and eliminated, the pipelines can remain in operation for a long
time.
When it comes to gas trunk pipelines, the situation with
the length of their period of use is similar. However, it is rapidly
changing (Table 4).
Both Transneft and Gazprom have developed
programmes for upgrading pipelines and are now
implementing them. In 2010, the ‘Programme for Technical
Re-Equipment, Complete Overhaul and Reconstruction and
Development of JSC Transneft Oil Trunk Pipelines Facilities
for 2011 - 2017’ was formed and approved. The programme
includes replacement of a total of 6503.61 km of pipelines
before 2017 (i.e. more than 10% of the
total length of pipelines operated by
the company). All sections of trunk
pipelines that have been in operation
for over 30 years have been examined.
Based on these studies, the remaining
safe operation period of the pipelines has
been calculated.
7
Gazprom is also implementing
comprehensive programmes for repair,
complete overhaul and technical
re-equipment of gas transmission facilities
(Table 5).
However, overhauls and technical
re-equipment require major capital
investment and new technologies. Ever
since anti-Russian sanctions have been
imposed, access to advanced technologies
and foreign credit markets has been
hindered. Therefore, import substitution has become a practical
task rather than a hypothetical question.
In the past
This is not the first time that the oil and gas industry is dealing
with this task. In November of 1962, NATO approved an
embargo on the supply of large diameter pipes that were in
demand for the construction of pipelines in USSR. When the
Federal Republic of Germany sharply limited the supply of pipes
that were necessary for the construction of trunk pipelines,
an electric-weld pipe workshop (EWPW-2) was built at the
Khartsyzsk Pipe Plant (Ukraine) and its products substituted
those of Germany. The Khartsyzsk Pipe
Plant was the only plant in USSR that
manufactured large diameter pipes.
On 29 December 1981, US President
Ronald Reagan announced trade sanctions
against the USSR, including terminating
the supply of materials intended for the
construction of the Siberian gas pipeline.
The sanctions included foreign companies
that supplied technology and equipment
to USSR and operated in the US market.
Margaret Thatcher, then Prime Minister
of Great Britain, managed to secure that
the rules for control of product re-export
did not apply to any British companies.
These companies, along with companies
from other capitalist countries, supplied
pipes, gas turbines and other equipment
for the construction of the Urengoy-
Pomary-Uzhgorod pipeline that connected
Western Siberia and Europe.
In the 1990s, the production of large diameter pipes virtually
stopped in Russia. However, today it is actively developing
and modernising. In 2005, the Vyksa metallurgical plant started
manufacturing large diameter pipes. This included a line for
manufacturing of pipes with a single straight seam for oil and
gas trunk pipelines that have a diameter of up to 1420 mm
and wall thickness of up to 48 mm. Currently, large diameter
pipes are being manufactured at the Izhora Pipe Mill, the
Volzhsky Pipe Plant, the Chelyabinsk Pipe-Rolling Plant and the
Cherepovets Pipe-Rolling Plant. Their production is enough to
meet the needs not only of Russian consumers, but of foreign
consumers as well.
Acquiring equipment
When it comes to provision of large diameter pipes to new
construction projects’ sites (such as the Power of Siberia)
there are also no problems. Neither were there any obstacles
when the projects ESPO-1 (the pipeline from Taishet in Irkutsk
Oblast to Skovorodino Amur Oblast) and ESPO-2 (the pipeline
from Skovorodino to the Far East port Kozmino) were being
implemented.
However, the anti-Russian sanctions imposed in 2014 had
a negative impact on technical equipment provision to the
industries that determine the competitive position of Russia
in energy markets, including the pipeline transport industry. A
Table 3. Oil extraction and transportation
(million t)
2010 2011 2012 2013
Extracted oil,
including gas
condensate
506 512 519 522
Including:
Extracted oil
486 492 497 497
Unstable gas
condensate
19.4 20.5 21.3 24.2
Freight
transported
by oil
pipelines
492 544 423 425
Source: Transport and communications
(2014), Moscow: Rosstat, 2014 – Table
2.3; Russia’s 2014 Statistical Pocketbook.
Rosstat, Moscow – Table 14.16.
Table 4. Trunk pipeline breakdown by time in service in Russia
Time in
operation
As of 31 December 2013 As of 31 December 2014
Length
(thousand
km)
Amount
relative to
all trunk
pipelines
(%)
Length
(thousand
km)
Amount
relative to
all trunk
pipelines
(%)
Less than
10 years
(inclusive)
21.1
12.5
20.6
12.1
From 11 -
20 years
(inclusive)
20.0
11.8
20.7
12.1
From 21 -
30 years
(inclusive)
56.5
33.4
50.6
29.6
From 31 -
40 years
(inclusive)
41.7
24.7
46.6
27.3
From 41 -
50 years
(inclusive)
19.7
11.7
20.6
12.1
Over 50 years 9.9
5.9
11.6
6.8
TOTAL
168.9
100
170.7
100
Source:
annual-report-2014-en.pdf
22
World Pipelines
/
MARCH 2016
