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Power in the Pipeline


Designed by Venezuelas state-owned oil company as a part of a vast new natural gas transportation system, a brand-new 300-km pipeline is being built to link the countrys western region with the existing gas infrastructure and the rich, but scattered, reserves from producing wells in the central and eastern regions. As well as making this clean, low-cost fuel available to many Venezuelans for the first time, the pipeline will enable gas to be used to boost oil production from mature wells. As part of this complex US$520 million project, Siemens is supplying a total of ten gas turbine-powered compressor trains, which will be installed by a Siemens-led consortium in compressor stations along the new pipeline.

Covering a total area about two-and-a-half times the size of Germany, Venezuela is located on the northern tropical Caribbean coast of South America. The diversity and sheer beauty of its landscape so impressed the fifteenth century explorer Christopher Columbus that he called it the Tierra de Gracia Land of Grace which has become the countrys unofficial name. In contrast to its soaring mountains, the worlds highest waterfall, tropical forests and silver-sandy beaches which make Venezuela a magnet for tourists, the countrys burgeoning economy is based principally on the oil and gas industry. BIG OIL With proven oil reserves of around 76 billion barrels, Venezuela is ranked as one of the worlds largest producers. However, a number of the largest fields have been exploited for decades, with some of the oldest wells in continuous operation for almost 100 years, and production levels are now falling rapidly. Natural gas, co-produced with oil from existing wells as well as from more recent finds both onshore and offshore, is also currently being produced at an annual rate of nearly 30 billion cubic meters, a large proportion of which is being re-injected into fast-depleting oil reservoirs to increase their production. In combination, this vital industrial sector accounts for some eighty percent of the countrys export revenues and about a third of its total earnings. GOING FOR GROWTH Although the country has enormous reserves of natural gas, a lack of adequate infrastructure, such as a national grid-system for

resource to its full extent. Today, as the price of oil continues to rocket, the countrys economy is booming with real growth in GDP approaching 10 percent, allowing previously shelved government plans for expansion to be reactivated. In 2004 the state-owned oil company Petroles de Venezuela S. A. (PdVSA) awarded contracts to three local companies for the first stage in the construction of a huge new undertaking, the 300-km Interconnexion Centro Occidente (ICO) pipeline, known as the ICO project. This complex infrastructure project, due for completion in 2007, will connect gas-producing wells in the eastern and central regions with existing wells and new gas transmission systems in western Venezuela, partly to boost oil production and also to bring natural gas to consumers in that part of the country for the first time. A 106-km pipeline providing a connection between natural gas fields in Falcon state and the PdVSA Paraguana refinery complex, one of the largest in the world, has already been completed and will soon be delivering between 10 and 100 million cubic meters of gas per day, increasing progressively until it reaches 100 to 300 million cubic meters of gas per day. PICKING THE PATH One of the largest and most challenging pipeline projects ever undertaken by PdVSA, the ICO system for the bulk transnational transportation of natural gas, was originally planned nearly 20 years ago. The giant new line now under construction will comprise 230 km of 30-inch (762 mm) diameter and a further 70 km of 36-inch diameter (914 mm) pipe. The pipe is formed from special high-

the transportation of bulk supplies of natural gas or an established country-wide distribution network serving urban and rural consumers, has meant that Venezuela has been unable to exploit this

tensile steel capable of withstanding internal pressures of more than 4,600 bar, reducing both wall thickness and the number of welds, and is being used for the first time in Venezuela. Buried at a

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As well as routing the pipeline unavoidably through a number of archaeological sites revealing pre-Colombian discoveries currently being studied by experts from around the world, the construction crews have to contend with engineering a total of eighteen separate river-crossings, many of which are in tropical rainforest environ-

PERFORMING UNDER PRESSURE Representing one of the largest contract awards made by the stateowned company in recent years, the three compressor stations along the ICO pipeline will house a total of ten compressor trains supplied and installed by Siemens. These comprise STC-SV compressors supplied from the Duisburg plant, powered by 13.4-megawatt (MW) SGT-400 gas turbines built at the Lincoln factory in the UK. Six of the compressor trains are being supplied as high pressure units and four as low pressure trains, with all equipment

