Gazprom Goes South The monopolist steps up construction of the South Corridor gas pipeline network

How long the bidding procedure extension could be and when exactly construction of the Pochinki-Anapa section would be launched, Gazprom fails to specify. 

Delaying the tender isn’t in the natural gas monopoly’s own interest since the project’s execution in southern Russia is vital to future gas supply to Europe via the South Stream, which is scheduled to begin in late 2015.

Two Rolled Into One

The construction of the South Corridor gas pipeline network is part of a large-scale Gazprom project to expand Russia’s Unified Gas Supply System (ESG). According to Gazprom’s official papers, the South Corridor will provide additional volumes of gas to central and southern regions for development of industry, agriculture and municipal services sector. The new gas pipeline network will run through eight regions – the province of Mordovia, Nizhegorod, Penza, Voronezh, Saratov, Volgograd and Rostov regions and Krasnoyarsk territory.

The South Corridor has two routes – western and eastern« – which will be built in two stages (see map). 

Western route

The total length of the Western route will be 880.6 kilometers, including a 57-kilometer shunt between Kubanskaya and Korenovskaya booster stations. Today, work is under way to build new booster stations and renovate the existing ones. Total power of the five booster stations will be 574 MW (see table).

In February, Miller chaired a meeting devoted to the execution of South Stream and South Corridor projects, which also featured an update on the ongoing construction work on first stage of the South Corridor pipeline. So far, more than 477 kilometers of pipe have been laid and hydrotests conducted at separate sections of the line. According to the brief, the site for the Shakhtinskaya booster station was being prepared, and technological equipment was being installed at Russkaya, Korenovskaya and Kazachya booster stations. 

Expansion of the Urengoi-Novopskov gas pipeline is also under way in order to provide supply of necessary quantities of gas: a junction point, a gas pipeline connection and technological shunts have been built for this purpose at the Petrovsk-Pisarevka section. In addition to this, the work to reconstruct and optimize operation of Yekaterinovka, Bubnovka and Pisarevka booster stations is performed as part of the expansion effort.

Eastern route

Тhe Eastern route, which is part of the second phase of construction of the South Corridor pipeline is almost twice as long as the Western route, its length totaling 1,625.6 kilometers. The project envisages construction of nine booster stations along this route with total power of 942 MW (see table). Subsequently, three of these stations – Korenovskaya, Kazachya and Russkaya – will be operating simultaneously on both routes (see map).

Southern Capacities 

Kazachya and Russkaya booster stations are among the key facilities of the entire project to build the South Corridor. Besides transporting gas, Kazachya station will also purify it from moist and different kinds of solids. In the beginning of this year, Stroitransgaz had already installed the first of 10 drier vessels at Kazachya that will treat gas before transporting it further. After that commercial