Construction was in full swing through winter and summer along the 56-in. Yamal-Europe gas pipeline. - Welding progresses earlier this year on Gazprom's 56-in. Yamal gas pipeline at a rate of 50-60 welds/day. (Photograph from Stroytransgaz)
Russian contractor Stroytransgaz has been working on the project since 1996. From 1997 through mid-2001, the company successfully employed four spreads of CRC-Evans Pipeline International Inc.'s automatic welding equipment on the project.
More than 280 km of Grade X-70 were laid by mid-year. Much of the work has been in winter at temperatures as low as -35° C. Production has been steady at about 50 welds/day due to the terrain and weather; repair rates have been low, says Stroytransgaz.
The company's performance on the Yamal pipeline and other projects won it the entire onshore portion of the Russia to Turkey Blue Stream project, which crosses the Black Sea.
The Turkish section of the Blue Stream pipeline, from Samsun to Ankara, was built in 2000. Two CRC-Evans automatic welding spreads were used to weld the entire 502 km of 48-in. pipe. Despite difficult terrain, say the contractors, the Stroytransgaz crews achieved 207 welds in one 14-hr workday, with a repair rate of approximately 5%.
Since the breakup of the USSR in 1991 and through 1999, Stroytransgaz says its turnover increased from $2.5 million to $1.2 billion.
