Cabinet approves feasibility study for reconstruction of Bar compressor station worth UAH 1.8 bln

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has approved a feasibility study for reconstruction of the Bar compressor station of the Soyuz gas pipeline (Bar district, Vinnytsia region).

The decision is outlined in cabinet resolution No. 1403-r of December 30, 2015 posted on the government's website.

The total cost of the reconstruction is approved at UAH 1.817 billion, including UAH 73.024 million will be sent to construction works, UAH 1.312 billion to buy equipment and UAH 431.773 million are other expenses.

It will take 12 months to finish construction. The largest efficiency of the compressor station consisting of two pumping units would be 85 million cubic meters a day after reconstruction, and the efficiency of the fuel gas processing unit will be 5,000 cubic meters per hour.

The annual gas consumption for own needs by the station will be 77.86 million cubic meters of gas and 4.497 million kWh of electricity.

As reported, Ukrtransgaz and Deutsche Bank AG (Germany) on December 11, 2012 signed an agreement on opening a credit line of EUR 53.575 million for the modernization of the Bar station of the Soyuz gas pipeline.

The cost of servicing the credit line will be EUR 13.908 million. The crediting period is up to ten years and nine months from the date the loan funds are transferred to the borrower's account.

Parliament in mid-October 2012 allowed the government to provide state guarantees of UAH 560 million for the project for modernizing the Bar compressor station of the Soyuz trunk gas pipeline as part of the agreement with Ferrostaal Industrieanlagen (Germany).

Germany is prepared to provide financing for 85% of the project's price tag using Deutsche Bank credit funds. Ukraine will finance the other 15%.

The loan terms stipulate the state guarantees and loan insurance by the company Euler Hermes Deutschland AG (Hermes).

Ukrtransgaz, Ukraine's trunk gas pipeline operator, on April 29, 2013 signed an agreement with Ferrostaal Industrieanlagen GmbH on the modernization of the Bar compressor station of the Soyuz trunk gas pipeline. The value of the contract signed on April 29 will be EUR 51.369 million (excluding VAT).

The Bar station was put into operation in 1979 and has seven gas-pumping units with a total capacity of 70,000 kW.

The Soyuz pipeline runs from Orenburg in Russia to the western border of the former Soviet Union. It was built in 1975-1978 and extends for 1,568.5 kilometers. Along its length are twelve compressor stations. Its capacity is 26 billion cubic meters per year.

Ukrtransgaz operates the system of trunk pipelines and 12 underground gas storage facilities with a total active capacity of 31 billion cubic meters on the mainland. The total length of the pipelines operated by the company is 38,600 km.