Control System World

The critical Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project is entering the implementation phase as Pakistan’s state-owned firm Inter-State Gas Systems and Tadbir Energy Costar Iranian Co will sign a construction contract for laying the pipeline in Pakistan sooner.

All issues pertaining to the $1.5 bn Pak-Iran gas pipeline were settled on Thursday and an initial contract is expected to be signed between Pakistan and Iran on Friday. Under the EPC contract to be signed, Tadbir, the Iranian company, would construct the pipeline at a cost of Rs190 million per km and will lay 2 km pipeline per day inside Pakistan. Both sides were in talks for the last four days and the Inter State Gas Systems (ISGS) on behalf of Pakistan and Tadbir from Iran would ink the landmark contract of the EPC. The agreement for purchasing gas would be for 20 years initially and could be extended for another five years, a senior official who is part of the talks confided to The News.

The gas companies - Sui Southern, Sui Northern - and FWO (Frontier Works Organization) f Pakistan will also take part in constructing the pipeline. The gas utilities will complete the task related to mechanical issues and FWO will do the civil works. The laying of 781 kilometres of gas pipeline with 42 inches diameter from Gabd - a point at Pak-Iran border to Nawabshah - will be completed in 15 months. Gas will be imported from Iran at the rate of $13 per MMBTU.

Pakistan is to primarily import 750 million cubic feet per day that would be injected in the power sector to help generate 4000 MW of electricity. Later on the flow of gas will be increased to 1 billion cubic feet gas that will generate 5000 MW of electricity. The replacement of costly furnace oil being used as fuel in powerhouses with the imported gas will help save $1 billion per annum. Pakistan and Iran have also resolved the issue of interest on the loan Tehran would extend. It was decided that Iran would extend $500 million loan and Pakistan would pay 3 percent interest on loan against 4 percent as demanded by Tehran.

Iran will also reduce the price of gas to be imported as against the price earlier finalised in gas sales purchase agreement. There is a clause in the agreement that if Pakistan arranges import of gas from other country at lower price then Iran would also do accordingly.

“We have struck deal with Turkmenistan for import of gas under TAPI gas line at a reduced price compared to the price of Iran.” Once the EPC gets signed the groundbreaking ceremony would be held as soon as possible so that the project could be materialised by December 2014.

Yokogawa Electric Corporation has released the YHC5150X FieldMate handheld communicator in all markets other than Japan. The YHC5150X is a full function DD* Direct HART communicator that supports Universal, Common Practice, and Device Specific commands for commissioning, configuration, and maintenance operations.

Developed and manufactured by Yokogawa Corporation of America, the YHC5150X FieldMate handheld communicator is the successor to the YHC4100 HART communicator and the YHC4150X portable HART communicator, of which thousands of units have been sold worldwide. With new functions that satisfy the latest market needs, the YHC5150X will make it possible for Yokogawa to capture a larger share of the market.

Product Features:

1. Reads manufacturers' DDs in their native format without the need for translation
2. Enhanced 4.3" diagonal color anti-glare touchscreen (no stylus required
3. Full QWERTY keyboard for commissioning

Technip, in a consortium with Construcciones Industriales Tapia, has been awarded by Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) through its subsidiary PEMEX Refinación, a contract for the revamp of one of the conversion unit of the Ing. Héctor R. Lara Sosa refinery, located in Cadereyta, Mexico. Technip’s share of the contract is worth approximately USD 40 million.

The scope of work includes the detailed engineering, procurement, construction, training, commissioning and start up for the recondition of the combustion gases system of the No. 1 catalytic plant (FCC) of the refinery.

Technip’s operating center in Mexico City, Mexico, will execute the project with the support of Construcciones Industriales Tapia for construction work. The project is scheduled to be completed in the second semester of 2014.

