Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, Dec. 3 / Trend H. Hasanov /
The pipeline laid in the Karakum Desert, which connects a group of fields with the Turkmen export gas transport system, is ready to transport gas, the Neutral Turkmenistan newspaper reported citing the project contractor, Russia's MRK Inziniring, a part of the Itera Group.
"Up to 3 billion cubic meters of fuel and up to 5 billion in the future will be transported from deposits in Karakum annually to the Yilanli Compressor Station via the pipeline," the contractor said.
The gas will be extracted from underground vaults in the central part of the desert and combine with gas flowing from different fields into the gas export system.
The main line may also be important for new settlement gasification. They will be created as a result of developing virgin lands in the country's northern regions.
The pipeline, with a length of 198.2 kilometers and a diameter of 720 millimeters, was built under a contract with the state concern Turkmengaz.
According to the paper, the pipeline was constructed under a project developed jointly with Russian designers and Turkmengaz's Oil and Gas Institute specialists.
For welding operations, the company purchased CRC-EVANCC automatic welding equipment using a gas mixture operational under desert conditions, as well as Innershild semi-automatic welding systems using high-quality wires.