No threat from flood to Siberia-Pacific pipeline

The powerful flood in the Far East poses no threat to the East Siberia-Pacific pipeline. "There is no threat to stable and safe operation of the East Siberia-Pacific pipeline system in the regions where a state of emergency is declared," the press service of the Dalnefteprovod company said on Friday. At present, 32 km of the line crossing the Amur River are in the water. Usually, the length of the underwater crossing is four km. The long pipeline from oil fields in East Siberia to the port of Kozmino in the Primorsky Territory lies in a trench, including the part under the bottom of the Amur. Torrents do not touch the pipes. Nevertheless, oil workers increase the number of flights over the line to monitor the situation. The flights are carried out every day. The ground facilities are also examined regularly. The vast flood is moving along the Amur. In the Khabarovsk Territory, the river went up above the maximum level recorded in 1897 -- 642 cm. At present, the water has reached 716 cm at the hydrological post in Khabarovsk. The river is expected to continue to go up 25-30 cm in the next two days. It may reach up to 8.2 m (according to the earlier forecast, it was expected to rise to 7.6-7.8 m), the Khabarovsk regional government's press service said, referring to the Far Eastern hydro-meteorological centre.