Photos: Siemens, Illustration: Maike Hamacher

depth of about 1.2 meters in a 20-meter wide corridor, the line will snake its way across the coastal plain, avoiding the most mountainous terrain, following a precisely planned path selected as the most favorable from no less than 14 other routes originally surveyed in the late 80s. Although designed to pass close to towns and centers of population to provide these widely scattered communities with gas supplies for the first time, the route of the ICO pipeline also cuts through some of Venezuelas most environmentally sensitive and internationally important areas, which are home to rare plant species, unique wildlife and archaeological sites. In consequence, consent for construction has only been granted by the Venezuelan government after the most rigorous scientific and ecological studies, covering the projects impact on every aspect of local environments, with continuous inspections and environmental audits on every centimeter of the route as work progresses.

ments. Using conventional technologies, taking even large-diameter pipelines across rivers does not present a significant problem. However, official planning restrictions imposed by the Venezuelan government to protect the delicate environmental balance in these sensitive locations, prohibit any form of damage to all riverbank environments, requiring the design and use by the contractors of special-purpose systems, equipment and machines. The route also crosses the Morrocoy National Park, necessitating a major detour in order to follow an existing service corridor through the park, used as the least-damaging transit route for power lines and a water pipeline.

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shipped to site via the Siemens facility in Houston, Texas, where the compressor trains were assembled and specially packaged for operation in a tropical environment. Three units are being installed at the Morn compressor station, four at Los Morros and a further three at Altagracia. The entire turnkey contract is being carried out by a local consortium headed by Siemens S.A, partnered by Caracas-based Jantesa, which has responsibility for engineering and procurement, with Confurca headquartered in Ciudad Ojeda undertaking civil works. Siemens will also provide full maintenance services for the turbocompressors over a fouryear contract period. The compressor stations will be monitored and controlled remotely through an optical fiber data-communications network being supplied by Siemens S.A. The stations will be linked to the primary control room at Anaco and with a secondary control system in Caracas. IMPROVING LIVES Although Venezuelas investment in the ICO pipeline is intended to boost the national economy through increased oil and gas production, the vast, long-distance construction project is also aimed at providing major social improvements for the widely scattered, mainly rural communities affected by the project. In line with the governments demand that no less than ten percent of the entire project value must be returned to the communities involved, PdVSA is not only ensuring that gas will become available as a low-cost fuel for a large number of people for the very first time, but is undertaking a far-reaching social initiative affecting communities along the whole length of the pipeline. This is the nicest and most exciting part of this project, says PdVSA Project Manager Richard Tahan. We are now able to improve the

We are able to improve the standard of living for literally thousands of people, providing new facilities to towns and villages, to scattered farms, communities and even to isolated dwellings.
Richard Tahan, Project Manager, PdVSA

lifestyle and raise the standard of living for literally thousands of people, providing new facilities in areas ranging from entire towns and villages, to scattered farms, communities and even isolated dwellings. FISHING, FARMING AND FAMILIES Richard explained that the initiative is being split into four sectors. The first will involve building and repairing roads, building new local medical centers, improving existing schools and re-housing widely separated and outlying families who currently live within 2.5 km on either side of the pipeline, in modern new housing. He pointed out that the pipeline project involves installing electrical power, drilling wells for water for hydro-testing operations and installing the Siemens data-communications network. Because all these utilities are already being installed along the route of the pipeline, it is quite easy for us to provide modern facilities for people in the vicinity. They will not only be supplied with drinking water and mains electricity, but will also have full access to telephones and a broadband connection to the internet, said Richard. The second sector will include the development of the fishing industry in the coastal area of Rio Seco, with the provision of fresh drinking water and mains electricity, but also including the construction of refrigerated storage and ice-making facilities to support the local shrimping industry. The third and fourth sectors will cover the modernization and expansion of locally-based agriculture in both the Altagracia and Los Morros areas. In addition to increasing production and efficiency, additional investment in the agricultural and farming industry will provide future employment for local people currently employed on the construction of the ICO pipeline. WIN-WIN FOR SIEMENS The Anaco project represents not just a major contract win for Siemens, but marks a significant step forward in the further development of the companys oil and gas business in Latin America. The ability to demonstrate successful implementation of both industrial gas turbines and latest-generation gas compression solutions under a turnkey contract in a tropical environment is providing a benchmark against which competing products and suppliers are measured and a win-win solution for Siemens and customers alike.

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