[citation needed] Construction of the pipeline was planned for a long time and it started in December 2006.

[citation needed] Previously, South Ossetia was supplied from the Agara-Tskhinvali leg of the Tbilisi-Kutaisi trunk system of Georgia.

[citation needed] The length of the pipeline is 162.3 kilometres (100.8 mi) and it has capacity of 252.5 million cubic meters of natural gas per year.

[citation needed] The pipeline passes through mountainous regions with a maximum altitude of 3,148 metres (10,328 ft) above sea level.

The pipeline was said to be important for the de facto independence of South Ossetia, because it "shakes off the last levers exerted by its unfriendly neighbour".