The 1,219.2 mm diameter Rosen inspection tool, approximately 7 m long and weighing more than 7 t, traversed the pipeline from Russia to Lubmin, Germany, travelling at 1.5 m a second, and propelled by the pipeline’s gas content.
The magnetic-flux leakage tool collected a huge amount of high-resolution data on the pipeline’s integrity along its 1,224 km route from Russia to Germany, which took ten days. The intelligent pig has an array of electronic sensors which screens the material integrity and the geometry of the pipeline. The pig collected over one terabyte of data on its journey from Russia, recorded at a rate equivalent to 12 megabits per second, 30 times faster than cellular data networks.
Inspection of the first pipeline was successfully completed in July this year. A first evaluation of the inspection data from this run confirms that there is no sign of corrosion or deformation, which was also reflected by the excellent condition of the inspection tool after the run. No significant signs of abrasion on the tool indicates good pipeline condition, as well as a high quality of the inspection.
Nord Stream’s twin pipeline system runs through the Baltic Sea transporting natural gas from Russia to Europe.