ABB has won a major contract to deliver control infrastructure for the $11-billion Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (Tanap) that will bring Azerbaijan’s natural gas directly into Europe.
 
Under the deal, ABB will deliver the integrated software solutions for telecoms and control systems to monitor, secure and control 1,850-km-long gas pipeline.

Tanap is a special-purpose company with Socar of Azerbaijan, Botas of Turkey and BP as shareholders. ABB’s delivery will be a business-led collaboration between ABB in Turkey and ABB in the United Kingdom.

The pipeline will interconnect with two others: the South Caucasus at Turkey’s border with Georgia and the Trans Adriatic at its border with Greece. The gas will come from the Shah Deniz 2 field in the Caspian Sea and it will enter the European network in Italy.

It will cross the whole of Turkey, with Tanap forming the central section of the $45 billion Southern Gas Corridor, which will be part of Europe’s future strategic energy infrastructure.

ABB said the scope of work includes supply of control system, telecommunications, pipeline monitoring, security systems including fiber-optic cables to transmit data along the pipelines.

ABB said the pipeline will be controlled and automated by its world-leading System 800xA process automation system.

The software solutions will integrate the supervisory control and data acquisition (Scada) systems and the telecommunications that control the gas flows, detect leakages or intrusions and make closed circuit television (CCTV) coverage available for safety and security purposes.

On the win, Peter Terwiesch, the president of ABB’s Process Automation Division, said: "Technology innovation and leadership is a cornerstone of ABB’s Next Level strategy. Our leading System 800xA software and integrated telecoms solution will allow Tanap to safely and reliably operate the pipeline across vast distances from multiple locations."

"It will also deliver the control infrastructure to contribute to safe, secure and reliable operation of the $11-billion pipeline throughout its lifetime," stated Terwiesch.

According to him, ABB has a proven track record delivering software solutions to many similar projects, including the South Caucasus link and the Baku Tiblisi Ceyhan line connecting Azerbaijan with the Mediterranean.

"Altogether, more than 4,500km of pipeline in the region will be controlled by ABB’s System 800xA infrastructure, safeguarding approximately 5 per cent of Europe’s annual gas demand," he added.-TradeArabia News Service