Gazprom Gaze on South Stream

Gazprom, the Russian gas giant, is focusing its pipeline manufacturing on the South Stream project, chairman Alexei Miller said at a meeting in Moscow.

New and revolutionary types of pipe would be used in South Stream, including the thickest ever used in gas pipelines, he said.

"For the first time in the global history of offshore gas pipelines construction, pipes with a 39 millimeter wall thickness designed for the operating pressure of 27.73 megapascals (MPa) will be used," he said in a Gazprom statement.  

Gazprom said the meeting discussed test results of experimental large diameter pipe (LDP) batches designed for the South Stream offshore section.

Miller was reviewing construction needs with members of the pipeline manufacturing sector to discuss future projects. He emphasized the need for strong reliable pipes to ensure reliable gas transmission.

Gazprom, he said, has new "megaprojects" ahead like South Stream that require cooperation from the manufacturing sector.

"We place higher demands on the pipes that will be used for the construction of these gas pipelines," he told representatives of Russia's main pipe manufacturers.

Late last year Gazprom held an elaborate ground-breaking ceremony for construction of the South Stream pipeline, which would move Russian gas to southern Europe.

Some European Union sources are sceptical about the project. Marlene Holzner, a spokeswoman for European Energy Commissioner Gunter Oettinger, told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in December that Gazprom hasn't offered any formal declaration about the pipeline's route.

South Stream is intended to diversify Russia's gas export options and avoid geopolitically sensitive transit routes in Ukraine.