the south stream offshore pipeline · safe pipeline design the south stream offshore pipeline will...

6
White Paper The South Stream Offshore Pipeline 1. The South Stream Project: A Key Link for Supplying Natural Gas 2. South Stream Transport B.V. 3. Safe Pipeline Design 4. Construction of the South Stream Offshore Pipeline 5. First Gas by the End of 2015 6. Putting the Environment First: Environmental and Social Impact Assessments 1. The South Stream Project: A Key Link for Supplying Natural Gas The South Stream Offshore Pipeline is the offshore component of the South Stream Pipeline System which will deliver natural gas from Russia to Central and South-Eastern Europe. It will directly connect European consumers to the world’s largest gas reserves to help secure Europe’s growing energy demand. Natural gas is the most climate-friendly fossil fuel; and it is both efficient and abundant. Yet while European demand for gas is rising, domestic production is declining, due to dwindling European reserves. The International Energy Agency projects annual gas demand in Europe to grow by 15% between 2010 and 2035. At the same time, production in Europe will decrease by more than 50%. 1 Therefore, the region needs additional gas supplies and reliable supply routes to secure its energy for the coming decades. The South Stream Offshore Pipeline is scheduled to deliver first gas to Europe by the end of 2015. The South Stream Pipeline System consists of one offshore and several onshore sections. The South Stream Offshore Pipeline will run from Russia through the Black Sea to Bulgaria. The onshore sections will connect Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Slovenia and northern Italy, with branch pipelines to Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Joint ventures have been established in each onshore country between the Russian energy company Gazprom and a local partner company, including Bulgarian Energy Holding EAD in Bulgaria, Srbijagas in Serbia, MVM Hungarian Electricity Ltd. in Hungary, and Plinovodi in Slovenia. The offshore section of the pipeline will be implemented by the international joint venture South Stream Transport B.V. 1 International Energy Agency, World Energy Outlook 2013.

Upload: vunga

Post on 04-Jun-2018

229 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: The South Stream Offshore Pipeline · Safe Pipeline Design The South Stream Offshore Pipeline will originate on the Russian shore near Anapa, cross

White Paper

The South Stream Offshore Pipeline

1.   The South Stream Project: A Key Link for Supplying Natural Gas  2.   South Stream Transport B.V.  3.   Safe Pipeline Design  4.   Construction of the South Stream Offshore Pipeline  5.   First Gas by the End of 2015  6.   Putting the Environment First: Environmental and Social Impact Assessments  

1. The South Stream Project: A Key Link for Supplying Natural Gas

The South Stream Offshore Pipeline is the offshore component of the South Stream Pipeline System which will deliver natural gas from Russia to Central and South-Eastern Europe. It will directly connect European consumers to the world’s largest gas reserves to help secure Europe’s growing energy demand.

Natural gas is the most climate-friendly fossil fuel; and it is both efficient and abundant. Yet while European demand for gas is rising, domestic production is declining, due to dwindling European reserves. The International Energy Agency projects annual gas demand in Europe to grow by 15% between 2010 and 2035. At the same time, production in Europe will decrease by more than 50%.1 Therefore, the region needs additional gas supplies and reliable supply routes to secure its energy for the coming decades. The South Stream Offshore Pipeline is scheduled to deliver first gas to Europe by the end of 2015.

The South Stream Pipeline System consists of one offshore and several onshore sections. The South Stream Offshore Pipeline will run from Russia through the Black Sea to Bulgaria. The onshore sections will connect Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Slovenia and northern Italy, with branch pipelines to Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Joint ventures have been established in each onshore country between the Russian energy company Gazprom and a local partner company, including Bulgarian Energy Holding EAD in Bulgaria, Srbijagas in Serbia, MVM Hungarian Electricity Ltd. in Hungary, and Plinovodi in Slovenia. The offshore section of the pipeline will be implemented by the international joint venture South Stream Transport B.V.

1 International Energy Agency, World Energy Outlook 2013.

Page 2: The South Stream Offshore Pipeline · Safe Pipeline Design The South Stream Offshore Pipeline will originate on the Russian shore near Anapa, cross

South Stream Transport B.V. Head Office | Parnassusweg 809 |1082 LZ Amsterdam | The Netherlands Phone +31 20 262 45 45| [email protected] | www.south-stream-offshore.com

Published: April 2014

2. South Stream Transport B.V.

South Stream Transport B.V. is an international joint venture established for the planning, construction, and subsequent operation of the South Stream Offshore Pipeline. Throughout the pipeline’s design life of 50 years, the company will provide transport services for natural gas from Russia across the Black Sea to the landfall site in Bulgaria.

