BUKHARA-URALS NATURAL GAS PIPELINE USSR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: NGA Records (Formerly NIMA)
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78T05162A000100010082-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 28, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 2, 2011
• Sequence Number: 82
• Publication Date: April 1, 1970
• Content Type: REPORT

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NATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHIC
INTERPRETATION CENTER
PHOTOGRAPHIC
INTERPRETATION
REPORT
BUKHARA-URALS NATURAL GAS
PIPELINE
USSR
_nP-
GROUP 1: EXCLUDED FROM
AUTOMATIC DOWNGRADING
AND DECLASSIFICATION
APRIL 1970
5 PAGES
COPY NO. 118
PIR-025/70
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BUKEIARA-URALS NATURAL GAS PIPELINE, USSR
INTRODUCTION
The compressor stations of the Bukhara-Urals natural gas pipeline
were studied on KEYHOLE photography to determine their characteristic
features and at what intervals the stations are spaced along the pipeline.
Compressor stations, the most prominent components of a natural gas pipe-
line, are also the most vulnerable because of their size, their isolated
location, and the presence of highly volatile natural gas in the above-
ground,piping and containers at the stations. While the Soviet press has
reported on this pipeline, they have not revealed precise locations of
facilities, particularly of the compressor stations.
Within the last decade, the Soviet Union has become the world's second
largest producer of natural gas with an estimated 41,500 nautical miles (nm)
of pipeline planned or in operation. The degree to which this emphasis on
exploitation of natural gas resources, including the construction of new
pipelines, may be measured from KEYHOLE photography is illustrated in this
report.
report.) According to Soviet press reports, the pipe was la
id
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from the top of the pipe. In the d
esert regions,
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the stiff ing sands are fixed by sowing local grass and shrub
s in the sand
The pipeline selected for this study, known in the USSR as the Bukhara-
Urals pipeline, is representative of most Soviet facilities. It extends
1,200 nm between the cities of Bukhara, the source, and Chelyabinsk in the
industrial region of the Urals (Figure 1). As observed from photography,
the pipeline is served by 16 compressor stations spaced at average inter-
vals of 70 nm. (The names and locations of these stations are given in
Table 1.) Completed in 1964, it consists of two parallel 1,020-millimeter-
(40-inch-) diameter pipelines between Bukhara and Chelyabinsk and a single
pipeline of the same size continuing from Chelyabinsk to Nizhniy Tagil.
(The Chelyabinsk-Nizhniy Tagil portion of the line is not covered in this
strip along the line.
Compressor Stations
Two types of compressor station are found along this line. In the
underdeveloped desert areas the compressors are powered by gas turbine
engines. In areas where electricity is plentiful the compressors are
driven by electric, motors.
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CASPIAN
SEA
C1 _ 50 ?00'
^ 10 ^ Gas turbine
Pipeline
'N9 0 100 200 300
ARAL
SEA
BUKHARA-URALS NATURAL GAS PIPELINE, USSR
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70?00' Omsk
Kurgan Petropavlovsk
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Table 1. Compressor Stations along Bukhara-Urals Pipeline (Table is keyed
to Figure 1).
Geographic Coordinates
Type
1
Gazli
40-11-OON o63-28-OOE
Electric
2
Danisher
4l-o4-30N o6l-52-5oE
Electric
3
Uzgarysh
41-22-10N 060-4o-20E
Gas turbine
4
Tashauz
41-46-40N 060-01-00E
Gas turbine
5
Khodzheyli
42-23-20N 059-23-OOE
Electric
6
Adebiyat
43-02-05N 058-45-45E
Electric
7
Kabanbay
44-00-29N o58-13-37E
Gas turbine
8
Shomyshkol
46-13-17N 058-49-olE
Gas turbine
9
Urdakozgan
47-o4-30N 059-o4-16E
Gas turbine
10
Solenaya
48-oo-10N 059-11-42E
Gas turbine
11
Kaindy
48-54-50N 059-07-35E
Gas turbine
12
Alshimbay
49-55-25N 059-03-40E
Gas turbine
13
Dobbarovka
50-51-25N 059-19-OOE
Electric
14
Krasnoyarskiy
51-55-30N 059-54-40E
Electric
15
Kartaly
53-01-00W o6o-45-4oE
Electric
16
Krasnogorskiy
54-36-20E o61-o9-20E
Electric
Note: All coordinates are derived from AMS Series Series 1505 maps,
scale 1:250,000.
The gas turbine compressor stations consist of a compressor building,
a repair and maintenance building, living quarters, four support buildings,
and an underground gas storage tank (Figure 2).
pressor building has ten inlet ducts and ten exhaust stacks in two groups
of five each. Two sets of inlet and outlet manifolds connect the compressor
buildings to the pipelines, thus, suggesting two separate compressor rooms,
each servicing one pipeline. The Soviet press reports that the compressor
buildings are constructed of a prefabricated reinforced concrete framework
with asbestos/aluminum suspension panels used as wall structures.
The electrically driven compressor stations are similar to the gas
turbine stations. However, KH-4 photography reveals that the electrical
compressor buildings have inlet ducts but do not have exhaust stacks as
do the gas turbine buildings. In addition, the electrically driven com-
pressor stations have a small electrical substation adjacent to the com-
pressor building.
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25X1
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FIGURE 2. TYPICAL GAS TURBINE COMPRESSOR STATIONS. The KEYHOLE photo is
of the station at Solenaya; the location of the ground photo was not given.
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or'
25X1X1
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Each of the 16 compressor stations has a microwave facility in the
immediate vicinity. Microwave stations (usually one, but in some cases
as many as three) are also interspersed between compressor stations along
the length of the pipeline. This fact lends credence to Soviet reports
that the compressor stations are automated and remotely controlled from a
central control point.
2 r V A
25X1
REQUT F]NT
NPIC Project 111108NR
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