TASHKENT — The highest-altitude gas pipeline in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) has been constructed and tested in Uzbekistan. The 165km pipeline passes through the Kamchik Pass in the Kuraminsky Range within Tian Shan at altitudes as high as 2,268m. It will provide a continuous supply of gas to the most densely-populated region of the country, the Fergana Valley, which is cut off from the rest of Uzbekistan by the Kuraminsky Range.
The project commissioned by the Uzbek Oil and Gas Enterprise is truly international. Its experts developed the design of the pipeline. Engineering plans were drawn up by their colleagues at the Russian firm NIPI Inzhgeo. The gas compressor station’s equipment was manufactured in Ukraine. The Swiss firm Zeromax GmbH was the primary construction contractor, while the pipeline was built by an Uzbek-Swiss joint venture company. Construction began in September last year and was due to be completed next March, but the pipeline was completed six months ahead of schedule. It will supply 24 million cubic metres of gas a day during the winter, and up to 30 million cubic metres during the summer.
“This construction is a significant feat,” says Uzbek economist Viktor Ivonin. “Gas pipelines 1.2 metres in diameter have never before been laid in such adverse mountain conditions.”
The leader of the Christian Party, Marat Zahidov, said the old petroleum pipeline that ran through the valley during the Soviet era passed through Tajikistan. Because the governments of the two neighbouring countries were unable to agree on numerous issues, particularly those relating to energy, Uzbek taxpayers had to pick up the US$493 million bill for the construction of the high-altitude gas pipeline that does not pass through Tajik territory.
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