Asia's 5 Most Important Pipeline Projects

As of the beginning of 2012, there were more than 190,000 kilometres of hydrocarbon-carrying pipelines planned or under construction worldwide - enough to wrap around the globe almost five times.

Of that 190,000 kilometres, 142,000 are currently in the planning and design phase, with three quarters of this pipestock to be exclusively dedicated to the transport of natural gas.

Of the 48,000 kilometres currently in the construction phase, some 56 per cent, or 27,000 kilometres of transmission pipelines are being laid across the Middle East and Asia Pacific regions.

In this piece, Oil & Gas IQ reporter, Asdza Nadlehee, looks at the five of the most significant pipeline projects taking place across this vast area.

Barzan Natural Gas Project

Location: North Field reservoir, Arabian Gulf to Ras Laffan Industrial City (RLIC), Qatar

Pipeline Length: 288 km

Estimated completion date: 2014

Details: As part of the $11 billion RasGas plan to develop the North Field megaproject in the Qatari sector of the Arabian Gulf, a 24-inch export pipeline is being constructed to link the offshore reservoir to the Barzan Gas Plant in the RLIC.

A second pipeline is planned to go on stream by 2015 and when Barzan Gas Trains 1 and 2 are in operation, RasGas will become the largest gas producer in Qatar, outputting approximately 11 billion standard cubic feet of natural gas per day or 2 million BOE.

The Al-Wasit Natural Gas Programme

Location: Arabiyah & Hasbah fields, Persian Gulf to Al Wasit Central Processing Facility, Saudi Arabia

Pipeline Length: 380 km (260km offshore, 120 km onshore)

Estimated completion date: 2014

Details: This $2.2 billion project will link the Arabiyah and Hasbah fields, located 150 kilometres from the Jubail Industrial City, in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province.

The EPIC contract for work was awarded to Italian outfit, Saipem, in 2011 and the main export arteries comprise sections of 260 km 36 inch wide offshore trunkline and 120 km of onshore pipeline.

When completed the pipelines will feed the Al Wasit Central Processing Facility with the capacity to process 2.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day.

Myanmar-China Pipeline

Location: Spanning from Kyaukphyu, Myanmar to Kunming, PR China

Pipeline Lengths: Gas: 793 km, Crude: 771 km

Estimated completion date: April 2013

Details: Approved in 2008, the China National Petroleum Corporation’s (CNPC) pipelines were constructed to supply the world’s most populous nation with oil and gas exploited from the Myanma sector of the Bay of Bengal.

The US$2.5 billion project will transport up to 87,600,000 barrels of oil and 12 billion m³ of natural gas into China every year.

The Trans-ASEAN Gas Pipeline Project

Location: Across the ASEAN nations

Pipeline length: 2300 km

Estimated completion date: 2020

Details: The most ambitious international infrastructure project this century, the Trans-ASEAN Gas Pipeline project aims to develop a regional natural gas supergrid by linking existing and planned gas networks of the member states.

The US$7 billion project will comprise a total of eight pipelines with an approximate length of 2,300 km, possibly rising to 4,500 km with the completion of corrolary developments in the 10 constituent nations.

The Mallavaram-Bhopal-Bhilwara-Vijaipur Pipeline

Location: Andhra Pradesh to Madhya Pradesh via Rajhastan

Pipeline length: 1,585 km

Estimated completion date: 2015

Details: In July 2012, Gujarat State Petronet Ltd (GSPL) a subsidiary of of state-owned Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation entered into an agreement with a consortium of 14 banks to fund one of the largest megaprojects of its kind in the world.

Coming in at $1.3 billion, this new pipline network will transport hydrocarbons from Andhra Pradesh's gas-rich Krishna Godavari Basin to the centres in Central India and some of the most population dense cities in the world.

The Mallavaram-Bhopal-Bhilwara-Vijaipur Pipeline is one part of 4000 km super network which will also be made up of the 1,670 km Mehsana- Bhatinda and 740 km Bhatinda-Jammu-Srinagar pipelines.

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