GE Oil & Gas’ PII Pipeline Solutions group has announced it has been awarded a long-term, multi-million-dollar contract to provide Dolphin Energy Ltd of the UAE with integrity management services to ensure the uninterrupted operation of Dolphin’s critical sea and export pipelines in Qatar.

GE will provide an integrated package of best-in-class integrity engineering, inspection and data management technology to support the Dolphin Gas Project, which involves the production and processing of natural gas from Qatar’s North Field, and transportation of the dry gas by sub-sea pipeline to the UAE.
GE’s scope will encompass a comprehensive integrity management programme for two, 36-inch sealines which connect Dolphin’s two offshore platforms to its giant  gas processing plant in Qatar,  each about 70 km long, and the 48-inch subsea export line that spans about 364 km in length from Qatar to the UAE.
Over the contract period of up to five years, GE’s PII group will be responsible for ensuring the effective integrity management of Dolphin’s pipelines.
A key element of the initial phase of the project will be the development of Dolphin’s Pipeline Integrity Management System (PIMS), a demonstration of Dolphin’s commitment to adopting an industry best-practice. The role of PIMS will be to provide the guidelines, standards and procedures that Dolphin will use to ensure the safe and continued operation of its system.
The project started in July 2007 and in the first year alone will include the development of Dolphin’s PIMS, a pipeline network risk assessment, baseline inspection and condition assessments of the pipelines, and the implementation of a comprehensive Web-based data management system. 
The project team will be based at GE Oil and Gas’ Middle East head office in Doha, and will be supported on an ongoing basis by PII’s integrity management centre of excellence in Cramlington, England.
Manuel Terranova, general manager of Integrity Services for PII Pipeline Solutions, said: “This project positions GE’s PII group as the clear integrity management leader in Qatar and the Middle East, and further demonstrates the industry’s commitment to implementing first-class integrity management programmes to protect their assets and comply with government regulations.”
Claudi Santiago, CEO and president of GE Oil & Gas, noted that GE’s ability to leverage its recent experiences on other pipeline integrity service projects in Qatar would provide both PII and Dolphin with an additional edge.
 “This is an exciting project for GE Oil & Gas and is a great example of how our dedication to lead the industry with a combination of consulting expertise and technology is the right recipe for customer success,” Santiago said.