SIBUR Starts Construction of an NGL Main Pipeline

SIBUR has launched construction of a new main pipeline to transport natural gas liquids (NGL) from the Purovsky Gas Condensate Processing Plant to Tobolsk-Neftekhim.

The new pipeline is divided into two construction sites: a 689 km long segment between the Purovsky Plant and the Yuzhno-Balyksky Main Pumping Station (MPS), and a 417 km long segment between the Yuzhno-Balyksky MPS and Tobolsk-Neftekhim.
The annual capacity of the new pipeline is expected to make over 4m tonnes between the Purovsky Plant and the Yuzhno-Balyksky MPS, and up to 8m tonnes between the Yuzhno-Balyksky MPS and Tobolsk-Neftekhim.

The construction permit has been issued by Russia’s Ministry of Regional Development based on the positive opinion of the RF State Expert Evaluation Department (Glavgosexpertiza) and the findings of the engineering surveys. Today, at the Purovsky Plant — Yuzhno-Balyksky MPSsite, constructionand assembly works are underway, with the pipes being delivered, welded, lowered-in, and backfilled.
Photos are available here.

The project is being implemented under the state Oil & Gas Industry Development Plan through 2030. Its objective is to consolidate light hydrocarbons of the Yamal-Nenets and Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Areas, and transport those to Tobolsk’s industrial site for advanced processing. The project is a part of the Western Siberian Petrochemical Cluster Development initiative.

Adding new pipeline capacity to SIBUR’s existing capacity makes the ground for the Company’s further joint efforts with oil and gas companies operating in the region so as to integrate light hydrocarbons into petrochemical processes, where such hydrocarbons are produced along with production and initial processing of gas condensate, associated petroleum gas and natural gas in the Northern territories.

NIPIgas (Krasnodar), a leading engineering centre for gas processing operations in Russia, is the general designer of the project. It has been developing the project documentation on the pipeline for two years. Thorough and meticulous treatment of the project-related technical specifications ensures the new facility’s future reliability.
The piping for the facility is supplied by Russian companies: the Chelyabinsk Pipe-Rolling Plant, the Vyksa Steel Works, and the Volzhsky Pipe Plant.

Modern automatic and semi-automatic welding technologies are used throughout the construction process. Subcontractors under the project are Russian companies, including NGSK, Stroytransgaz M, NOVA, Neftmontazh, Stroytransgaz, SMU 4, and SibEnergoStroy SPK.
By the end of 2012, around three thousand people are to be involved in the project work, along with 922 units of equipment, with the figures to be getting still higher afterwards. At the operational stage, around 500 new jobs could be created.

At Tobolsk-Neftekhim, the final point of the pipeline, there is ongoing construction and assembly of a gas-fractionation plant with a capacity of up to 2.8m tonnes of NGL per year. The capacity of the existing gas-fractionation plant at the site is up to 3.8m tonnes of NGL per year. Besides, construction and assembly of Tobolsk Polymer are being completed at the Tobolsk production site, the planned annual capacity of the new plant to reach 500,000 tonnes of polypropylene.
It is expected, that the construction of the new pipeline will contribute to advancement of deep processing of associated petroleum gas and, thus, will have a positive impact on the environment in West Siberia.

Deep processing of hydrocarbons in Russia, along with subsequent production of polymers, will help to substitute imported chemicals and develop domestic products which could improve energy efficiency of Russia’s economy (insulants, polymer pipes, road and construction materials).

Source: SIBUR