Background

With a view to diversify the natural gas export routes Gazprom is implementing a project for the construction of a gas pipeline running under the Black Sea to the countries of Southern and Central Europe – the South Stream project, the construction of which started in December 2012.

Gazprom Group is implementing the Southern Corridor GTS project in the aim of supplying additional gas to a number of Russia's central and southern regions in order to develop industrial and utility sectors, intensify gasification and ensure gas supply into South Stream.

The project covers eight Russian constituents: the Nizhny Novgorod Region, the Republic of Mordovia, the Penza, Saratov, Volgograd, Voronezh and Rostov Regions as well as the Krasnodar Territory.

The total length of the gas transmission system will be 2,506.2 kilometers. The project stipulates building 10 compressor stations with a total capacity of 1,516 MW. The annual throughput of the Southern Corridor gas pipeline system will amount to 63 billion cubic meters. The project is to be implemented before late 2017.

At present, the Portovaya CS is the world's most powerful compressor station. Its aggregate capacity is 366 MW, working pressure – up to 220 Ata, gas transmission distance – above 1,200 kilometers. It is located in the Portovaya Bay near Vyborg (Leningrad Region) and ensures gas transmission via Nord Stream.