MRTS Holding says pipe-laying vessel Fortuna has installed the first eight large-diameter bored piles at the construction site of Gazprom’s LNG regasification terminal in the Kaliningrad region. This is the first project in Russia to use this sort of piles. MRTS companies are involved in the project.
The shells for the first piles were made in Arkhangelsk at the facilities of MRTS Terminal and delivered to Kaliningrad by water transport, where they are welded and undergo anti-corrosion treatment.
Then the piles are delivered to the construction site and installed with a crane.
DGPS sensors are installed on all shells, which allow them to be positioned with high accuracy. Deviations from the vertical position are monitored with inclinometers. If deviations are not detected, the shells are filled with crushed stone (about 8,000 tons of crushed stone for each shell and 2,500 tons between inserts and shells).
Thus, the foundation is formed to bear a birth of 40 m wide and 100 m long. Besides, there will be a breakwater with a width of 26 m and a length of 600 m. A 5-km long pipeline will link the terminal with the underground storage facility (pipe diameter of 530х15 mm, concrete pavement of 50 mm thick).
“Construction of an LNG terminal in the Kaliningrad Region is a unique project. Therefore, it is extremely interesting for us from the point of view of design, production and logistics. Besides, the time of the project implementation is very short, which also complicates the task, - commented Vladimir Durnin, General Director of MRTS. - Each phase of this project requires absolute attention and creative approach. We develop new methods and looking for new approaches allowing for implementation of our task as well as for optimization of the process. This is a kind of challenge we should meet. All this will let us obtain unique competencies that can be used in other projects in the future."
LNG regasification terminal in the Kaliningrad Region is a project of strategic significance for Russia. Its implementation will let improve energy security of the Kaliningrad Region. The terminal will let the region be fully-autonomous for a long time. The consumers in the region will be able to get up to 2.7 bln cbm of gas per year.
The terminal is to be put into operation by the end of 2017. It will be connected with the existing gas pipeline near the underground gas storage facility of Kaliningrad, so that gas could be supplied to consumers in the region and to the storage facility. The process of regasification will be performed on a flouting regasification unit.