The project was announced in September 2007, when the Russian Federation's Industry and Energy Ministry approved the gas Development Program for Eastern Siberia and the Far East. It was aimed at reducing utility prices in the Russian Far East by replacing more expensive coal and petroleum at the regional power and heating plants with cheaper natural gas. The pipeline project was approved by Gazprom's board of directors on 23 July 2008. At the same meeting, Gazprom's board of directors agreed to purchase the Komsomolsk–Khabarovsk pipeline, commissioned in November 2006 by Daltransgaz, a former subsidiary of Rosneft. Design and exploration work was completed in November 2008 and working documentation was prepared by April 2009. Construction began on 31 July 2009 in Khabarovsk with a ceremony, which was attended by the Russian Prime MinisterVladimir Putin. The pipeline was opened on 8 September 2011. The opening ceremony on Russky Island was again attended by Prime Minister Putin. The first gas consumer in the Primorsky Krai was Vladivostok Combined Heat and Power Plant 2, tasked with converting from coal to natural gas. In early 2012, CHPP-1 and the heating plant in Severnaya will be converted to natural gas.
Route
The Sakhalin–Khabarovsk–Vladivostok gas transport system consists of three sections. The Khabarovsk–Vladivostok section together with the first phase of the Sakhalin–Komsomolsk section, which supplies gas from the Gazprom's Far East northern part's gas fields, will create a pipeline system. The third section - the Komsomolsk–Habarovsk pipeline, commissioned in 2006- would then be connected to the proposed Yakutia–Khabarovsk–Vladivostok pipeline. The pipeline will supply gas to China and Japan and there is a planned link to South Korea. From Vladvivostok, a Chinese pipeline under construction since 2015 by China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau will extend across China, reaching Shanghai. The pipeline also will feed a planned LNG plant in Primorsky Krai, producing liquefied natural gas for export to Japan, and a proposed petrochemical complex. There are also plans to supply gas from Vladivostok to Japan and South Korea by subsea pipelines. An alternative route to South Korea would be via an overland pipeline through North Korea. According to Russian foreign ministerSergey Lavrov, this proposed pipeline would help strengthen security in East Asia by meeting North Korea's energy needs and providing it with transit revenue. The project was also discussed during the visit of Kim Jong Il to Russia in August 2011.
Technical description
The capacity of the pipeline is of natural gas per year during the first stage, rising to by 2020, of which would be supplied from Sakhalin. It is expected to cost US$21–24 billion. The diameter of the Sakhalin–Komsomolsk and Khabarovsk–Vladivostok pipelines is, with a working pressure of. The diameter of the Komsomolsk–Khabarovsk pipeline is. In addition to the three pipelines, the Sakhalin–Khabarovsk–Vladivostok system consists of the Sakhalin main compressor station, a gas distribution station in Vladivostok, a power supply, telemechanics, communications systems and access roads.
