OJSC Gazprom transgaz Belarus, formerly Beltransgaz, will build and launch new capacities at the Mozyr and Pribugskoye underground gas storage facilities in the Gomel and Brest regions of Belarus in 2013-2020.
This decision is enshrined in a decree by Belarusian President
Alexander Lukashenko, which is published in the national legal portal.
According to the decree, the third and fourth phases of the Mozyr
underground storage facility in the Gomel region will be constructed and
commissioned in 2013-2020 in order to guarantee Belarusian energy
security and provide for the effective development of the country’s
underground storage capacities. This project will entail well-drilling;
the washing out, reconstruction, arrangement and testing of underground
reservoirs; the construction of a gas pipeline offtake and other
engineering and transport infrastructure facilities; the installation of
gas pumping units; and the construction of a brining complex.
During that same period, the fifth phase of the Pribugskoye
underground storage facility in the Brest region will be built. At this
site, new wells will be drilled, gas flow-lines will be built, the gas
treatment unit will be reconstructed, and gas pumping units will be
installed.
Lukashenko’s decree appoints OJSC Gazprom transgaz Belarus the client for the construction and design of these facilities.
At the moment, the former Beltransgaz operates the Osipovichskoye and
Pribugskoye underground gas storage facilities, which were created in
water-bearing formations, as well as the Mozyr storage facility, which
was built in salt-bearing formations.
The Osipovichskoye facility was commissioned in 1976 and is now
running in cycle mode, with active gas storage topping 300 million cubic
meters.
The Pribugskoye facility is currently in pilot operation and started
receiving gas in 2000. Work is now under way to expand the storage
facility. So far, it can store more than 400 million cu m of gas, but if
the results of pilot operation are positive, it could store up to 600
million cu m of gas by 2015.
Work to create the Mozyr facility commenced in 2006. The facility is
being established with the use of existing caverns that were part of an
old facility that stored light petroleum products and mining waste from
OJSC Mozyrsol. The Mozyr facility’s first phase was brought into trial
operation in 2009, and in 2010 it reached peak daily productivity of 8
million cu m.
Belarus will continue to develop the Mozyr facility until the end of
2020 and later bring it to a maximum storage capacity of 1 billion cu m.
