Pipe systems and shut-off devices at the gas receiving station of the Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline and the transfer station
From an Article of Associated Press, Berlin, Germany, July 9, 2022
BERLIN (AP) — The Canadian government says it will allow the delivery to Germany of equipment from a key Russia-Europe natural gas pipeline that has undergone maintenance — equipment the absence of which Russia’s Gazprom cited last month as a reason for more than halving the flow of gas.
The return of turbines from the Nord Stream 1 pipeline sent to Montreal for a scheduled overhaul has been complicated by sanctions imposed on Russia over the war in Ukraine. Canada’s minister of natural resources, Jonathan Wilkinson, said in a statement late Saturday that “Canada will grant a time-limited and revocable permit for Siemens Canada to allow the return of repaired Nord Stream 1 turbines to Germany.”
That, Wilkinson said in the statement posted on Twitter, will support “Europe’s ability to access reliable and affordable energy as they continue to transition away from Russian oil and gas.” He said that “absent a necessary supply of natural gas, the German economy will suffer very significant hardship.”
Siemens Energy said after Gazprom started reducing gas flows in mid-June that it had been unable to return a gas turbine that powers a compressor station on the pipeline, which had been overhauled after more than 10 years in service, to the customer, Gazprom.
German politicians have dismissed the Russian explanation for the 60% reduction in gas flows through Nord Stream 1, saying that equipment shouldn’t have been a significant issue until the fall and the Russian decision was a political gambit to sow uncertainty and push up prices.
The Canadian move comes before Nord Stream 1 is due to shut down for annual maintenance on Monday. In previous summers, the work led to a roughly 10-day shutdown, but German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck has said he suspects that Russia may cite “some little technical detail” as a reason not to resume gas deliveries.
The reduction in gas flows comes as Germany and the rest of Europe try to reduce their dependence on Russian energy imports. Germany, which has Europe’s biggest economy, gets about 35% of its gas to power industry and generate electricity from Russia.
Last month, Habeck activated the second phase of Germany’s three-stage emergency plan for natural gas supplies, warning that Europe’s biggest economy faced a “crisis” and storage targets for the winter were at risk.
On Friday, energy company Uniper — Germany’s biggest importer of Russian gas — asked the government for a bailout to cope with surging gas prices.
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Nord Stream (Russian: Северный поток, Severny potok) is a pair of offshore natural gas pipelines in Europe that run under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany.
It includes the two Nord Stream 1 pipelines running from Vyborg in northwestern Russia, near Finland, and the two Nord Stream 2 pipelines running from Ust-Luga in northwestern Russia, near Estonia. Both sets of pipelines run to Lubmin in the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
Nord Stream 2 has been denied certification as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The name “Nord Stream” occasionally refers to a wider pipeline network, including the feeding onshore pipeline in Russia, and further connections in Western Europe.
In Lubmin, Nord Stream connects to the OPAL pipeline to Olbernhau in eastern Germany, on the Czech border, and to the NEL pipeline to Rehden near Bremen in north-western Germany.
Nord Stream 1 is owned and operated by Nord Stream AG, whose majority shareholder is the Russian state company Gazprom. Nord Stream 2 is owned and planned to be operated by Nord Stream 2 AG, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gazprom.
The first line of Nord Stream 1 was laid by May 2011 and was inaugurated on 8 November 2011. The second line of Nord Stream 1 was laid in 2011–2012 and was inaugurated on 8 October 2012.
At 1,222 km (759 mi) in length, Nord Stream 1 is the longest sub-sea pipeline in the world, surpassing the Norway-UK Langeled pipeline. The laying of Nord Stream 2 was carried out in 2018–2021. The first line of Nord Stream 2 was completed in June 2021, and the second line was completed in September 2021.
Nord Stream 1 gave Nord Stream a total annual capacity of 55 billion m3 (1.9 trillion cu ft) of gas, and the construction of Nord Stream 2 would double this.
The Nord Stream projects have been fiercely opposed by Central and Eastern European countries as well as the United States because of concerns that the pipelines would increase Russia’s influence in Europe and because of the knock-on reduction of transit fees for use of the existing pipelines in Central and Eastern European countries.
Germany suspended certification of the second Nord Stream pipeline, Nord Stream 2, on 22 February 2022 in response to Russia’s recognition of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics during the prelude to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. As a result, Nord Stream 2 AG went into bankruptcy.
48-Inch Natural Gas Pipeline Project ~ US Gateway Pipeline
Over the last two years, Gateway Services Group has been providing survey support on a 48-inch natural gas pipeline supporting LNG operations on the Gulf Coast. Pictured are two Gateway team members collecting data on a valve site as part of the as-built survey responsibilities on the project.
https://gatewayok.com/2017/04/10/48-inch-natural-gas-pipeline-project/
NOTE ~ Nord Stream 1 and 2 are nominal 48 inch pipelines, in this case the outside diameter is 48 inch with 1.6 inch wall thickness, making the inside diameter near 45 inches.
48-Inch Gas Transmission Pipeline – Iran Ertebat Co., Iran, 2006
The 48-inch gas transmission pipeline construction project was aimed at ensuring and increasing sustainable supply of gas to Tehran Province, especially northern and northeastern Tehran, and Lavasanat. Tehran Province Gas Company decided to pursue the project as it could highly contribute to the Province’s development, promote residents’ welfare and well-being, help achieve a proper supply-demand balance, and address the natural gas shortage across the Province.
