Company
Facts and figures
The UGS Katharina project incorporates cutting-edge technical concepts and combines the facility’s efficiency with the utmost in safety requirements. The figures presented below illustrate the dimensions of this extraordinary undertaking.
3
compressors
...are in operation at UGS Katharina. Together, they provide as much total output as four high-speed ICE 3 trains.
Four ICE 3 trains
12
caverns
...are in the process of being leached, equipped, and commissioned at a depth of 500 to 700 metres at UGS Katharina. To put that distance in perspective, consider that Berlin’s Fernsehturm is “only” 368 metres tall.
368 metres
24
million cubic metres of natural gas
...can be withdrawn from the storage facility every day. UGS Katharina’s daily withdrawal capacity thus corresponds to the amount of energy that could be generated by 100 million square metres of solar panels. That’s roughly the size of 14,000 football pitches.
7,140 square metres
37
kilometres
...is the length of the connection line that was constructed to link up with the YAGAL pipeline. That makes it more than twice as long as Switzerland’s Gotthard Road Tunnel.
17.0 kilometres
5000
kilograms
...is the approximate weight of one section of the connection line – as much as a fully grown African elephant. The entire line is made up of more than 2,500 sections, giving it a total weight of over 12,500,000 kilograms.
5,000 kilograms
25000
households
...can be supplied for an entire year with the amount of natural gas stored in a single cavern. UGS Katharina will eventually have 12 caverns at its disposal, corresponding to the annual needs of 300,000 households.
x 1,000 per cavern
The story of
natural gas
From Russia to Peissen
1
Production
Natural gas is extracted from depths of up to 4,000 metres.
02
Processing
To prevent corrosion in transport pipelines, the natural gas is dried and prepared for transport.
03
Compression
To ensure the proper transport speed, the natural gas has to be compressed at various points in the pipeline network.
04
Transport
Germany has been receiving steady shipments of Russian natural gas since 1973. Reaching the country from the production sites in Siberia takes the gas six days, after which it is purified and heated to prevent condensation on its journey onward.
05
Storage
The natural gas arrives in Peissen, where it is stored in underground caverns.
Russia supplies 40 billion cubic metres of natural gas to Germany every year. That’s enough to meet the energy requirements of 19 million households.