Yamal-Europe pipeline

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The Yamal-Europe natural gas pipeline is a 4,196-kilometer-long (2,607 mi) pipeline connecting natural gas fields on the Yamal peninsula, Russia, with Germany. The pipeline includes around 3,000 kilometers (1900 mi) in Russia, 575 kilometers (357 mi) in Belarus and 680 kilometers (422 mi) in Poland. The gas system in Germany connected to the Yamal-Europe pipeline through the JAGAL pipeline is about 1695 kilometers (1053 mi) in total length. The construction of the second leg of the pipeline is currently under discussion.

The diameter of the pipeline is 1420 mm (56 in). The pressure in the pipeline is secured by 31 compressor stations with a total rated capacity of 2399 MW. The pipeline is supplied by gas fields in the Nadym Pur Taz District of the Tyumen Oblast.

The Russian and Belarusian sections of the pipeline are owned and operated by Gazprom. The Polish section of the pipeline project is owned and operated by EuRoPol Gaz S.A., which is a joint venture of the Polish PGNiG, Russian Gazprom (both 48% of shares) and Polish Gas-Trading S.A. (4% of shares).

[edit] History

The planning of the Yamal-Europe pipeline started in 1992. Intergovernmental agreements between Russia, Belarus and Poland were signed in 1993. In 1994, Wingas, the joint venture of Gazprom and Wintershall, a subsidiary of BASF, started building the German section of the pipeline. The first gas was delivered to Germany through the Belarus-Polish corridor in 1997. The Belarusian and Polish sections were completed in September 1999 and the pipeline reached its rated annual capacity of about 33 bcm of gas in 2005, after completion of all compressor stations.

[edit] External links

• Yamal-Europe, Gazexport website
• EuRoPol Gaz website
• 35 Years of Russian Gas Export and Transit, by Alexander V. Misiulin and Valeriy N. Matyushechkin