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Gazprom to start South Stream construction in 2012
20.01.2012 + + + OAO Gazprom has decided to begin construction of the South Stream natural gas pipeline in December 2012, as opposed to 2013, as previously planned. Gazprom will present the updated construction schedule to the board of directors of South Stream Transport AG in February.
South Stream will cross the Black Sea to deliver 63 billion cu m/year of Central Asian gas to southern and central Europe. Intergovernmental agreements are in place between Gazprom and Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Greece, Slovenia, Croatia, and Austria to implement the onshore part of the project.
Turkey granted Gazprom permission earlier this month to build South Stream in its waters (OGJ Online, Jan 9, 2012). South Stream shareholders agreed Sept. 16, 2011, that Gazprom would hold a 50% stake in the offshore part of the pipeline, with the remainder divided between Eni 20%, Wintershall Holding GMBH 15%, and EDF 15%. Shareholders finalized the project’s feasibility study in third-quarter 2011. The study included basic technical decisions on the project with justification of their feasibility, assessment of environmental safety and activities for environmental protection, and economic evaluation of the project, taking into account capital and operating costs.
Source Gazprom - Published in Oil & Gas Journal
by Christopher E. Smith, OGJ Pipeline Editor
Black Sea pipeline survey sets sound profile record
11.01.2012 + + + GSP Offshore’s DP-2 vessel GSP Prince is providing survey services and support for the proposed South Stream gas pipeline through the Black Sea for Russian engineering company PeterGas LLC.
The vessel has covered around half of the 900-km (559-mi) long route, most in water depths of more than 2,000 m (6,562 ft).
Onboard personnel took 35 minutes to record an underwater sound velocity profile of a 1,730-m (5,676-ft) deep section. According to GSP Offshore, this beats the previous record for sound velocity profiling of a water column, measuring 1,563 m (5,128 ft) which had been set by the National Data Buoy Center in association with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
South Stream survey operations include exploration of the bottom sections and of the subsea strata using a Hugin AUV.
GSP Prince is equipped for fast recording of underwater sound velocity thanks to its high-speed UnderwaySV winch, developed by Oceanscience (USA), and the RapidSV underwater sound velocity recording profiler supplied by UK-based Valeport.
According to GSP, one innovation to the bottom profiling method employed, has been the application, in tandem with the RapidSV sound velocity rate sensor, of a cantilever-type spool. This makes it possible for the probe to plummet practically in the free-descent mode as the cable unwinds.
The sensor descends through the water at a speed of up to 5 m/sec (16.4 ft/sec) and reaches the depth of 1,000 m (3,281 ft) in three to four minutes. The winch’s high wind-up speed allows the sensor to be raised quickly to the surface.
The offshore section of South Stream through the Black Sea will connect the compressor station on the Russian coast at Beregovaya with the Bulgarian coast at Varna, reaching a maximum water depth along the way of around 2,000 m (6,562 ft).
Operator Gazprom plans to transport 63 bcm/y (2.2 tcf/yr) through the offshore line and subsequent onshore section through the Balkans countries of southeast Europe.
Source: Offshore Magazine
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