OREANDA-NEWS. March 10, 2009. Stroytransgaz has begun welding the linear part of the Taweelah-Fujairah gas pipeline—a 244-kilometer, 48-inch facility in the United Arab Emirates. The contract for the project was signed in June 2008 on EPC terms with customer Dolphin Energy Ltd. An official delegation from Stroytransgaz, with Management Board Chairman Vyacheslav Makhonin at its head, visited the UAE, took part in a coordination meeting with managers from Dolphin Energy, and examined construction objects along the linear portion of the gas pipeline.

The new pipeline will cross the territory of the UAE via the Rub al-Khali dessert and the Al Khadzhar mountain range, linking the receiving terminal in Taweelah (Abu Dhabi Emirate) on the Persian Gulf coast with treatment facilities in Fujairah (Fujairah Emirate) on the coast of the Gulf of Oman.

Under terms of the contract, Stroytransgaz will prepare basic and detailed designs, procure equipment and materials, construct and assemble the facility, and commission it for exploitation. The scope of work includes building the linear of portion of the gas pipeline, two scraper launcher-receiver units, nine line valve units, and a gas metering station. The company will assemble gas detection and fire prevention/extinguishing systems and install a SKADA system and systems for electrochemical erosion protection, self-regulating and control instrumentation, and telecommunications.

At present work to plan and clear the right-of-way and approach roads to the pipeline’s route is being finished. Welding-assembly work is underway using a CRC-Evans automated welding unit along the 192-kilometer flat section of the pipeline route. Unnecessary material is being hauled away and pipe is being laid. To facilitate construction, the company has mobilized approximately 200 units of heavy equipment and auto transport and organized three sites for pipe storage.

The Taweelah-Fujairah gas pipeline is the first large-scale fuel and energy construction project in the UAE in which a Russian company has taken part.