Background

The North Caspian Project is the first major offshore oil and gas development in Kazakhstan. It covers three fields: Kashagan, Kairan and Aktoty. The giant Kashagan field ranks as one of the largest oil discoveries of the past four decades, with approximately 9-13 billion barrels (1-2 billion tonnes) of recoverable oil. The Kashagan reservoir lies 80km offshore from the city of Atyrau in 3-4 meters of water, and is more than 4km deep (4,200 meters). In 2016, the first offshore oil in the history of Kazakhstan was commercially produced from Kashagan. The Operator of the project, North Caspian Operating Company N.V. (NCOC), completed a major pipeline replacement project ahead of schedule and on September 28 re-opened the first wells offshore.

AVENCOM Responsibility

NCOC required the supply and installation of an intrusion detection system (TPI) and Leak Detection System (LDS) based on OptaSense Fiber Optic (FOS) technology and its integration with the company’s SCADA system. The goal is to protect 24-inch export gas pipeline from outside intrusion and quickly identify the leakages along the distance from the OPF facility to the points of connection to the pipeline system of the Central Asian KazTransGas pipeline near the Makat compressor station. Optasense is the single system, which identifies the major and minor leakages, and it monitors and controls all other interventions from outside.

LDS identifies the leakage, its start date, location on GPS map, the amount of leaking substance and other details. TPI identifies the intrusion to the pipeline and provides information on possible theft, intervention and other threats for the Company.

AVENCOM Approach

Scope of Work of AVENCOM included:

• Provision of all SW and HW equipment;
• FEED, certification in Kazakhstan, factory acceptance test;
• Installation, hookup, commissioning and training of personnel;
• 3 years spare parts management;
• Integration of LDS/TPI with OSI-PI server;
• Technical maintenance.

Summary

An integral part of the project was the integration LDS&TPI Gas Export Pipeline with Oil Export LDS&TPI system and ensure reliable system performance after integration.