Monitoring water distribution pipeline in Saudi!

Yokogawa has received an order from Sinopec International Petroleum Service Corporation (SIPSC) to supply the monitoring system for a large water distribution pipeline that the Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC)  is building in Saudi Arabia between the cities of Yanbu and Medina. This is Yokogawa’s first order from SIPSC for a water distribution pipeline project.

Roadway between
the two locations

Yanbu is a Red Sea port and a center of industry in Al Madinah province, and Medina is the capital city (population 1.1 million) of that province. When completed, the new water distribution pipeline will stretch 610 km from a seawater desalination plant in Yanbu to the city of Medina and its surrounding districts, and will be capable of supplying 709,000 m3 of potable water per day. This is one of the largest-ever international water distribution projects to be undertaken by SIPSC.

This order includes the FAST/TOOLS SCADA software and the STARDOM™ network-based control system for monitoring the pipeline, the PRM® integrated device management software package for instrumentation monitoring and online diagnosis, pipeline leakage detection systems, and a telecommunications system. Yokogawa Electric International will be responsible for engineering, supervising the installation of, and commissioning these products. These products will be delivered by July 2014 and the new pipeline will become operational the following month.

Yokogawa believe this order was won by them principally for two reasons:

1. Global support network
Yokogawa has an extensive global network that is capable of providing a wide range of support services to SIPSC in China and SWCC in Saudi Arabia. These services range from technical proposals to operator training and other after-sales services, and they can all be provided locally, at the customer site.

2. Solid track record in the Middle East
Yokogawa has extensive experience in supplying systems throughout the Middle East, including power plant and seawater desalination plant.

Tetsuya Murai, General Manager of the Sales Division’s Power & Utilities Department at Yokogawa Electric International, said, “The countries of the Middle East and emerging nations in other regions are facing water shortages due to rapid industrialization and population growth, particularly in urban areas, and thus need to build seawater desalination plants and water distribution pipelines. Encouraged by winning this order, we will forge a track record with SIPSC and other EPC contractors that are actively developing their business in the international market, and will expand our IA and control business by targeting water infrastructure.”