Russian gas blast a form of 'energy blackmail'

scotsman ^ | 27 Jan 2006 | CHRIS STEPHEN

[Lukasz]

MOSCOW has plunged into a fresh gas row with its neighbours Ukraine and Georgia as freezing temperatures strain supplies to the limits.

Zurab Nogaideli, Georgia's prime minister, accused Moscow of imposing an "energy blockade" on his country after Russia failed to repair two pipelines destroyed in mystery blasts over the weekend.

And Russia's state gas company, Gazprom, has for the second time in a month accused Ukraine of stealing gas destined for western markets, promising unspecified retaliatory action.

Georgia and Ukraine have had strained relations with Moscow since each held pro-democracy upheavals - the so-called Rose and Orange revolutions - that ushered in pro-western governments.

Now both governments say Russia is punishing them via energy blackmail, a charge Moscow denies.

The latest disruption has come at the worst time, as freezing weather continues across eastern Europe.

Ukraine, where 151 people have died in five days of plummeting temperatures, has refused to cut consumption, though the government yesterday promised to cut supplies to factories.

Georgians are without gas for a sixth day after the two pipelines were destroyed, along with an electricity supply line. Gas canisters are being sold on the black market in the capital, Tblisi and tens of thousands are surviving by burning wood fires.

Kiev policy expert Dr Olexiy Haran

said the gas row masks a wider dispute, with Russia furious that Georgia and Ukraine, former allies, are now seeking ties to the European Union and NATO.

[elli1]

Russia to Restart Gas Supplies to Georgia (Saturday)

...On Friday, the gas workers plan to move to assembling the damaged section of the pipe ... Also a series of technical steps will be completed for preparing the drainage system," Vasily Zinovyev, director of gas monopoly Gazprom's subsidiary in the region, told Interfax.

"We are moving to the stage of pumping gas, and then work will be continued ... We will move to pumping gas on Saturday at the least," said Zinovyev, adding that getting gas to consumers would take some time.

Definitely appears to be considerable foot-dragging going on. SOP is for the repair section to be fabricated while the prep work is going on. After the repaired section is installed, then the line needs to be hydrostatically tested to check for leaks, then drained and the gas gets turned on slowly & the line is brought up to pressure. Normally, this is a 24/7, balls to the wall situ.

[GarySpFc]

Definitely appears to be considerable foot-dragging going on. SOP is for the repair section to be fabricated while the prep work is going on. After the repaired section is installed, then the line needs to be hydrostatically tested to check for leaks, then drained and the gas gets turned on slowly & the line is brought up to pressure. Normally, this is a 24/7, balls to the wall situ.

In another article it was reported that after fixing the pipe it developed a leak, which called for them to flush the pipe prior to fixing said leak to avoid an explosion. The foot-dragging is actually propaganda to make the Russians look bad.

[elli1]

http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=11615

Damaged compressor & additional damages on one of the pipelines.

[GarySpFc]

It appears the compressor and other damages are in addition to the problems I detailed. That would be exactly what one would expect from a terrorist operation. They inflict heavy damage in one or two places, and lessor damage which would not be apparent in another.