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South Stream gas pipeline

EUROPIPE, OMK, Severstal to supply pipes for first seabed part of South Stream

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MOSCOW, January 29. Pipes for the first line of sea section of South Stream gas pipeline will be supplied by the German EUROPIPE (50%, United Metallurgical Company, or OMK (35%) and Severstal (15%), says a report of the Amsterdam-based South Stream Transport B.V., the project’s operator.

The total amount of the contracts for supply of 75,000 12-meter pipes signed Wednesday is about 1 billion euros.

The pipeline’s sea section comprises four 931-kilometer-long lines of 813-millimetrer pipes, with walls 39 millimeters thick. The unique pipes made of X65 steel are to endure extreme operating pressures of up to 28.45 MPa.

Construction of the pipeline’s seabed section will start once a sufficient pipe reserve is accumulated in temporary storages on Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast in the autumn of 2014.

The Gazprom-led project will be able to deliver 63 billion cubic metres of gas across the Black Sea to Southern and Central Europe, diversifying natural gas transportation routes and excluding transit risks.

Its surface route will cross Bulgaria into Serbia, Hungary and Slovenia to terminate at the gas distribution station in the Italian town of Tarvisio. Spur branches will be laid from the main line to connect with Croatia, a 51 kilometer-section, and with the Republika Srpska, travelling 109 kilometers.

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