South Stream Transport brings together four leading energy companies: Gazprom from Russia with a stake of 50%, Eni from Italy with a share of 20%, EDF from France, and Wintershall from Germany – each with a stake of 15%.

The South Stream Offshore Pipeline is jointly financed by investors from international financial markets and four Shareholders, who took the Final Investment Decision for the Project on 14 November 2012. It is an investment in secure and safe energy supplies that will support the long-term development of Central and South-Eastern Europe.

By uniting four leading European energy companies as shareholders, South Stream Transport benefits from extensive experience in the construction and operation of onshore and offshore gas pipelines. The company will draw on this expertise and apply advanced technology for safe construction and operations, following Good International Industry Practise for Health, Safety, Security, and the Environment (HSSE).

3. Safe Pipeline Design

The South Stream Offshore Pipeline will originate on the Russian shore near Anapa, cross the Turkish Exclusive Economic Zone of the Black Sea and land on the Bulgarian coast near Varna. The route through the Black Sea will be 931 kilometres long and reach a maximum depth of up to 2,200 metres.

Four pipeline strings will be constructed, each with a diameter of 32 inches (81 centimetres) and an annual transport capacity of 15.75 billion cubic meters (bcm). When fully

Page 3: The South Stream Offshore Pipeline · Safe Pipeline Design The South Stream Offshore Pipeline will originate on the Russian shore near Anapa, cross

South Stream Transport B.V. Head Office | Parnassusweg 809 |1082 LZ Amsterdam | The Netherlands Phone +31 20 262 45 45| [email protected] | www.south-stream-offshore.com

Published: April 2014

operational, the South Stream Offshore Pipeline will enable the transport of 63 bcm of natural gas per year – equivalent to the energy needs of some 38 million European households.

Each pipeline string will be made of over 75,000 individual steel pipes with a diameter of 81 centimetres weighing around 9 tonnes. The wall of the pipeline will be made up of almost four centimetres of steel, which will be specially heat-treated during production for extra strength.

In the first quarter of 2014, South Stream Transport signed contracts worth 1.8 billion euros for the supply of pipes for Line 1 and Line 2. Europipe from Germany and OMK and Severstal from Russia will produce pipes for the first line, while the pipe supply for the second offshore pipeline will be provided by the Marubeni-Itochu & Sumitomo Consortium from Japan and OMK and Severstal from Russia.

The pipes will be transported directly from the pipe mills to dedicated storage yards at the harbours of Burgas and Varna, on the Bulgarian coast. From here, they will be shipped to the offshore construction vessels to be laid at the bottom of the Black Sea.

4. Construction of the South Stream Offshore Pipeline

In March 2014, Saipem was contracted for the construction of the first offshore pipeline, as well as the shallow-water parts, shore crossings and landfall facilities for all four pipelines.

4.1 Offshore pipe laying

Two different vessels will be used for offshore pipe-laying. The first is Saipem’s Castoro Sei, an “S-Lay” vessel suitable for both shallow and deep waters. On board the vessel, the individual pipes will be welded together horizontally into one string and then lowered into the seabed in the shape of a large “S”.

The second vessel is the Saipem 7000 (S7000), a J-Lay vessel suitable for ultra-deep water that also laid the Blue Stream pipeline in the Black Sea. During construction, batches of four pipes will be welded together into ‘quad-joints’ of 48 metres long at the harbour. These are then shipped to the S7000 and placed vertically in a large J-Lay tower to be welded into the main string.

All pipes will be welded together with high precision by automated machines and each weld is scanned with ultra-sound to verify that they are free of any defects. The joints are then protected against corrosion with a special coating made out of a plastic fibre polypropylene before being laid on the seabed. The construction process will be monitored by the independent Norwegian foundation DNV, specializing in assessing the safety of maritime projects. Their external oversight will help to maintain high international standards, safety and reliability of construction and operation

Page 4: The South Stream Offshore Pipeline · Safe Pipeline Design The South Stream Offshore Pipeline will originate on the Russian shore near Anapa, cross

South Stream Transport B.V. Head Office | Parnassusweg 809 |1082 LZ Amsterdam | The Netherlands Phone +31 20 262 45 45| [email protected] | www.south-stream-offshore.com

Published: April 2014

Typical J-Lay vessel Typical S-Lay vessel with pipe-supply ship

4.2 Landfall facilities and shore crossings

Landfall facilities will be constructed on both sides of the Black Sea to monitor the gas flowing in and out of the South Stream Offshore Pipeline and for regular maintenance and inspection. At the landfalls, large valves will be installed so that each pipeline can be closed down when required. In addition, the pipeline will be inspected from the inside at regular intervals using a Pipeline Inspection Gauge (PIG), which is inserted into the pipeline at the Russian landfall and retrieved again in Bulgaria.

