Today Yamal hosted the celebrations dedicated to the commissioning of the unique bridge crossing over the Yuribey River floodplain. The crossing is part of the Obskaya – Bovanenkovo railroad.

“The new railroad thoroughfare designed to connect Yamal’s fields with the transportation infrastructure of northern Ural, will become a crucial component of the national strategic project –the Yamal Peninsula’s fields development. The year-round delivery of cargoes, equipment and workforce to develop Yamal will enable to rapidly form on the Peninsula a new gas production province of a fundamental importance for Russia’s gas industry development over the next decades.

The bridge crossing over the Yuribey River, a part of the Obskaya – Bovanenkovo railroad, was constructed by Gazprom within the shortest time possible under the harsh natural and climatic conditions. This is a unique construction unparalleled in the global practice of bridge building. The crossing with the length of approximately four kilometers is the longest bridge beyond the Polar Circle. Its operating life accounts for 100 years. The crossing is yet another demonstration of the remarkable technical performance and high safety margin in Gazprom’s facilities on Yamal. Their construction involved cutting-edge technologies and provided for a continuous environmental concern for this northern region,” stated Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee.

Background:

The Yamal Peninsula is a region of Gazprom’s strategic interests.

Commercial development of the Yamal fields will make it possible to build up the local gas production to 310–360 billion cubic meters per annum by 2030. Accessing the Yamal is of utter importance for the purpose of ensuring gas production growth in Russia.

11 gas fields and 15 oil and gas condensate fields have been discovered on the Yamal Peninsula and the adjacent offshore areas. Their explored and provisionally estimated ABC1+C2 gas reserves average 16 trillion cubic meters, the undiscovered potential C3-D3 gas reserves – 22 trillion cubic meters. The condensate reserves are estimated at 230.7 million tons, the oil reserves – at 291.8 million tons. The Bovanenkovskoye field with its ABC1+C2 gas reserves totaling 4.9 trillion cubic meters is the largest gas field of Yamal.

In December 2008 Gazprom launched the Yamal megaproject. The work started on the Bovanenkovskoye field development and the Bovanenkovo – Ukhta gas trunkline system (GTS) construction. The commissioning of the first start-up complexes to develop the Cenomanian-Aptian deposits of the field and to construct the GTS is slated for the third quarter of 2012.

It is anticipated to increase the projected annual gas production at the Bovanenkovskoye field from the current 115 billion cubic meters to 140 billion cubic meters in the long-term.

The Yamal megaproject execution provides for a large-scale development of production infrastructure. By now, a significant volume of cargoes is delivered to Yamal by sea during the summer navigation season through the Kharasavey port.

The Obskaya – Bovanenkovo railroad will make it possible to procure annually both the equipment and construction materials and to convey the liquid fractions of commercial products from the Peninsula’s fields, in particular, the gas condensate.

The railroad will stretch 572 kilometers (525 kilometers to the Bovanenkovo station), of which 472 kilometers have been already laid. The railroad includes 5 stations, 12 passing sidings and 70 bridges with the total length of above 12 kilometers. The working motion at the Obskaya station (0 kilometers) – the Bovanenkovo station (525 kilometers) section is to be launched in January 2010, at the Bovanenkovo station (525 kilometers) – the Karskaya station (572 kilometers) section – in September 2010.

The bridge crossing over the Yuribey River floodplain is the most complicated section of the Obskaya – Bovanenkovo railroad. It is the world’s longest bridge beyond the Polar Circle and is unparalleled in the global bridge construction practice both in terms of design and the climatic and permafrost conditions of construction and operation (permafrost soil and high degree of bogginess). The crossing has the length of 3.9 kilometers, the total weight – over 30 thousand tons, the operating life – 100 years.

The most advanced technical solutions were applied during the construction process in the aim of preserving the floodplain ecosystem of the Yuribey River. In particular, the crossing was constructed avoiding the traditional deposition of soil, which enabled to retain the floodplain’s original environment.

The construction is mainly specific for the crossing arms. To secure their reliability the arms were made of 1.2–2.4 millimeters metal pipes, buried into the wells drilled under the permafrost conditions at the depth of 20–40 meters and filled with armored concrete. The innovative technologies developed by Russian scientists and engineers enable to protect the permafrost soil from thawing.