Invensys Operations Management, a global provider of technology systems, software solutions and consulting services to the manufacturing and infrastructure operations industries, has enhanced its Triconex® critical control and safety offerings for industrial operations. The new Triconex Safety View solution is the world’s first software for effective alarm and bypass management certified by TÜV Rheinland to IEC61508 Systematic Capability 3 for use in applications up to Safety Integrity Level 3. Additionally, the company’s market-leading Triconex Trident® and Triconex General Purpose safety instrumented systems now support OPC Universal Architecture for greater communications connectivity.

“Changing market dynamics and emerging technologies require a fundamental rethinking of how companies will manage their operations today and in the future,” said Gary Freburger, president of the company’s Systems business. “To address these new and ever-more complicated challenges, companies need to become more agile without jeopardizing plant safety. Our new Triconex products provide this agility by reducing risks when bypassing safety systems during startup and shutdown, as well as the risks associated with integrating safety systems across different vendor platforms. In addition, they provide a pathway for modernizing existing plant operations, one that links business processes with production processes; removes traditional barriers to collaboration; and empowers our customers’ most valuable resource - their people.”

Triconex Safety View provides the highest levels of safety integrity for critical alarm management applications. The world’s first TÜV-certified software solution for alarm and bypass management for use in applications up to SIL3, Safety View improves situational awareness and broadens visibility into the risks that come with system startups, shutdowns and other critical process transitions that must be managed by plant personnel. It draws attention to changes in process conditions that require immediate attention, giving operators, maintenance engineers and shift personnel better visibility into the process so they can take actions that reduce risk, optimize total cost of ownership and increase overall asset performance. It is built on the company’s industry-leading ArchestrA® System Platform and Wonderware® InTouch® HMI software, which have been adapted specifically for use in safety applications.

“End users realize that they need new solutions to help them remain agile, particularly as they react to changing business variables and process conditions,” said Barry Young, principal analyst, ARC Advisory Group. “By clearly indicating level-1 alarms to operators, maintenance engineers and shift supervisors, and then showing them all the safety-critical devices that have been placed in bypass, the Triconex Safety View solution reduces the likelihood of unscheduled downtime and subsequent loss of production. And because it provides contextual information in real time, it helps operators and other plant personnel make better decisions.”

KBR has announced it has been awarded a contract by Samsung Engineering Company, Ltd. to provide a technology license, basic engineering design package, and supply of proprietary equipment for a 1,200 MTPD ammonia fertilizer plant in Carrasco, Bolivia.

The fertilizer ammonia complex will be designed using KBR’s Purifier Technology. KBR will additionally supply proprietary operator training simulators and a steam dynamic simulation study to ensure a safe, fast, efficient startup of the ammonia plant and continued support to the operations. This project is part of the Bolivian government’s strategic initiatives for monetization of natural gas and demand for urea in the region, with production operations expected to begin in mid-2015.

“We look forward to working with Samsung Engineering on this project which contributes to both strategic initiatives and overall development of the country of Bolivia,” said John Derbyshire, President, KBR Technology. “This award represents an opportunity to further expand KBR’s footprint in the Latin American market.”

Yokogawa is pleased to announce the addition of Soteica Visual MESA's best-in-class energy management and optimization solution services to its portfolio of plantwide energy management solutions (EMS). Yokogawa will provide this new offering to its customers through its strong sales and service channels. Yokogawa has also acquired 44.3% ownership of Soteica Visual MESA to accelerate the joint development of EMS.

Manufacturers around the world are highly interested in, and have a strong need for, EMS that will help them consume less energy and reduce their manufacturing costs. In addition, there is an increasing trend to optimize the mix of conventional and alternative energy sources used by plants, which can help to protect the environment by reducing the emissions of gases such as CO2 and NOx. There are two components to energy management in plants. One is to make more efficient the supply and distribution of utilities, such as steam, electricity and fuel that are used by equipment in the main process, and the other is to optimize the energy consumed by the main process itself.

For this reason, Yokogawa has decided to partner with Soteica Visual MESA, a global technology leader in the EMS field that has worked closely with major oil companies and has a strong track record in the oil industry. The partnership will allow Yokogawa to sell Soteica Visual MESA's well-proven Visual MESA energy management and optimization solution package, extending the range of solution services that it is able to offer to its customers. The partnership will also allow Soteica Visual MESA to expand its sales of Visual MESA through Yokogawa's global sales network, with a particular focus on Asia.

