OREANDA-NEWS. March 26, 2009. Stroytransgaz has completed welding the linear part of a new section of oil pipeline as part of a project for the Caspian Pipeline Consortium. The new facility replaces the pipeline section between the 0-kilometer and the 116-kilometer marks in Atyrau Oblast, in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Stroytransgaz signed the contract for this work with the Caspian Pipeline Consortium-K, customer for the project, in January 2008.

The pipeline system belonging to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium runs 1,510 kilometers and connects the Tengiz field in Kazakhstan with the sea terminal near Novorossiysk in the Russian Federation. The replacement section of the CPC pipeline, 130.3 kilometers in length with a diameter of 1,020 millimeters, traverses a new route that is more removed from the Caspian Sea’s shoreline than that of the active pipeline.

Construction of the new pipeline as well as the shift in the right-of-way will increase the environmental safety of transporting oil in the region.

Specialists carried out most of the welding work with the assistance of a PWT semi-automatic welding unit. Hand welding of the pipeline was done largely along parts of the route where complex working conditions were encountered. These were rugged sections where the soil mantle was formed of salt marsh and sections with a large number of passages over automobile and rail roads and various communications.

Currently the welded pipeline is being laid and prepared for hydrotesting and in-line inspection. Once the assembly work is completed, the newly built pipeline will be connected to the active facility. Thereafter, Stroytransgaz, before the end of 2009, will disassemble and liquidate the pipeline section being removed from exploitation.