During its service to the Oman oil and gas industry for over five decades, The Oman Construction Company (TOCO) has established itself as the foremost pipeline contractor in Oman. Since 1965, the company has been a ‘Trusted Partner ‘of major national and international oil and gas asset owners and operators across the Sultanate and the rest of the GCC. During this time TOCO has developed an un-paralleled level of expertise in pipeline and construction services. TOCO is part of Oman’s oil and gas legacy with several ‘Firsts’ to its credit. The list includes construction of the first major cross country pipeline, flow line, production station, tank farm, overhead power line. In 1967, TOCO moved the first rig at Fahud.
In December 2013, the Government of the Sultanate of Oman and BP signed a gas sales agreement and an amended production sharing agreement for the development of the Khazzan Project in Block 61. The agreements were ratified in February 2014 in a Royal Decree issued by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said. BP is currently the Operator of Block 61 and holds a 60% interest. The Oman Oil Company for Exploration and Production holds a 40% interest.
TOCO has been serving Oman since the very early days of oil exploration and every major operator has been historically chosen TOCO for constructing their key initial infrastructure from day one. BP was no different in this aspect when they began the construction of their first Oman upstream
facilities in 2014.
THE PIPELINE EXPERTS
When it comes to pipelines, TOCO is undoubtedly the oldest, well resourced, highly experienced and one of the most respected contractors in Oman. Over the years TOCO has constructed several thousand kilometers of oil and gas pipelines in the Sultanate having built close to 4,000 kilometres of pipelines in last two decades itself. BP chose TOCO to build their main Gas Export Pipeline for Khazzan tight gas field in Apr 2015. The pipeline was the one of the critical element to the project as it was required for the start-up of the Central Production Facility (CPF) and product delivery after commissioning of the CPF.
MAIN SCOPE OF WORK ELEMENTS:
- 36” x 19.8 mm WT API 5L Grade X65 pipeline 60 km with 3LPE external coating and internal flow coat
- Pipeline launcher facility at CPF;
- 1 No. Intermediate block valve station including above ground pressure let down facility and tie-in to existing government gas (GG) pipeline (TP1);
- 1 no, Receiver terminal facility including above ground pressure let down facility and tie-in to existing OGC facility (TP3);
- Installation of associated fiber optic cable system (FOC);
- Supply & Installation of associated temporary and permanent Cathodic Protection System including deepwell anode bed;
KEY ACTIVITIES:
- Project Management and Administration
- Establishing fast track mobilization of all resources, camp construction, access roads, pipe yard and the likes in support of the construction phase
- Field Engineering and Preparation Works (including obtaining necessary permits required for the execution of the work)
- Procurement of material bulks and consumables
- Off-site piping and platforms fabrication
- Pipeline and Above Ground Installations (AGI) construction covering all activities from Right of Way (ROW) preparation, automatic welding of the main line, rock trenching, field joint coating, hydro testing, Nitrogen purging and flange leak testing
- Construct three AGI’s (Pig Launcher, Block Valve Stations and Receiver stations)
- Tie-in’s to two existing live 24” gas pipelines
- Pipeline and AGIs Testing and Pre-commissioning up to Mechanical Completion
- Handover and Commissioning support
OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE
The project was completed to the Client’s full satisfaction. It took over 2,776,764 manhours over two years to construct this pipeline. Despite major challenges at times on such a critical project given this gas export pipeline is the feed for gas to the CPF facility, the works were concluded as safely as practicable and to the highest international standards.
A total of ten “Gold Stars” and numerous other awards were given out to TOCO employees for going above and beyond their daily duties, for doing the right thing and for leading by example. TOCO received the following awards from the client; 2 million LTI free award; the Gary Cup for the safe execution of the stringing activities and Filed Joint Coating (FJC) activity; TOCO also received the ‘Best Crew’ award for the FJC crews’ overall performance.
THE CHALLENGE
The client’s expectations were high as BP Khazzan being their first major and large scale investment in Oman. The project was critical to the Oman’s economy at a time the country was in short of gas supplies and several industrial projects were in que to secure gas quotas to begin. The gas export pipeline was in the critical path for the entire project and hence it had the utmost attention from the client. As their flagship project in Oman, BP set the highest and most stringent standards for every aspect of the project and operation.
The challenge was to deliver the pipeline in the safest manner while meeting the stringent specifications but without exceeding the schedule and budget.
The greatest challenge to TOCO was transforming the mindset of all its employees to develop ‘Behavioral Traits’ to deliver the highest HSE and Quality requirements which were set out from the project kick-off.
TOCO successfully met this challenge, exceeding the Client’s expectations and ultimately delivering a world class pipeline project within agreed schedule.
INGENUITY AT WORK
Our wealth of knowled ge empowers us to think differently and proactively, also act according to the situations and bring innovation to work. We believe being inquisitive, putting our clients at the heart of what we do, asking the right questions to arrive at the best solutions.
TOCO employed the most advanced Automatic Welding System and Automated Field Joint Coating system for the main line to tackle the size and thickness challenges.
With most of the route in hard rock or equivalent, ensuring trenching achieved predetermined productivity levels to avoid delaying subsequent back end activities (padding and lowering) was a fundamental challenge throughout. We employed automated machine trenching instead of the traditional excavators and rock breakers to ensure productivity and uniform trench profile though out.
Another innovative feature of this project was the use of Pipeline Information Management System (PIMS), a web based software solution, designed to monitor the construction progress on a real-time basis.
