terminal on the Bulgarian coast near Varna.

The total length of pipes to be laid will be 3700 km. The gas pipeline will run through Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary and Slovenia to northern Italy. Gas pipeline branches will be constructed from Serbia to Croatia and Republika Srpska (within Bosnia and Herzegovina). In addition, the possibility of constructing a gas pipeline branch to Macedonia is being considered. The total length of the onshore gas main made of 1.2 - 1.4 mm pipes will be approximately 1455 km in Central and Southern Europe.

The Bulgarian section

The Bulgarian section of South Stream is technologically challenging and capital intensive. The main gas pipeline route will run from the Black Sea coast to the Serbian border. A 59 km gas pipeline branch to the gas distribution hub in Provadia will also be constructed. The total length of pipe within the Bulgarian gas pipeline section will amount to 965 km, including 366 km of loop lines.

The length of pipe within the Serbian section of the South Stream will total 655 km, including 74 km of loop lines and 158.6 km of gas pipeline branches. Two compressor stations with an aggregate capacity of 225 MW will be constructed. The main gas pipeline route will run from the Bulgarian border to central Serbia and further on to the Hungarian border in the north. Two gas pipeline branches with the length of 52.8 km and 105.8 km will be constructed from the main route to Croatia and Republika Srpska.

The South Stream gas pipeline commissioning and the launch of gas supplies are scheduled for December 2015. The system will supply 15.75 billion m³ of Russian natural gas to Europe starting from 2016, 47.25 billion m³ – from 2017 and in 2018 it will reach the full design capacity of 63 billion m³ annually.

The Hungarian section

The Hungarian section of the gas pipeline will stretch 229 km from the Serbian border to Slovenia via southern and southwestern regions of the country. A 100 MW compressor station will be constructed there. South Stream will cross Slovenia westwards to Italy, the section length will total 266 km. It is planned to launch in this region two compressor stations with an aggregate capacity of 128 MW.

The South Stream gas pipeline commissioning and gas supplies startup are scheduled for December 2015. The system will supply 15.75 billion m³ of Russian natural gas to Europe starting from 2016, 47.25 billion – from 2017 and in 2018 it will reach the full design capacity of 63 billion m³ of gas annually. In order to secure the projected amounts of gas supplies it is required to commission almost 6000 km of gas line pipes and eight compressor stations with an aggregate capacity of 753 MW between 2015 and 2017. In 2016 alone it is projected to launch 3500 km of line pipes, including two offshore strings with a total length of 1850 km and four compressor stations with 375 MW in aggregate capacity.

In order to secure the projected amounts of gas supplies it is required to commission almost 6000 km of gas line pipes and eight compressor stations with an aggregate capacity of 753 MW between 2015 and 2017.

“All the main engineering solutions were carefully scrutinised during the FEED and design stages of the South Stream project, that is why no dramatic changes are expected,” reported Leonid Chugunov, Head of the Project Management Department of Gazprom. “However, there is a possibility of minor amendments into the project.” For example, due to specifying the gas volumes to be distributed in Europe through this gas pipeline, the commissioning schedule of gas transmission capacities was amended this July in terms of technical parameters and the commissioning dates of certain production facilities. The specification of initial parameters required amendments into the completed design and permitting documents for the Bulgarian, Serbian and Slovenian sections. According to Leonid Chugunov, the minor amendments may be due to other reasons as well, including the accession of new members to the South Stream project.

Adapted from press release by Hannah Priestley-Eaton

Read the article online at: https://www.worldpipelines.com/business-news/21022014/south_stream_is_a_step_ahead/