In both Russia and Bulgaria, the pipelines will run underground from the landfall facilities to the Black Sea and cross into the water through four micro-tunnels. A remotely-operated machine is used to drill tunnels with a diameter of 2.4 metres, after which the pipeline is pulled through the tunnels from the water. The micro-tunnelling method is slightly more complex and expensive than traditional ways of digging an open trench to bury the pipes, yet ensures installation of the pipelines without any construction work at the surface. This helps preserve the cliffs at the shore in Russia and the beaches on the Bulgarian coastline, which will remain open for visitors throughout the construction period.

5. First Gas by the End of 2015 With pipe production for the first line starting in April 2014, the first pipes will be delivered to the storage yards in Bulgaria in early summer. Activities at the landfalls will commence in June 2014 with the preparations for micro-tunnel construction in both Russia and Bulgaria. Offshore construction is planned to start in September 2014, when the first pipes will be welded together into quad-joints on-board the Castoro Sei while the vessel is moored in Bulgaria. In November 2014, the Castoro Sei will move to Russian waters to start offshore

Page 5: The South Stream Offshore Pipeline · Safe Pipeline Design The South Stream Offshore Pipeline will originate on the Russian shore near Anapa, cross

South Stream Transport B.V. Head Office | Parnassusweg 809 |1082 LZ Amsterdam | The Netherlands Phone +31 20 262 45 45| [email protected] | www.south-stream-offshore.com

Published: April 2014

pipe-laying. At the end of the year, the S7000 will take over pipe laying and the Castoro Sei will move back to the harbour to continue quad-joint welding. The vessels will work around the clock during construction, laying 2-3 kilometres per day, so that the first pipeline is ready for operations by the end of 2015.

6. Putting the Environment First: Environmental and Social Impact Assessments

South Stream Transport is committed to developing the Project in an environmentally and socially responsible manner, in line with national, international, and EU legislation. With the help of independent experts, the company is conducting research on the impact of the Project on the environment, taking into account the ecology, cultural heritage and socio-economic aspects.

The impact assessment consists of two parallel processes: an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in accordance with national legislation in Russia, Turkey and Bulgaria respectively; and an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) in alignment with the guidelines of international finance institutions, such as those of the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC). While the EIA serves to meet national legislative requirements, the ESIA ensures a consistent approach for the entire Project across all three countries.

The EIA and ESIA processes start with a “scoping” stage during which key environmental or socio-economic issues are identified and published in a corresponding report. This is followed by a more detailed impact assessment, which is then presented in the EIA and ESIA Reports. In addition, South Stream Transport B.V. will publish an Environmental and Social Management Plan (ESMP), which outlines measures to mitigate, manage and monitor any impacts during construction and operation of the pipeline. Stakeholders, including local communities, NGOs and fishery organisations, are consulted on each report so that their concerns are understood and considered in the assessment. The aim is to implement the Project with as little impact to the environment as possible.

In 2013, South Stream Transport B.V. submitted Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Reports in Russia, Turkey and Bulgaria.

The EIAs in Russia, Turkey and Bulgaria have shown that the pipeline will not have a significant adverse impact on the environment. Environmental experts assessed the potential effects on the seabed and performed deep-sea surveys to ensure that the pipeline route will not impact objects of cultural heritage value, such as shipwrecks. Due to the nature of the Black Sea marine environment, which is characterised by a lack of oxygen in deep waters, some of these are well preserved despite their old age. South Stream Transport is working with archaeologists and national authorities to learn more about these finds.

Following public hearings and consultation meetings in the Varna region, the Bulgarian EIA Report was approved by the Ministry of Environment in February 2014.

Page 6: The South Stream Offshore Pipeline · Safe Pipeline Design The South Stream Offshore Pipeline will originate on the Russian shore near Anapa, cross

South Stream Transport B.V. Head Office | Parnassusweg 809 |1082 LZ Amsterdam | The Netherlands Phone +31 20 262 45 45| [email protected] | www.south-stream-offshore.com

Published: April 2014

The Russian EIA went through several stages of public and expert review. In March 2014, the State Expert Review Commission reached a positive conclusion regarding the Design Documentation for the Russian Sector of the South Stream Offshore Pipeline, which also included the environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the Project in Russia.

In November 2013, South Stream Transport submitted a draft EIA Report to the Turkish Ministry of Environment and Urbanization, who are expected to announce their conclusions on the Report in mid-2014. The draft ESIA Report will be disclosed in 2014 for further stakeholder consultations.

South Stream Transport aims to obtain relevant construction permits in the three countries before the start of onshore and offshore construction activities, in summer and autumn of 2014 respectively.