Letter Inquiry: Task Force for Business and Stability Operations (TFBSO) Sheberghan-Mazar Pipeline
Abstract
I am writing to express my concerns about the safety of a natural gas pipeline in northern Afghanistan which the Department of Defense (DOD) has helped to repair.1 In the course of conducting an audit of U.S. efforts to develop Afghanistans extractive industries,2 we were informed that the Sheberghan-Mazar pipeline had suffered years of corrosion since being completed by the Soviet Union. The pipeline was operated at low pressures between 2004 and 2011, with neither the Afghan government nor the U.S. taking action to repair or replace corroded or otherwise damaged sections of pipe. Since 2011, DODs Task Force for Business and Stability Operations (TFBSO)3 has been engaged in an initiative to rehabilitate the 89.1 kilometer pipeline,4 but the project is not yet complete and TFBSO will soon cease its work in Afghanistan. In a June 28, 2004, report, Sofregaza France-based engineering company specializing in natural gaspresented the results of its evaluation of Afghanistans gas transmission and distribution infrastructure. Sofregazs report noted high leakage rates along the Sheberghan-Mazar pipeline resulting from corrosion, poor design, low quality welding and a lack of proper pipe supports.5According to Sofregaz, these deficiencies created the conditions for catastrophic failure, although the report noted that the danger of this happening was mitigated by the pipelines low operating pressure.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 11, 2014
- Accession Number
- AD1140159
Entities
People
- John Sopko
Organizations
- Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction