Gazprom resumes gas deliveries to Georgia and Armenia
Message to the Media
Today, at 10:17am Moscow time, repair work has been completed at the North Caucasus – Transcaucasus gas main.
With the accident damage fully eliminated, the pipeline was refilled with gas immediately upon finalization of repairs.
Gas supply to Georgia and Armenia was resumed. The repairs were performed by Kavkaztransgaz, a Gazprom subsidiary.
Background
On 22 January an explosion causing a 1,220mm pipe rupture hit the 133rd km of the North Caucasus – Transcaucasus gas main. According to an investigation, the blast was caused by a sabotage act. Emergency vehicles and equipment started arriving at the accident site immediately after the explosion. On completing a big scope of earthwork, constructing a road, erecting a crossing via the Terek river and preparing the site for the arrival of heavy equipment, expert teams got down to repairs at the pipeline.
The damage was eliminated by 76 people and 40 tractors and other special-purpose vehicles designed to operate in mountainous terrain. The works continued under the harsh weather conditions: minus 22 degrees Celsius and an up to 20m/s wind speed.
The repair work was substantially complicated by leakages of gas condensate remaining in a pipe, which led to depressurization of the pipeline section in need of hot work. A big amount of time was spent to eliminate the consequences of rockfall. Despite that, all possible steps were taken to promptly restore the pipeline to service and resume gas deliveries to Georgia and Armenia.
The North Caucasus – Transcaucasus gas main was brought online in 1988. The 137-km-long Russian section has a capacity of 16 mln cu m per day. The pipeline carries gas to Georgia, which then transits it to Armenia.
Information Directorate, OAO Gazprom