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

In order to protect the Export Pipeline from Outside Third Party Intrusion and fast identify Leak along NCOC required to supply and install Third Party Intrusion (TPI) and Leak Detection System (LDS) based on OptaSense Fibre Optic (FOS) technology and integrate with NCOC Oil Export Pipeline Optasense LDS&TPI system.

OptaSense is a system that detects smaller leaks faster and more reliable, while simultaneously monitoring for third-party interference and other external pipeline threats in order to prevent leaks altogether. The purpose of LDS is to identify a leak and inform COMPANY on start time, location on map, GPS coordinates. LDS must be able to identify small leak, display on workstation screen relevant information (position on map, start time, end time and historians). The purpose of TPI is to prevent 3rd party interference on the Export Pipeline and inform COMPANY of potential Theft activity or interferences that pose threat to Company.

AVENCOM Approach

AVENCOM provided the following services to the Company within the duration of the contract:

• Supply of field equipment and software;
• Develop technical project documentation, Certification and Permit to Use in RoK, provision of Factory Acceptance Test Certificates;
• Installation, Commissioning, Testing of LDS&TPI equipment and train COMPANY personnel to be able to operate;
• Supply of critical spare parts for three years (3 year) maintenance is required to ensure sufficient stock for maintenance by COMPANY resources;
• LDS and TPI Alerts data integration with NCOC OSI-PI System through OPC Server;
• Supply system with the capability for future expansion, i.e. includes several pipelines to one network and display on existing workstation;
• Technical Support Service.

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.