The Nord Stream Pipeline – An Interesting Overview

The Nord Stream Pipeline – An Interesting Overview

The Nord Stream Pipeline is one of the world’s largest infrastructure projects. It involved producing 202000 large-diameter, twelve-meter-long concrete weight-coated steel pipes and laying them on the bed of the Baltic Sea in two lines along a carefully chosen 1224-kilometer route to transport 55 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year from Russia to the European Union.

The whole project cost €7.4 and was privately financed. Some €100 million of this investment was used for environmental studies and planning to ensure that the design, routing, construction, and operation of the pipeline will be safe and environmentally sound. A further €40 million was invested in a comprehensive environmental monitoring program with approximately 1000 fixed sampling stations. Measuring 16 parameters during construction and the first three years of operation.

At any one time at least 30 ships worked on the project in different parts of the Baltic Sea and everything was fitted into place according to plan. The steel pipes were made in Germany, Russia, and Japan. They were then concrete weight coated in Mukran, Germany, and Finland to give them extra stability on the seabed. Each pipe weighs 24 tons. Thanks to Nord Stream’s Award-winning Green Logistics concept, the most efficient and environmentally friendly way was found to ensure an uninterrupted supply of pipes to each of the three pipe lay barges used on the project. The supply vessels did not need to travel more than 100 nautical miles, which is about 185 km. To take the pipes from one of five ports in Finland, Sweden, or Germany, to any point along the pipelines 1224 kilometer route on board the pipeline vessels. The pipes were bevel-welded together, tested, and lowered onto the seabed to create the pipeline.

Each of the twin pipelines was constructed in three sections, with a different wall thickness and different pressure capabilities. As the gas pressure gradually drops during its long journey from Russia to Germany, each section was then tested before all three were welded together underwater off the coast of Sweden and Finland. The completed pipeline underwent extensive testing before the first gas was sent through it. The first pipeline was operational in the last quarter of 2011, and the second a year later.

Related Links

https://www.nord-stream.com

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nord_Stream_1

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