WINGAS GmbH
Press Release
May 3, 2006 Stefan Leunig PI-06-06 +49 561 301-3301
+49 561 301-1321 [email protected] Expansion of the STEGAL natural gas pipeline completed 200 million Euro invested / 5600 pipes welded together
Erfurt. After a construction period of just 20 months the big day has arrived: The Kassel-based gas company WINGAS GmbH has now completed the extension to the STEGAL (Sachsen-Thüringen-Erdgas-Leitung, Saxony- Thuringia natural gas pipeline). The Russo-German joint venture expanded the important east-west route for transporting natural gas at a cost of 200 million Euro. The expansion means that the pipeline’s transport capacity has been increased by more than 50%. Thuringia’s Minister for Trade and Commerce, Jürgen Reinholz, praised the project as a long-term contribution to securing Germany’s energy supply. “It is naturally particularly pleasing for me that Thuringia, as the hub for natural gap transport, is profiting a great deal from the investments,” Reinholz told journalists in Erfurt on Wednesday (3 May).
“This project has played its part in significantly enhancing the security of the gas supply to German and European markets,” added Dr. Rainer Seele, Chairman of WINGAS. Because the expansion of the STEGAL will enable the company to transport significantly larger volumes of Russian natural gas over the pipeline through Saxony and Thuringia to England, Belgium and France. In order to safeguard the supply of natural gas WINGAS was able to increase its supply contracts with Russia’s Gazexport in 2004 and to agree an early extension through to 2030.
The extension of the STEGAL was concentrated above all on Thuringia: A new compressor station has been built in Eischleben near Erfurt, and an existing station has been expanded in Rückersdorf. In addition, a parallel pipeline was laid along a stretch of some 100 kilometers next to the existing STEGAL – a total of 5600 additional pipes were welded together here and lowered into a trench along the same route just three meters from the existing pipeline Up to 500 skilled workers from all professions in the construction industry worked at the construction sites, the majority of them from Thuringia. “This project was completed in record time – thanks also to the support of the public agencies in Thuringia,” said Seele, thereby thanking the Minister for Trade and Commerce of the Free State of Thuringia, Jürgen Reinholz, for the speedy authorization procedure.
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The heart of the expansion, apart from the parallel pipeline, is the new compressor station in Eischleben by Erfurt. The new station is equipped with three turbines with a total capacity of around 85 MW (megawatts). Every hour around two million cubic meters of natural gas can be transported to the west. Compressor stations are an important element in natural gas pipeline systems: Because on its way to the end customer the natural gas travels several thousand kilometers and loses pressure in the process. With the compressors the pressure of the natural gas is raised to a level of around 95 bar approximately every 200 kilometers to ensure that it can be transported without a hitch. Concurrently with the realization of the new compressor station in Eischleben, existing WINGAS stations along the STEGAL in Olbernhau (Saxony), Rückersdorf (Thuringia) and Reckrod (Hesse) were expanded further and their compression capacity increased. These measures permit considerably higher volumes to be transported from east to west, around 6 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year.
Pipelines in North Rhine-Westphalia are now being expanded
However, the nationwide investment program for the WINGAS pipeline expansion has not finished with the completion of the STEGAL expansion: For an additional sum of around 50 million Euro the WEDAL (West- Deutschland-Anbindungs-Leitung, West German connection line), which runs through North Rhine-Westphalia, is now also being expanded. It is planned to increase the capacity of this pipeline by around 30 percent. The largest single project here is the construction of the new Lippe compressor station near Bad Salzuflen which is to start operations this fall. “Here, too, we are investing in the open access pipeline building that is characteristic of Germany and are reinforcing infrastructure competition in Germany,” explained Seele. He is, however, concerned that the Federal Government is planning to penalize the transport of natural gas with additional charges. “WINGAS is threatened with charges amounting to millions both from the new energy tax law and emissions trading. Taxation for a company’s own natural gas consumption for the transport and storage of natural gas is lower in all the neighboring EU member countries than in Germany. And I simply can’t understand why environmentally friendly natural gas of all things should be penalized in emissions trading,” continued Seele. Germany urgently needs investments in the gas infrastructure.
The WINGAS transport system connects the German and European markets with long-distance gas pipelines stretching over a distance of more than 5,000 kilometers from the Russian natural gas reserves in Siberia to the German border. “In terms of security of supply in the growing European gas market, Russia is and remains the most important player,“ said the Chairman of WINGAS GmbH, underlining the importance of Russia as a natural gas supplier. “For decades Gazprom has been a reliable partner in providing Germany and Western Europe with a secure supply of natural
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gas. In all these years Gazprom has always reliably fulfilled its obligations to Europe,” added Seele.
WINGAS obtains Russian natural gas over various import routes, the majority via the northern Jamal-Europe pipeline which goes through Belarus and Poland. To supplement the gas from Russia WINGAS also obtains natural gas indirectly from various other producers in Western Europe, in particular North Sea gas. “In addition to the long-term, secure supply contracts an expansion of infrastructure competition in the whole of Europe is a critical precondition for the stable supply of natural gas to Europe,“ explains Seele. With the natural gas storage facility in Rehden in Northern Germany WINGAS has the largest natural gas storage facility in Western Europe which also provides a high degree of security for gas supplies and compensates for seasonal fluctuations for WINGAS customers in Germany and Western Europe. To strengthen its market position WINGAS is expanding its storage capacities that are close to the market: In 2007 the Kassel-based gas company will therefore be launching central Europe’s second largest natural gas storage facility in Haidach, Austria, together with Rohöl-Aufsuchungsgesellschaft (RAG) and the Gazprom subsidiary OOO Gazexport. The acquisition of what was once the UK’s largest onshore natural gas field at Saltfleetby is another step forward in the further expansion of European natural gas storage capacities. Gas has been produced from the field off the east coast of England since 1999. The former reservoir is currently being converted into a storage facility.
WINGAS GmbH is a joint venture of Wintershall AG and the Russian company OAO Gazprom. Both partners have been involved in supplying gas since 1990. As shareholders of WINGAS, BASF/Wintershall and Gazprom have to date invested around 3 billion euros in setting up the WINGAS natural gas pipeline system. With the natural gas storage facility in Rehden WINGAS have the largest natural gas storage facility in Western Europe.
WINGAS. More energy - together.
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