The Ukraine's KZU-1 natural gas pipeline, which was subjected to depressurization after a reported explosion, has now been fully restored for transportation, the country's network operator GTSOU said on Sept. 17.
After just over two days of "around the clock" work since the incident, GTSOU said in a a statement that "the current state of repairs allows us to talk about the elimination of critical consequences of the accident," and that "all 38 meters of the new pipeline have been installed, and defectoscopy of welded joints has [been] done with positive results."
GTSOU CEO Sergiy Makogon also confirmed separately to S&P Global Platts that the pipeline would be imminently operational.
"Fortunately there were no fatalities, no damage to third-party property, and [the incident] was fully localized...it is now fully repaired, and we will be putting it into production tomorrow," Makogon said.
After the incident, GTSOU confirmed that the affected pipe was an internal transport link between domestic production in the east and storage facilities in the west, and that the network had successfully rerouted supplies through alternative routes to ensure neither domestic or international transit were adversely impacted.
'Dangerous business'
Despite the extraordinary short turnaround time for restorative works, the incident was a timely reminder of the everyday risks Transmission System Operators (TSOs) face in performance of gas transmission.
"The nature of our business is a dangerous business," Makogon said. "We use a high pressure, we have a very wide network, and unfortunately we or any other operator cannot fully avoid such situations."
"You will probably remember months ago there was a blast at the border between Bulgaria and Greece. A couple of years ago, there was a blast at Baumgarten. And several blasts in the Russian Federation during this year, so unfortunately this is the nature of our business."
Amid recent criticism about the way GSTOU had decided to declare, reschedule, and then ultimately perform the current planned maintenance works near the Budince interconnection with Slovakia, Makogon defended his network's decisions in the light of recent events.
"We do everything that is possible in order to minimize such situations," Makagon continued. "The main tool for this is preventative maintenance, and regular inspections to see where we have problems in order to make necessary repairs before something bad happens."
"This situation is relatable to the Budince situation. It shows that required maintenance should be done on time."
"This is why, two weeks ago, I was on the Slovak/Ukraine border monitoring the progress of the maintenance, and the repairs on the Budince pipeline. It will be fully finalized by Sept. 21 as it was announced," Makogon added.
When asked if GTSOU could have given more notice for the Budince works, GTSOU's CEO justified the network's actions with reference to the acute nature of the problem.
"If we found something which was critical, what should we do? Should we postpone, or should we solve the problem?," said Makogon.
"Since we are a TSO, Ukraine's TSO, we are fully responsible for safety measures. If my technical team are saying that the technical defects which were discovered are critical, we must perform maintenance."
Continuity
Market participants who have recently questioned or criticized GTSOU's handling of maintenance issues would no doubt have been impressed by the network's response to its latest setback.
Some shippers made alternative arrangements for purchased gas destined for Ukraine once the Budince works were announced, cognizant of the fact current regulations meant they were resigned to having to do this.
After begrudgingly accepting their need to shift strategy, shippers are now asking what measures will be taken to prevent future disruption should unplanned events occur, or essential works be required at short notice after exploratory testing. They have also expressed a wish to know the level of notice shippers will receive about planned works, and the extent of cooperation between gas transporters in deciding this.
"For our side, we did everything that was possible in order to minimize the impact on shippers," Sergiy Makogon said with reference to the ongoing Budince works.
"First of all, we informed them more than 42 days in advance. Then we reduced the maintenance period to just three weeks, and also provided the free of charge capacity switch from Budince to Velke Kapusany, so from our side I believe we did what was necessary to ensure that shippers were not affected."
"Initially, we approached EU Stream immediately, we offered them several solutions for how we could do it without impacting the market players, for example by creating a virtual interconnection point, or by other possibilities. Unfortunately, EU Stream was not cooperative."
It is hoped that the publication of GTSOU's annual maintenance plan at the end of this year will help shippers plan gas transport going forward, and ensure the safe continuity of transport whatever the circumstances.
"We have an annual plan, which we have to agree by the beginning of the calendar year," Makogon said. "It is worth mentioning that our company has only existed since the first of January. Legally, we could not agree anything with EU Stream before the end of the previous year, because at the time we had not been created."
"We are operators, so we have to cooperate to ensure safe operations of the pipelines, and also uninterruptible services to our clients. That's why I hope that, in the future, we will always find a way to create such conditions."
