OREANDA-NEWS. Construction of the Kuban River crossing, unique in terms of length (1,507 m), on the linear portion of South-European Gas Pipeline on Pisarevka-Anapa, km 570 – km 768.5 section has been started.

The Customer is Gazprom Invest LLC. The role of the General Contractor plays LLC "STROYGAZMONTAZH". The Subcontractor is Podvodtruboprovodstroy Ltd.

For project implementation the microtunnelling method was chosen. It is the most eco-friendly way to cross the water barriers. This method doesn’t harm the environment which is topical for the Kuban River as it provides three basins and paddy fields (territories of rice growing in the Krasnodar Territory) with water resources. In the river basin there are over 106 species of fish typical only for this region. The construction of the crossing by means of microtunnelling method doesn't disturb the melioration system or maritime traffic and significantly reduces the amount of earthworks performed.

The onshore Scythian burial (dated to the 4th century BC) is one more reason to choose this construction technology. The depth of the tunnel in a coastal zone is up to 20 m that allows keeping a historical monument undamaged.

Herrenknecht power driven tunnel boring machine is used for crossing construction. The productivity of the machine is planned to be from 8 to 25 meters per day. Along with the forward movement of the machine the tunnel from reinforced concrete pipes is constructed (outside diameter is 2,500 mm, internal diameter is 2,000 mm). Afterwards the pipe of 1,420 mm will be pulled through it. Pipe design permits to sustain combination of maximum loads due to ground pressure while staying waterproof.

Later on there will be constructed 8 more tunnels under water channels on the linear portion of South-European Gas Pipeline as well as several tunnels under motor roads.