Mannesmann Grossrohr delivers line pipes for the ZEELINK gas pipeline

Salzgitter-based Mannesmann Grossrohr GmbH (MGR), a subsidiary of the Salzgitter Group’s Mannesmann Business Unit, is currently delivering the first line pipes for the ZEELINK gas pipeline to MGR’s interim storage facilities.

The order comprises a total of approximately 215 km of gas line pipe in a dimension of DN 1000 (1,016 mm) and is the third largest project in the 60-year history of the large-diameter pipe mill in Salzgitter. The polyethylene lined pipes are around 18 m long and weigh up to eight tons.

The ZEELINK project company is a joint venture between Open Grid Europe GmbH (OGE, 75 percent) and Thyssengas GmbH (25 percent). OGE is responsible for the planning and construction of the pipeline.

The feedstock of around 100,000 t of hot-rolled strip for the spiral-welded large-diameter pipes was provided by Salzgitter Flachstahl GmbH. The pipeline’s 543 pipe bends are being produced in the Group’s own pipe bending plant in Mülheim. The plant processes the longitudinally welded large-diameter pipes using feedstock from Salzgitter Mannesmann Grobblech GmbH.

Millions of household, commercial and industrial customers in North Rhine-Westphalia and beyond are relying on the timely completion of the ZEELINK Gas pipeline by March 2021. The background to the project is the necessary conversion from L to H gas (L = low calorific, H = high calorific) due to the dwindling L gas output in the Netherlands. The project consists of laying a new gas pipeline from Lichtenbusch on Germany’s border with Belgium to Legden near Ahaus in North Rhine-Westphalia, as well as building a compressor station in the Aachen region.