ChelPipe Ships Pipes for First Joint of Gazprom’s Power of Siberia Project

ChelPipe Group (“ChelPipe” or “the Group”) has shipped four pipes (1,420 mm diameter and 21.7 mm wall) with external and internal anti-corrosion coating, made of K60-grade steel sheet, from Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works, for welding the “golden joint” of Gazprom’s Power of Siberia Russian gas pipeline. Gazprom ordered the large-diameter pipes (LDP) from ChelPipe.

Speaking at a ceremony at ChelPipe’s Vysota 239 plant, which is dedicated to manufacturing the “golden four” (the first four pipes for the first joint of pipelines), ChelPipe Group CEO Alexander Fyodorov said, “We are proud that our company was chosen to supply the pipe products for the launch of construction of such a large and significant project for the Russian economy as the ‘Power of Siberia’.”

Since the Soviet Union, Chelyabinsk pipe manufacturers have been involved in major pipeline projects in the country. The LDP produced the Chelyabinsk Pipe plant meets the highest standards and requirements and can be used for main gas pipelines crossing areas with active tectonic faults, as evidenced by Gazprom VNIIGAZ certification, and such pipes will be needed for the “Power of Siberia” project.

As part of the pipeline project, in July and August, ChelPipe plans to deliver more than 30,000 tonnes of LDP from Vysota 239. The Group won the Gazprom tender for this consignment in June 2013, and it also intends to participate in new Gazprom tenders in 2014 to supply pipes and connectors for the project.

The “Power of Siberia” is one of the most eagerly anticipated projects of the Russian fuel and energy industry in recent years. Work on the pipeline has intensified since Gazprom and the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) signed a contract in May 2014 to supply Russian gas to China. The first “golden joint” of the pipeline is due to be welded near Tomsk on 7 July 2014.