In 2010 ABB was awarded a $166 million contract by the Kuwait Oil Company to construct a crude oil pipeline from the north of the country to the town of Al Ahmadi on Kuwait Bay.
The line has a diameter of 30 inches, and covers a distance of 123 kilometers. It transports crude from the gathering centers to the Ahmadi tank farm to the south of Kuwait City.
The pipeline has sufficient capacity to transport 665,000 barrels of oil a day, more than half of which comes from the recently discovered Jurassic field. ABB fitted it with a leak detection system, a metering station and associated instrumentation and electrical works. Pipeline gauges were installed at 15 kilometer intervals.
A 16-inch-diameter, 60 kilometer line has also been laid to the Subiya power station in the north of the country.
The project is part of KOC’s plan to boost production in its northern fields. Shortly after it was awarded, ABB was commissioned to install a control system to monitor and manage the production and movement of gas and condensate throughout the country’s production system, including 2,000 kilometers of pipelines and 21 gathering centers.