The 1,000-kilometer string of the Sakhalin – Khabarovsk – Vladivostok gas transmission system (GTS) was welded making up some 75 per cent of the first GTS start-up complex length. Thus, construction of the Sakhalin – Khabarovsk – Vladivostok linepipe entered its final stage.

“The tight construction schedule Gazprom adheres to stems from a strategic role the GTS plays. Sakhalin – Khabarovsk – Vladivostok is to become the first interregional gas transmission project in the Far East that will directly connect the Sakhalin gas production center with the Khabarovsk and Primorsky Krais consumers providing them with secure gas supply.

The project implementation will lay the groundwork for large-scale gasification of the entire Far East giving the required impetus to the regional energy, industry and municipal housing sectors development,” noted Alexander Ananenkov, Deputy Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee.

Background:

The Sakhalin – Khabarovsk – Vladivostok gas transmission system is among top priorities of the state-run Eastern Gas Program. The Sakhalin Island shelf will be the main resource base for the GTS development.

Launched in July 2009, the GTS construction is targeted at developing gas supplies to the Khabarovsk Krai and the Sakhalin Oblast, as well as arranging gas deliveries to the Primorsky Krai. The first GTS start-up complex is to be brought onstream in the third quarter of 2011. The first start-up complex will be 1,350 kilometers long and will convey 6 billion cubic meters per annum.

The linepipe is being simultaneously constructed on the Sakhalin Island, in the Khabarovsk and Primorsky Krais. Moreover, rapid construction of the Sakhalin main compressor station is underway, where installation and assembly work has been started for main process equipment and Vladivostok gas distribution station No.1.

Over 2,300 items of construction machinery and above 5,600 construction workers and experts are currently engaged in the GTS construction.