Nbase-Xyplex (Chatsworth, CA) was chosen to provide the SCADA system as part of a
contract involving the control, management, and security of
the Caspian pipeline system. Using the SCADA system, one
person, sitting at a remote location, can see the whole
pipeline process and perform functional changes like
stopping and starting. In fact, one person can control the
entire operation, although the plan is to use two-one to
handle the marine terminal's ship-loading operations and a
second to monitor the entire pipeline.
"What makes this pipeline uni que from others through out
the world is in using an office LAN [local-area network]
technology, coupled with fiber- optic technology, to extend
the distance to 1,500 km and still get tremendous speeds of
100 Mbits/sec at a very reasonable price," says Koseoglu.
"What's critical in the design of this telecommunications
system is that, under normal circumstances, if you lose the
link in your communications system, it's more of an
inconvenience. In this case, it's a real big deal. If the pipeline
operations people lose sight of the pipeline because of a
communications failure, they'll have to shut it down. One
day's loss of operations equates to millions of dollars in lost
revenue."
lw.pennwellnet.com
According to the U.S. State Department, the Caspian Sea oil
reserves, nearly 180 billion barrels, are critical to the
world's oil supply for the next half-century. |
