Altai Gas Pipeline

This article is part of the Global Fossil Infrastructure Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor and the Center for Media and Democracy.

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Altai Gas Pipeline is a proposed natural gas pipeline in Russia. It is also referred to as Power of Siberia 2 Gas Pipeline.

Location

The pipeline would run from the Purpeyskaya compressor station (Urengoy-Surgut-Chelyabinsk pipeline), Russia through Alexandrovskoye, Vertikos, Parabel, Chazhemto, Volodino, Boyarka, Novosibirsk, Barnaul, Biysk, and the Kanas mountain pass. A proposed branch, the Russia-China Crude Oil Pipeline would cross to the Xinjiang region in China.

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Project Details

• Operator: TomskTransGaz
• Parent Company: Gazprom
• Proposed capacity: 30 billion cubic meters per year
• Length: 1,740 miles / 2,800 kilometers
• Status: Proposed
• Start Year:

Background

A memorandum on deliveries of Russian natural gas to China was signed by Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller and CNPC CEO Chen Geng during Russian president Vladimir Putin's visit to China in March 2006. The project was put on hold due to disagreements over natural gas prices and competition from other gas sources in the Chinese market.

In 2013, Gazprom and CNPC agreed to instead pursue a more eastern route, the Power of Siberia gas pipeline. Planning for this project occurred at the 2014 APEC China summit. In November 2014 China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) signed a preliminary agreement with Gazprom for construction of the $300 billion Altai gas pipeline (a western route) that was to deliver 30 bcm of gas per year for 30 years from western Siberia in Russia to China's Xinjiang region. In July 2015 the pipeline was indefinitely postposed by Russia due to a slowdown in the Chinese economy.

Chinese and Russian officials revived the project in 2019. In March 2019 Chinese vice premier vice premier Zhang Gaoli urged Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller to accelerate development of the pipeline.

Route

The 2,800 km (1,740 mi) long pipeline would start from the Purpeyskaya compressor station of the existing Urengoy–Surgut–Chelyabinsk pipeline. It would carry natural gas from Nadym and Urengoy gas fields in Western Siberia. The total length of the Russian section would be 2666 km (1,657 mi), including 205 km (127 mi) in the Yamalo-Nenets autonomous region, 325 km (202 mi) in the Khanty–Mansi autonomous region, 879 km (546 mi) in Tomsk Oblast, 244 km (152 mi) in Novosibirsk Oblast, 422 km (262 mi) in Altai Krai, and 591 km (367 mi) in the Altai Republic. The terminal point in the Russian territory is the Kanas mountain pass. A large part of the pipeline would be built within the technical corridor of existing pipelines, such as the Urengoy—Surgut—Chelyabinsk, Northern Tyumen–Surgut—Omsk, Nizhnevartovsk gas refinery – Parabel River, Parabel—Kuzbass, Novosibirsk—Kuzbass, Novosibirsk—Barnaul, and Barnaul—Biysk pipelines. In China, the pipeline would terminate in the Xinjiang region, via the Russia-China Crude Oil Pipeline, where it would be linked to the West–East Gas Pipeline.

Technical description

The diameter of the pipeline would be 1420 mm (56 in). The designed capacity of the pipeline would be 30 billion cubic meters (bcm) natural gas annually and the total cost of the whole project is expected to be up to US$14 billion. The pipeline was originally expected to become operational in 2011. The pipeline will be built and operated by TomskTransGaz, a subsidiary of Gazprom.

Controversy

The pipeline project was criticized by environmental organizations because it would go through the Ukok Plateau, which is the natural habitat of the snow leopard and other endangered species. Altai national leaders also fear that laying the pipeline and accompanying technical highway will pave way for a Chinese expansion into Altai. The pipeline route impacts burial sites and shrines in the region.

Articles and resources

External articles

Wikipedia also has an article on Altai gas pipeline (Altai gas pipeline). This article may use content from the Wikipedia article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License].