By Judy Clark
Associate Editor
HOUSTON, Nov. 12 -- A consortium led by Russia's state-controlled gas group OAO Gazprom plans to rehabilitate and upgrade the Central Asia-Center (CAC) natural gas pipeline system from Turkmenistan to Russia and Ukraine. The Russian company Zaburzhneftgazstroi and the Ukrainian company Frunze Alliance comprise the other partners in the consortium. The 10-year upgrade program will cost an estimated $1.3 billion, with $500 million to be expended before 2005.
The group also is assessing the feasibility of building a new, $1.2 billion pipeline along the Caspian coast through Kazakhstan that would provide additional capacity. Kazakhstan would also be a partner in that new pipeline.
The CAC system and associated pipelines form a network of gas transmission lines built 20-30 years ago to deliver gas from Turkmenistan to central areas of the USSR and Europe. It is the only route for the growing export of Central Asian natural gas in the region east of the Caspian Sea to Russia, Ukraine, and European countries.
The system is composed of numerous pipelines feeding into two main export trunklines, one of which traverses western Kazakhstan and a larger mainline through Uzbekistan. Although the system's design capacity was 90 billion cu m/year, it currently transports only 45 billion cu m/year because of its present condition.
Russia recently signed a long-term contract to purchase 60-80 billion cu m/year of gas from Turkmenistan during 2004-28, and Ukraine is negotiating for the purchase of at least 45 billion cu m/year during 2007-32. Together the volumes represent about 25% of Turkmenistan's proven gas reserves.
Although the contracts will necessitate substantial additional capacity through the system, Uzbekistan recently said it has plans to export its own natural gas through its section of the system and would make only about 20 billion cu m/year of capacity available to Turkmenistan, hence the plans for the new pipeline along the coast wholly in Kazakhstan and extensive remediation of the existing Kazakhstan system.
Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov has been working closely with Gazprom to create the additional capacity.
Feasibility study let
A contract to prepare a detailed feasibility study for the rehabilitation and upgrade of the western Kazakhstan system has been awarded to the oil, gas, and chemicals division of Bateman BV, The Netherlands.
The 823 km Kazakhstan mainline connects with five piping systems totaling about 5,000 km of pipe, more than 170 turbo-compressor units, and three gas metering stations.
Bateman said the scope of the study will be "to assess the condition of the pipeline and associated compressor stations, establish a plan for rehabilitation and modernization of the system, and increase its capacity to 100 billion cu m/year" without interrupting gas flow.
The study will include an estimate of costs and a project financing plan.