As a single line, Bukhara-Urals is 4,500 km-long. Its infrastructure comprises, among others, 17 compressor stations and 22 gas distribution stations. This was a one-of-a-kind project in the Soviet Union: for the first time in history, it relied mainly on domestically made 1,020 mm pipes, which were larger in diameter than the traditionally used ones with a maximum diameter of 820 mm. Within a very short time, Chelyabinsk Pipe Rolling Plant started manufacturing steel pipes of the required diameter, delivering... tonnes of pipes for the Bukhara-Urals gas trunkline.
What makes the trunkline unique is that it operates in extreme environmental and climatic conditions, including sudden changes in temperature, different soil compositions, roadless terrain, and sand storms. Running from Gazli (Uzbekistan) to the Urals, Bukhara-Urals carries gas to 33 cities, including Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Tagil and Orsk.
The transition of blast furnace smelting and non-ferrous metallurgy to gas helped boost the equipment efficiency by 5–10 % and increase metal yield by more than 10%, as a result. The gasification of the Urals brought about a significant improvement in local environment and reduced pollution in the region's air basin.
Bukhara-Urals has become the world's most efficient gas transportation system performing three times better than the famous TransCanada gas pipeline.