| Urengoy–Pomary–Uzhgorod pipeline | |
|---|---|
A Soviet stamp of 1983, dedicated to the Urengoy-Uzhgorod transcontinental export pipeline |
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| Location | |
| Country | Russia, Ukraine |
| General direction | north-south-west |
| From | Urengoy gas field |
| Passes through | Izhevsk, Yelets, Kursk, Romny, Zhmerynka, Bohorodchany, Ivano-Frankivsk |
| To | Uzhgorod |
| Runs alongside | Progress pipeline, Soyuz pipeline, Bratstvo pipeline |
| General information | |
| Type | natural gas |
| Operator | Gazprom UkrTransGaz |
| Commissioned | 1984 |
| Technical information | |
| Length | 4,500 km (2,800 mi) |
| Maximum discharge | 32×109 m3 (1.1×1012 cu ft) per year |
The Urengoy–Pomary–Uzhgorod pipeline (also known as the West-Siberian Pipeline, or Trans-Siberian Pipeline) is one of Russia's main natural gas export pipelines, partially owned and operated by Ukraine.
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The pipeline project was proposed in 1978 as an export pipeline from Yamburg gas field, but was later changed to the pipeline from Urengoy field, which was already in use. In July 1981, a consortium of German banks, led by Deutsche Bank, and the AKA Ausfuhrkredit GmbH agreed to provide 3.4 billion Deutsche Mark in credits for the compressor stations. Later finance agreements were negotiated with a group of French banks and the Japan Export-Import Bank (JEXIM). In 1981-1982, contracts were signed with compressors and pipes suppliers Creusot-Loire, John Brown Engineering, Nuovo Pignone, AEG-Telefunken, Mannesmann, Dresser Industries, and Japan Steel Works. Pipe-layers were bought from Caterpillar Inc. and Komatsu.[1]
The pipeline was constructed in 1982-1984. It created the transcontinental gas transportation system Western Siberia-Western Europe, for which the official inauguration ceremony took place in France.[2]
On 19 July 2011, UkrTransGaz started modernization of the pipeline.[3]
The pipeline runs from Siberia's Urengoy gas field to Uzhgorod in Western Ukraine. From there, the natural gas is transported to Central and Western European countries.[4] It crosses the Russian–Ukrainian border north of Sumy. In Ukraine, it takes gas to the Uzhgorod pumping station on the Ukrainian border with Slovakia and to smaller pumping stations on the Hungarian and Romanian borders.[5] The pipeline crossed the Ural Carpathian mountains and more than 600 rivers including Ob, Volga, Don and Dnepr rivers.[6]
The pipeline is 4,500 kilometres (2,800 mi) long and has a diameter of 56 inches (1,420 mm). The annual capacity of the pipeline is 32 billion cubic metres (1.1 trillion cubic feet) of natural gas per year. It has 42 compressor stations.[1] The length in Ukraine is 1,160 kilometres (720 mi) and it served by nine compressor stations.[3]
The telecommunications and cathodic protection systems of the pipeline were installed by Alcatel of France. The pipeline utilizes 85 dual CCVT stations for telecommunications.[7]
The Russian section of this pipeline is operated by Gazprom and the Ukrainian section is operated by UkrTransGaz.
The Soviet plans to build the pipeline were considered a threat to the balance of energy trade in Europe, and were strongly opposed by the Reagan administration.[8][9][10][11][12] The United States prevented U.S. companies from selling supplies to the Soviets for the pipeline, as part of what was also retribution against the Soviets for their policies towards Poland.[13]
America's Western European allies, however, refused to bow[14] to U.S. pressure[15] to boycott the pipeline[16][17], insisting that contracts already signed between the Soviets and European companies needed to be honored. This led to several European companies being sanctioned by the U.S. Government.[15][18] Reagan reportedly said "Well, they can have their damned pipeline. But not with American equipment and not with American technology."[19] The efforts by the U.S. pressure to prevent the construction of the pipeline, and its export embargo of supplies for the pipeline (1980–1984) constituted one of the most severe transatlantic crises of the Cold War.[18][20]
The construction of the pipeline was also subject to a United States Congressional hearing investigating the use of imported Vietnamese labor from re-education camps to build the pipeline.[21]
The pipeline's first accident occurred even before the commissioning of the pipeline. On 15 December 1983, a fire broke out at a compressor station in Urengoy, destroying electronic monitoring devices and control panels, but no one was injured.[22]
On 7 May 2007, the pipeline exploded near the village of Luka. The explosion damaged 30 meters of the pipeline.[23] Second explosion happened on 6 December 2007 near the village of Tiahun.[24]
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