IMAGERY ANALYSIS MONTHLY REVIEW

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06464712
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 28, 2022
• Document Release Date: June 21, 2017
• Case Number: F-2015-01809
• Publication Date: April 1, 1982

Approved for Release: 2016/06/09 C06464712
k Directorate of
A
- Intelligence
Imagery Analysis
Monthly Review
April 1982
Comments and queries on the contents of this publication are
welceme. They should be directed to the analyst whose name
and secure line extension appear after each article
This publication has nct been formally coordinated with other
CIA comprinnnts
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�TerSeeret�
IS MR 82-004C
May 1982
Approved for Release: 2016/06/09 C06464712
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Gas Pipeline Explosion in Western
Siberia, USSR
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On 10 iarch 1982 an explosion destroyed a 250-
meter section of a new, large-diameter natural gas
pipeline that runs between the supergiant Urengoy
gasfield in western Siberia and Perm. It is unlikely,
him ever. that the explosion caused a major disrup-
tion in natural gas supplies because the ruptured
pipeline was one of four along the Urengoy-Perm
route�and it was quickly repaired.
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detected that an explo-
sion of extremely high intensity and long duration
had occured on 10 March, 400 kilometers (km)
north of Sverdlovsk
trucks carrying new sections of DIPC
were observed near the explosion site.
the pipeline appeared to be re-
paired. Although the cause of the explosion could
not be determined we believe it may
have been caused by faulty welds or thermal stress
from the arctic climatic conditions
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The pipeline, which was not present on
June 1980, was probably completed recently. The
new pipeline follows the same route as the three
older pipelines except for a 4 km segment. w here�
probably because of the terrain�it is separated
from the other three by about 1 km. Because the
explosion occurred at this point in the pipeline.
damage wassustained only by the new pipeline.
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Other explosions have occurred on Soviet pipelines.
In the mid-1970s there were seven explosions on the
then 10-year-old central Asian natural gas pipe-
line system. These explosions were probably
caused by a combination of factors: corrosion by
hydrogen sulfide which may not have been com-
pletely removed, the poor quality of Soviet large-
diameter pipe, and substandard pipelaying meth-
ods.
ERD/EB
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Site of Explosion on Natural Gas Pipeline &torten Ureagoy and Perm, USSR, 12 March 1982
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Approved for Release: 2016/06/09 C06464712