Pipeline Accident in Russia Arctic Pipeline

Gazprom Russia’s gas giant is rushing to hire engineering contractor to have an underwater natural pipeline, which has broken off the seabed in the Arctic, fixed Russian news agency Interfax reports.

This is the second time a pipeline on the route that crosses the he Baydaratskaya Bay has come to the surface in the past two years. As Interfax notes, last year another pipeline had broken off the seabed.

It was not clear if the resurfacing of the pipelines has created major safety hazards or affected gas supply from the fields in the Yamal Peninsula, according to The Barents Observer.

A unit of Gazprom has announced a competitive tender for engineering surveys for the Bovanenkovo – Ukhta 2 line, which transports natural gas from the Bovanenkovskoye field on the Yamal Peninsula via the Baydaratskaya Bay in the Kara Sea to mainland Russia and onto Europe.

Bovanenkovskoye is currently the largest natural gas producing field on the Yamal Peninsula, according to Gazprom.

The construction of the Bovanenkovo – Ukhta 2 gas pipeline began in 2012 and the pipeline was brought online in 2017.

Now with a second line resurfacing, Gazprom has launched a tender for repair works on 9.2 kilometers (5.7 miles) of the pipeline in the bay, Interfax reports, citing tender documents from the Gazprom unit.

Gazprom expects the work to help it have the pipeline placed in a trench of up to 5 meters (16.4 feet) below the seabed. The engineering surveys are planned to take place in 2020 and 2021, according to Interfax.

The questions remain what exactly is happening with that pipeline and how much oil leaked near the bay? Disaster of such proportion are never revealed fully to the public, we have seen in the past how it played out.