Visual MESA is capable of reducing annual energy costs by approximately 2% to 5%. There are approximately 3,400 plants worldwide with $40 million or more in utility costs each year that could benefit from Visual MESA and obtain a return on their investment in one year or less, and Yokogawa will initially be targeting these facilities.

Yokogawa will provide high value added EMS services, including maintenance and sitewide energy management and optimization services (sustainability services). Yokogawa and Soteica Visual MESA will also cooperate in engineering with the aim of acquiring the knowledge needed to create a new business model for an EMS service that can help to optimize energy efficiency throughout a plant, including the main process and utilities.

"We are very excited about entering into this comprehensive partnership with Yokogawa as it will enable us to dramatically increase the exposure of Visual MESA, our industry leading solution for utilities optimization", said Oscar Santollani, Soteica Visual MESA's CEO. He added, "We have found in Yokogawa a partner with whom we share the same work ethics and engineering rigor. We look forward to a long and fruitful relationship."

Yokogawa President Shuzo Kaihori commented as follows: "Our customer's technologically advanced plants need not only to reduce their energy consumption but also to obtain the best mix of conventional and renewable energy sources in order to protect the environment by reducing emissions of CO2, NOx, and other gases. To meet our customers' growing needs in this area, Soteica is an ideal fit for Yokogawa, allowing us to deliver field proven plantwide energy management and optimization solutions and services."

Amplicon has announced the launch of a brand new division dedicated to highlighting their capabilities in the test system market. This information packed section highlights the variety of innovative technologies and systems available from Amplicon for a wide range of test applications.

The Amplicon engineering team has an excellent track record in the development of turnkey test systems utilised in a variety of industrial applications including complex data logging systems, high speed data acquisition, passive component testing, strain gauge measurements and vibration testing.

The newly launched test systems section provides detailed information on how Amplicon can help test engineers in the design and build of a bespoke test system solution. The Amplicon engineering team is experienced in using and specifying a variety of technologies including PC based, PXI, GPIB, cPCI, LXI and VXI, all typically used in ATE; and to complement this, Amplicon also provide a comprehensive range of data acquisition and test & measurement instruments.

Amplicon aim to alleviate the design considerations and challenges encountered in the development process of a test system including test requirements, development time, decreased budgets, and test system longevity.

Honeywell has been awarded four major contracts, worth a combined $40 million over an 18-month duration, for the Borouge petrochemicals complex expansion in Ruwais, Abu Dhabi. Honeywell will be the main automation contractor (MAC) for this project, providing engineering, procurement and construction (EPCs) contractors involved in the project with integrated control and safety systems. It will also install Honeywell control and safety systems, Experion® Process Knowledge System C300, Safety Manager, and Advanced Process Controls to allow for operational integration, improved production, increased safety and reliability, and maximum operability and profitability. The Real Time Information Management System will provide Borouge 3 with business solutions that streamline, centralize and optimize operations, allowing for further profitability and productivity.

“We continue to see countries in the Middle East, such as the UAE, invest in growing their petrochemical capacity, as part of economic diversification strategies,” said Mansour Belhadj, sales director, Honeywell Process Solutions, Middle East. “With the Gulf region’s share in the global petrochemical market expected to grow to 20 percent by 2015, there is also a corresponding need for reliable, cost-effective processes, such as the solutions selected for Borouge 3, which can ensure that operational efficiencies are an integral part of the growth process.”

Borouge 3 is the latest expansion of Borouge’s polyolefins plant in Abu Dhabi and will manufacture ethylene, polyethylene, polypropylene, and low-density polyethylene (LDPE), alongside associated butane, utilities and offsite facilities. Honeywell’s technologies have previously been implemented in the Borouge 1 project in 1999 and the Borouge 2 project in 2010, and will continue to help Borouge meet its strategic goal of expanding the production capacity of the plant, making it the largest integrated polyolefins site in the world.