With the launch of Tehran’s 5th Gas Transmission Pipeline, Northeastern Tehran, Tehran municipal districts 1, 3, 4, 7, and 8, and the cities of Bumahen, Roudehen, Damavand, and Firuzkuh are now covered by the national gas supply network. The 48-inch pipeline starts from near Parchin, crosses Mamalu Dam, Bagh-e Komesh Village, Jajrud, Cement Factory, and Khojir National Park, and finally reaches the 29th km on Shahid Babaei Expressway.
In December 2008, the gas transmission pipeline was inaugurated by Gholam-Hossein Nozari, the Iranian Oil Minister, NIGC CEO, Tehran Province Gas Company CEO, and Tehran Governor-General, and became operational. With a gas transmission capacity of 500,000 m3 per hour, the pipeline is located at the end of Tehran’s 5th Gas Transmission Pipeline and has expanded the Province’s gas inflow capacity by 50%.
https://iranertebat.com/en/project/48-inch-gas-transmission/
The Evolution of Large Diameter Pipelines in the United States
In 1942 and 1943 the U.S. government financed the building of “Big Inch” and “Little Big Inch” pipelines to move petroleum from Texas to New Jersey during World War II. Big Inch was a 24-inch pipeline running 1,254 miles and Little Big Inch was a 20-inch pipeline running 1,475 miles.
Post World War II the shift was on to larger diameter pipelines with 69 such projects between 1946 and 1958. Between 1936 and 1950 the number of pipelines over 12 inches in diameter in the U.S. went from 80 to 4,811.
The 1960s saw the Colonial Pipeline built with diameters ranging between 32 and 36 inches for a line that ran from Houston to New York City. A 40-inch line was built from Louisiana to Illinois.
The ultimate large diameter project, the 48-inch TransAlaska Pipeline was completed in 1977, running 800 miles from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez, Alaska.
Pipeline inspection companies and their crews need to be flexible enough to handle various pipeline dimensions with new pipeline projects starting in the United States in 2021 ranging from 6 inches in diameter to 42 inches.
Pipeline projects will often feature multiple pipeline diameters such as the Appalachia to Texas (ATEX) expansion on the books for 2022 with 1,205 miles of pipeline that is 14, 16, and 20-inch in diameter.
All told, pipelines coming online this year have diameters of: 6, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 30, 36 and 42 inches.
There was a time when inline inspections with intelligent pigs could only handle large dimension pipes but advancing technology now allows for pigging devices to handle cleaning and inspections of smaller diameter pipes, all the way down to 3 inches.
Russia Announces Deeper Cuts in Natural Gas Flows to Germany
From an Article by Melissa Eddy, New York Times, July 25, 2022
BERLIN — Russia’s state-owned gas monopoly, Gazprom, said on Monday that it would further reduce the amount of natural gas it sends to Germany through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, less than a week after it resumed limited flows after an annual maintenance shutdown.
Flows had already been cut back to 40 percent of capacity, but Gazprom said that it would crimp them to 20 percent starting Wednesday, citing problems with one of the powerful turbines that are manufactured by the German company Siemens Energy. The turbines build pressure within the pipeline to ship the gas long distances.
In mid-June Russia started cutting the amount of gas shipped through the 760-mile undersea pipeline, blaming the reduction on a missing turbine that had been shipped to Canada for repairs.
On Monday, Gazprom said on its social media accounts that it was “shutting down one more gas turbine engine produced by Siemens.”
Germany’s economy ministry has all along rejected Gazprom’s argument that a damaged turbine was to blame for restrictions in gas flows, saying instead that the cutbacks were another way for Russia to punish Europe for opposing the war in Ukraine.
The Berlin government pushed back against Gazprom’s latest projected cut. “Based on our information there is no technical reason for a reduction in deliveries,” the German economy ministry said in a statement that followed Gazprom’s announcement.
Observers said the move smacked of President Vladimir V. Putin’s intention to use Russia’s energy exports as a cudgel to punish and divide European leaders by loosening or tightening the taps as it suits him and his war aims in Ukraine.
“Gazprom’s announcement should not surprise,” said Simone Tagliapietra, a senior fellow at Bruegel, a think tank based in Brussels. “Russia is playing a strategic game here. Fluctuating already low flows is better than a full cutoff as it manipulates the market and optimizes geopolitical impact.”
European Union energy ministers are meeting in Brussels on Tuesday to discuss a proposal to get citizens and businesses of the 27-member bloc to save energy. But divisions have emerged as countries that do not rely heavily on Russian gas, such as Greece and Spain, have chafed at the idea of needing to cut consumption to help Germany, their wealthy northern partner.
In his nightly address on Monday, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine called the unfolding crisis an “overt gas war” against a “united” Europe, one that Moscow deliberately timed. “These are just different forms of terror,” he said.
Before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Germany relied on Russia to provide 55 percent of its overall natural gas needs. It has cut that share to 30 percent over the past four months, but is scrambling to save enough of the fuel to ensure that it will have sufficient stores to get through the winter.
Hours before Gazprom announced the fresh cuts, the head of Germany’s network regulator, Klaus Müller, said the country’s storage facilities had reached 65.9 percent capacity and were therefore “finally back on track.” The goal is for storage to be 75 percent full by the beginning of September.
Gazprom’s announcement should have made it clear to all European Union members how crucial it is that they move quickly and decisively to start saving gas, Mr. Tagliapietra said. “Action on this cannot be delayed anymore.”