Despite sharp reductions in outlays for pipeline construction, the Soviet Union has started shipping gas through a major new line from Surgut in the Middle Ob district of western Siberia's Tyumen Province to Novosibirsk in the southern part of the region.
Plans call for extending the line farther southeast to the Kuznetsk industrial area.
First 48 in. section of the pipeline, from Surgut to Omsk via the city of Tyumen, was completed in late 1988. The Omsk-Novosibirsk segment, finished far behind schedule, is believed to be of 40 in. diameter.
A severe shortage of funds forced the U.S.S.R. to curtail construction of big pipelines during 1989-90.
Middle Ob gas has been delivered to Novosibirsk and the Kuznetsk region since the early 1980s via a 40 in. line from Nizhnevartovsk through Parabel and Tomsk. But even the new line will not meet the demand for gas in western Siberia's southern sector.
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