Multi-Product Pipeline Construction Project Honored
NKK's pipeline engineering team has been honored with a 1999 distinguished service award of the Engineering Advancement Association of Japan. The award recognized NKK's work on a multi-product pipeline (MPP) project in Malaysia, in which NKK contributed to the country by transferring its advanced MPP technology and engineering know-how. NKK was awarded the MPP project in November 1995 by a joint venture between Petronas Dagangan Berhad, Malaysia's state-run oil and gas company, and Shell Malaysia Trading Sdn.Bhd. The project called for laying a 130km-long, 16-inch pipeline to transport four kinds of product oil (unleaded gasoline, leaded gasoline, diesel oil and jet fuel). The pipeline runs from Petronas's refinery in Melaka and Shell's refinery in Port Dickson to a storage/distribution terminal in Klang Valley in the suburb of Kuala Lumpur, with a branch to the new Kuala Lumpur International Airport opened in 1998. Along with the main pipeline, NKK also built pump stations, receiving facilities and the SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) system, which enables continuous operation of the pipeline with a single operator in a central control room. The full-turnkey project was completed in summer 1997. The project required highly advanced engineering expertise and experience as it involved the technical difficulties of laying a single pipeline intended to transport multiple oil products in unique time-restricted sequences, while involving complex ingress and egress changes. NKK, in collaboration with Kumpulan Juruteknik Sdn.Bhd. (a Malaysian affiliate of NKK International Pte. Ltd.), fulfilled large-scale challenging work, from basic design, local procurement, construction and trial operation, in a strictly contracted period, thus meeting Petronas/Shell's demanding requirements. Based on the successful completion of the project, NKK was awarded another MPP project in spring 1998 by Esso Malaysia Berhad, which involved a 3.2km-long extension pipeline to run between the Esso refinery and the Shell refinery's pump station in Port Dickson, as Esso also decided to deliver jet fuel to the new airport. The second project was completed in March 1999. With demand increasing for multi-product pipelines, NKK intends to make continued contributions to the field both in Japan and overseas. |
