ABB, present in Oman over 14 years, is currently implementing key projects for Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) and Brazilian mining giant Vale.

The Zurich-based global leader in power and automation technologies won orders to provide electrical equipment and related services for PDO’s Kauther Depletion Compressor Project. The contract was awarded by GE Oil & Gas.

Located on the northern edge of the major central Oman gas fields, the Kauther project will extract the remaining natural gas from a number of existing wells.

ABB’s scope of supply consists of engineering services and electrical equipment, including variable speed drive systems for the compressor. The project is scheduled for completion in the last quarter of 2010.

It includes the delivery of two variable speed drive systems for the compressor application, each with a 17 MW 1,500 rpm synchronous motor, LCI converter, four winding transformers and filters; switchgear and chiller for converter cooling. ABB will also provide related engineering services, including a network study to ensure the optimal performance of the installed system.

In February of last year, ABB won an order worth approximately $62 million from Vale to supply electrification and automation systems and related equipment for a new direct reduction iron ore pelletising plant in Oman.

The new Vale plant coming up in Sohar Industrial Port, 230 km northwest of Muscat, is expected to produce up to 10 million tonnes of iron ore pellets per year. Scheduled to start operations by the end of 2010, the facility will provide the Middle East region with iron ore and pellets for the steel industry.

ABB’s role at Vale
ABB will provide complete electrification and automation solutions for the plant to maximise productivity, monitor energy use and minimise energy consumption. The scope of supply includes ABB’s Extended Automation System 800xA for process control and system integration, a collaborative production management system, all medium voltage and low voltage power distribution systems, transformers, drives, motors and other auxiliary equipment, as well as the substation infrastructure and engineering.

And in August of this year, ABB announced that its local company in Oman, ABB Oman LLC, had signed a three-year maintenance agreement for the Vale pellet plant and distribution centre. This maintenance partnership agreement will be a continuation of an agreement where ABB is responsible for the management and planning of the entire commissioning phase of the project.

Vale is investing $1.3 billion in the plant and distribution centre, its first pelletising operation outside of Brazil. The initial annual production capacity of the plant will be 9 million tonnes and once completed the site’s distribution centre will have a capacity of handling 40 million tonnes.

Vale’s plant will cater to the Middle East steel industry’s growing demand for iron ore and pellets. It will operate with 720 employees, of which 202 employees will be part of ABB’s maintenance team at the site. ABB will be active in both hiring and providing ongoing development of local Omani nationals within their work team.

The ABB agreement covers the development and execution of all maintenance activities at the plant. ABB will manage the entire maintenance crew to ensure that mechanical and electrical maintenance regimes, shutdown management and planning and scheduling as well as reliability maintenance are completed according to the ABB’s maintenance outsourcing concept.

Automation offerings

PDO, for whom ABB is providing electrical equipment and related services for the Kauther Depletion Compressor Project

“We’ve been committed to developing the country’s transmission and distribution network as well as supporting industries such as the oil and gas sector through our automation offerings,” said ABB Oman manager Saeed Fahim.

“ABB has a strong team in Oman to support our customers, and we are continually working to increase our in-country resources. ABB has close relationships with Oman’s utility providers as well as industrial firms, but as always we do not believe in resting on our laurels. There’s much more that we can and will be doing to partner our customers to help them improve the productivity, grid reliability and energy efficiency of their plants and industrial processes in Oman,” Fahim said while discussing ABB’s commitments.

“ABB is one of the world’s leading power and automation solution providers with 117,000 employees. We work with customers in Oman to provide them with our global know-how to benefit their operations. Oman has a significant oil and gas sector, as well as a burgeoning mining industry. However, the country is also expanding its tourism sector. ABB has solutions across the board to promote energy efficiency and process optimisation for these industries.

“We have operations in a few places in Oman and plan to open a new head office soon. ABB produces power products and low-voltage solutions in the UAE and Saudi Arabia which we export to Oman. It has also committed itself to training Oman students who are in the electrical engineering field following agreements made with our customers. ABB is constantly looking at increasing its presence in Oman.”