More than Half of Russia’s 250,000 KM Oil Pipelines Worn Out and Leaking or at Risk of Doing So in the Near Term, ‘Arctida’ Analyst Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 21 – More than half of Russia’s network of 250,000 km of oil pipelines are worn out and have leaked or are at risk of leaking significant amounts of oil into the environment, according to Raya Levashova. In the case of some Russian companies, those with pipelines leaking or threatening to leak is as high as 80 percent.

            In 2023, the last year for which data on leaks are available, the Arctida analyst who focuses on climate and the environment, says that there were 14,716 oil pipeline ruptures which spilled oil into the surrounding environment, a figure that likely has risen since that time as pipelines have aged still further (arctida.io/en/projects/oil-pipeline-on-thin-ice).

            Oil leaks from ships onto beaches in the southern part of the Russian Federation have attracted a great deal of attention in the past year as have a series of pipeline disasters elsewhere. But the number of such leaks is set to skyrocket as Rosneft pushes to create a new 9,000 km network in the Russian Far North, Levashova says.

            The company says it will begin its first shipments in the Taymyr peninsula in September, although that date may not be met. It has laid only 700 km of track so far. Moreover, the project is over-budget, and it faces special problems because of the melting of the permafrost layer and the distance from services that could ensure protection in he case of spills.

            In 2020, Levashova reports, “the Russian Arctic accounted for 19 percent of all Russian oil production,” a share that Rosneft plans to increase to 26 percent as fields come on line there and pipelines become available to carry the oil from the fields to foreign markets. That build up means there are likely going to be more spills along the way, the analyst says.

            Environmentalists like herself, the Arctida researcher says, are worried that as the project proceeds, the risk of leaks will go up and harm the incredibly fragile eco-systems of the High North.  And they note that the line now being built is based on the assumption environmental conditions will stay as they are. That is clearly wrong and a recipe for disaster, Levashova says.

            Global warming is not only leading to the melting of the permafrost and the increasingly shaky ground across which pipelines pass but also to a decline the difference in temperature between soil and air on which thermosyphons now being installed work less well because they rely on far larger differences than are the case even now.

            As a result, Levashova continues, “at current rates of warming, localized engineering solutions can no longer guarantee the safety and stability of industrial pipelines; the risks of deformation and loss of containment are rising in step with the climate crisis. And that crisis is being worsened in part by the oil being burned after traveling through these pipes.”

            She says that the Russian government has failed to impose the kind of fines that would discourage Rosneft and others from cutting corners and making pipelines more secure. At present, in fact, “it is often more cost-effective for Russian oil companies to pay fines and compensate for damage than to invest” to prevent such disasters.