the Turkmen government delegation visiting Kabul on 1 November of its ensuring the pipeline’s completion and security as reported by Reuters, the existence of armed opposition to the Taliban in the Panjshir Valley and the hesitance of the regional and non-regional countries to recognise the Taliban government have cast doubt on its completion. Its Turkmen section (214 km) is the only completed section leaving the bulk of the pipeline (774 km in Afghanistan and 826 km in Pakistan) for construction to be connected to the Indian oil pipeline network. Funded by the Asian Development Bank, the TAPI (33 billion m3; US$10 billion) is meant to fed Afghanistan (500 million ft2) and Pakistan and India (each 1.325 billion ft2) for 30 years.
Goureh-Jask oil pipeline The completion and operation of the Goureh-Jask oil pipeline in May marked a major achievement for Iran. The pipeline (1100 km; 42 in.; 1 million bpd; US$1.1 billion) enables Iran to bypass the Strait of Hormuz for exporting its oil by using Jask’s oil terminal on the Sea of Oman with the storage and export capacity of 1 million bpd of crude oil. Iran has used its Persian Gulf Khark Island for “more than 90%” of its crude exports, leaving the rest for its smaller Persian Gulf terminals of Lavan, Sirri and Soroush islands as well as the Assaluyeh terminal for exporting condensates, as reported by Iran’s Press TV. Fed with Iran’s West Karun oil fields, the pipeline is the largest pipeline project of the Iranian oil industry, according to Chief Executive of the National Iranian Oil Company Mehdi Karbasian. He also stressed that the Iranian companies conducted the entire project.
Israel-Egypt gas pipeline Israel is considering the construction of a new pipeline to increase its gas exports to Egypt currently done via a subsea pipeline (5 billion m3) passing through the Sina Peninsula, according to the Israeli Energy Ministry in October. Estimated at US$2 billion, the proposed onshore pipeline – to be owned by Israel Natural Gas Lines, and which could reportedly go online in two years – will provide for annual export of 3 - 5 billion m3 of gas from Israel’s Mediterranean Sea gas fields of Leviathan and Tamar. As reported by Reuters, the two sides are considering the pipeline as an option within the context of Egypt’s request from Israel for additional gas exports. Reportedly, the approval process of the pipeline’s route from local authorities is underway.
Southern section Consisting of Chinese and Russian systems, the East Route gas pipeline system (ERGS) went online on 2 December 2019 to begin Russian gas exports to China (38 billion m3/y) to last for 30 years, as part of the world’s single largest energy deal (US$400 billion) made between Gazprom and CNPC in 2014. Having northern, southern and middle sections, China started constructing its system’s remaining southern section (50 million m3/d) in January planned to go online in 2025, as reported by Xinhua. Respectively,
its northern and middle sections went online in 2019 and 2020. The Chinese system combines building a 3170 km pipeline and using an existing 1800 km pipeline passing through six Chinese provinces (Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Hebei, Shandong and Jiangsu), the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Tianjin and Shanghai. The southern section (1509 km) will feed Shanghai with Russian gas by connecting Yongqing county in Hebei province to Shanghai passing through Shandong and Jiangsu provinces, according to the China Oil & Gas Piping Network Corporation (PipeChina). Feeding the Chinese system, the Russian system known as the Power of Siberia (3000 km, 1420 mm, 38 billion m3/y), passes through the Irkutsk and Amur Regions and the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) to supply gas from the Chayandinskoye field in the Yakutia gas production centre to the consumers in Russia’s Far East and to China. According to Gazprom, the three-line system is currently under extension to have another feeding line (803 km) scheduled for completion in late 2022 to link the Kovyktinskoye field in the Irkutsk gas production centre to the Chayandinskoye field.
Europe Nord Stream 2 (NS2) The NS2 was finally completed in September despite the sustained US opposition to the project and its associated threat of sanctions. As a prelude to its commercial operation, Russia filled its first string with 177 million m3 of technical gas on 18 October, according to its operating company. Russia hopes that its commercial operation could start before the end of 2021 as the EU’s gas demand is growing. However, the NS2’s required certification process, which began in October, may not be completed in this timeframe, although the German Federal Economy Ministry determined on 29 October that its certification would not threaten Germany’s or the EU’s gas security. Nevertheless, the two reaming hurdles are its certification by Germany’s Federal Network Agency to be completed by early January. Its recommendation then must be accepted by the European Commission, for which it has two months. The Trump administration’s threat of imposing sanctions on any company completing the project halted the construction of its remaining short Danish and German parts in their Baltic sea’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in December 2019, when Swiss-based Allseas laying the pipeline ended its operation. The threat deterred all the potential pipelaying companies, forcing Russia to use its own pipelaying vessels (Fortuna) to resume the operation in January 2021. The pipeline system connects the Russian gas network near Narva Bay in the Kingisepp district of Russia’s Leningrad region to Germany’s gas network in the northern German coast near Greifswald, to feed Germany and other EU countries.
DECEMBER 2021 / World Pipelines
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