How Valve Makers Benefits of Pipeline Construction in the East

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South Stream will also pose a challenge for valve makers. The pipeline will run along the bed of the Black Sea for 900 kilometres, at depths of over 2000 metres. As a consequence, pressure levels in long sub-sea sectors will be high. This requires high wall thicknesses and valves that can handle high pressure levels.

Nabucco or TAP

Russia seems to be triumphant with its Nord and South Stream pipelines, as both are set to cover the entire demand from Western Europe. In contrast, the EU's Nabucco pipeline project failed. The project was designed to transport gas from the Caspian Sea to Europe, leaving Russia out of the loop. But the project is dead. South Stream is way ahead, whereas Nabucco didn't even have enough contracts with gas companies. German power company RWE exited the project months ago.

The large Nabucco route from Turkey to Austria, covering 3,300 kilometres, has no chance left. It was supposed to go online by 2017. “The original version of the classic Nabucco pipeline is out of the question,“ explained Iain Conn, a BP manager and spokesperson of the Shah Deniz Consortiums. Instead, talks are being held concerning a far shorter route, starting at the Turkish border and covering around 1.300 kilometres. It is claimed the large-scale Nabucco version was too large and too expensive, as costs were estimated to be 15 billion Euro. Demand in the European market amounts to 10 billion cubic metres of gas – compared to the 31 billion cubic metres originally envisaged. In order to realise the large-scale Nabucco version, the EU would have to subsidise the remaining 21 billion cubic metres.

Things are not going well for Nabucco: Competition to the shorter Nabucco pipeline is coming from the TAP (transadriatic pipeline), which will run via Greece through the Adria to Italy. The winner is the TAP project, that is going to be realized.

And there will be further orders for the valve sector —These orders, however, would be rather different from the major-scale projects from Russia. Valves made for Nabucco would be less demanding than those constructed for Nord and South Stream, as the pipeline, named after an opera composed by Verdi, will only run across land, and not under the sea.

Russian Oil for China and the USA

Russia doesn't have to concern itself with such problems, not only thanks to both Nord and South stream. The country is also pumping oil to China, Japan and the USA. The last part of the 4,700 kilometre long East Siberian-Pacific Pipeline (Espo), with a volume of 20 billion Euro, has been finalised. It is the world's largest pipeline and has a capacity of 50 million tons of oil per year. China stressed it wanted to receive 22 to 30 million tons annually, compared to the current 15 million tons. The USA will receive the remaining 35 per cent. Russia can thus enter the US market in a major fashion.

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