ABB lands $34 million pipeline contract
17 Dec 2002
ABB has recently won a $34 million contract to supply control and safety systems for the world's longest oil pipeline, running from Azerbaijan to Turkey.
The new systems are based on ABB's Industrial IT technology, which links products and services with the information needed to run, service and maintain them. The construction consortium, BTC, will be able to control operations at both ends of the pipeline, which are 1,760 kilometres apart and in different countries.
Construction of the $2.9 billion underground pipeline will start next year and is due to be completed in 2005. When commissioned, it is expected to carry one million barrels of oil a day from Sangachel on Azerbaijan's Caspian coast, through Georgia to a new marine terminal at Ceyhan on Turkey's southern Mediterranean coast.
Under the terms of the contract, ABB will supply, install and commission integrated control and safety systems to provide operational control, emergency shutdown options, and fire and gas monitoring of the pipeline, a marine terminal and two offshore production platforms.
The work includes remote-controlled subsystems to isolate sections of the pipeline for regular inspection and maintenance. The pipeline will be linked over its entire length by a fibre optic telecommunications backbone. Associated field instrumentation includes transmitters and ultrasonic flow metering for the terminal, valve and pumping stations.
