Gas pipelines inside Russia were vulnerable to potential sabotage

The accident on the gas pipeline in the Leningrad region near Vsevolozhsk immediately caused a wide resonance in the media. Indeed, just the other day, Sweden officially confirmed that a terrorist act was the cause of the destruction of the underwater pipelines of the Nord Stream in the Baltic Sea. The state of emergency on the Belousovo-Leningrad gas pipeline has not yet been officially associated with intentional harm, however, such versions speak out.

The fire on the gas pipeline in the Vsevolozhsk district of the Leningrad region, which occurred in the middle of the day on November 19, was eliminated in less than three hours. “No one was hurt,” Gazprom Transgaz St. Petersburg said in a statement. Consumers are provided with fuel through alternative transport channels…

How are Russian gas pipelines protected from sabotage? We asked Igor Yushkov, an expert at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation and the National Energy Security Fund, about this.

– From the point of view of preventing sabotage and causing deliberate physical damage, gas transmission facilities located on the territory of Russia are actually not protected by security. No machine gunners with dogs. The maximum that security measures consist of is the construction of a fence with barbed wire at the exit points of the transport highway to the surface.

– But do companies that own gas pipelines exercise some kind of security control?

– The operation of the system is controlled by monitoring at compressor and distribution stations, but even there the system is maintained by a team of specialists working in shifts or on a rotational basis. CCTV systems are in use.

Of course, there are security personnel there, but emergencies are mainly monitored by measuring the pressure in certain sections of the pipeline. When the pressure decreases, a crew with repairmen leaves for the place of the alleged accident, and in case of suspicious circumstances of violation of the operation of the pipeline, the necessary documentary base is drawn up and, possibly, law enforcement agencies are involved.

– But is it enough? After all, explosions of gas pipelines are very dangerous …

– Tapping into gas pipelines, by analogy with those that fraudsters use to steal raw materials from oil pipelines, is extremely dangerous – fire and explosions that can follow in this case will lead to a tragic result for the criminals themselves. However, there are no “waymen” who constantly check the status of the system on gas lines.

Emergency situations leading to explosions on Russian gas pipelines happen regularly – at least a dozen a year. Sergei Pravosudov, Director General of the National Energy Institute, told MK what preventive measures are being taken to reduce and prevent accidents on domestic raw materials routes.

– How is the technological safety of gas pipeline operation ensured?

– Due to the work that is carried out during regular inspections and scheduled repairs.

During the test tests, “extreme” conditions are created, as a result of which deformation of the system can be caused. This includes increasing pressure, temperature and gas flow rate. Such work is carried out before the pipe is put into operation in order to find out what maximum stresses the network can withstand. And functional diagnostics checks the operation of the gas pipeline under standard conditions, fixing the condition of pipe sections, connecting elements.

Are surveys ongoing?

– The Russian gas pipeline system is the largest in the world. Its total length exceeds 170 thousand kilometers; more than 250 compressor stations provide pumping. It is physically impossible to check the full operation of each section. Therefore, each “transgaz” – a subsidiary of “Gazprom”, which controls the distribution of “blue fuel”, has its own schedule for repair work.

On new sections, where there is confidence in the reliability of the route, the diagnostic period can be up to several years, on old branches, repair work is carried out much more often. Roughly speaking, if any “transgaz” has 5,000 kilometers of the pipeline route at its disposal, then the company annually diagnoses about 500 kilometers of them.

– How is the verification carried out? Do Gazprom specialists follow along the pipeline and visually assess the sustainable operation of the transport system, or do they do it with the help of drones and helicopters?

– A wide range of special devices and high-precision technological equipment is used, including line finders, acoustic devices, flow meters, and so on. An internal inspection involves launching an optical sensor into the pipe, which is used to search for and identify defects, points of possible destruction of the coating or connecting elements of the pipeline. External preventive work is carried out, including from helicopters or drones equipped with thermal imagers.

– Can we assume what caused the accident on the gas pipeline in the Leningrad Region?

– At first glance, the accident should not be associated with terrorist actions. Rather, a whole set of man-made and force majeure factors played here – a violation of the laying technology, the growth and expansion of icing due to a sharp cold snap. Such accidents are not uncommon.