Uzbekistan, Tashkent, Feb. 1 /. Trend D.Azizov /
Vyksa Steel Works (VSW, Vyksa, Nizhny Novgorod Region), part of the United Metallurgical Company (UMK), will produce and supply 125,000 tons of large diameter pipes for construction of the third stretch of the Central Asia-China pipeline in the first half of 2013, UMK said.
According to the report, the pipe diameter will be 1219 mm with a wall thickness of 17.5 millimetres. The pipes will be produced using a steel bearing strength of L555M/X80M with an internal and external anti-corrosion coating. Production and testing of the pipes in line with the API Spec 5L (PSL level 2) standard of the American Petroleum Institute will be monitored by inspectors of international firm Moody International.
In 2008-2009 VSW shipped 260.000 tons of pipes with a diameter of 1067mm and wall thickness of 15.9mm with an internal and external corrosion resistant coating for construction of the first two stretches of the Central Asia-China pipeline in Uzbekistan - China and Kazakhstan - China sections.
As reported earlier, Uzbekistan and China started construction of the third line of the Uzbek section of Central Asia - China gas pipeline in December 2011.
The Uzbekistan - China pipeline is a section of the Central Asia - China gas pipeline passing through Uzbekistan and designed for transit of Turkmen and export of Uzbek gas to China.
The Uzbek-Chinese Asia Trans Gas JV, created by the National Holding Company (NHC) Uzbekneftegaz and the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) is the project operator.
It is planned to build the first part of the third 318 kilometre long branch of the pipeline extending from Gazly (Bukhara region) to the state border of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan with the entire associated infrastructure by March 2014.
Construction of the second part of the third 212 kilometre long branch running from the border between Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan to Gazly has to be completed by January 2015.
The design capacity of the third branch is 25 billion cubic meters of gas a year.
Financing of the $2.2 billion worth project will be carried out by loans from the State Development Bank of China, as well as direct investment of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).
Construction of the Central Asia-China pipeline was started in 2008. Its total length is about 7000 kilometres, diameter - 1067 mm. and the bandwidth of the two branches of the pipeline is 30 billion cubic meters of gas per year. The length of the pipeline in the territory of Uzbekistan is 525 kilometres.
The first of the two branches of the pipeline was commissioned in December 2009 with construction of a second gas pipeline completed in 2010.
The export contract for an annual supply of 10 billion cubic meters of Uzbek natural gas to China was concluded in October 2011. Uzbekistan launched regular supplies of natural gas to China in August last year.
