AUMA has won several important contracts in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates.
The largest is for the Black Pearl project commissioned by tank farm operator Vopak Horizon Fujairah Limited. At the Port of Fujairah, Vopak Horizon Fujairah operates a petroleum products terminal with six jetties and about 2.1 million cubic meters of storage in 68 tanks. Black Pearl, the seventh expansion phase at the terminal, will add five tanks with around 500,000 m3 of storage capacity for crude oil.
AUMA supplied more than 80 SAEx .2 multi-turn and SQEx .2 part-turn actuators to automate a wide variety of gate, butterfly and double block and bleed (DBB) valves, All the actuators feature AUMA’s ACExC .2 integrated controls. Four SIMA master stations are also part of the scope of delivery, offering enhanced security thanks to a 2+2 redundant (hot standby) configuration. The SIMA master stations are connected to the actuators via Modbus RTU in two redundant loops, and to the host system via Modbus TCP/IP, again with redundancy. Commissioning was completed in May 2016 to the full satisfaction of the customer.
A second project for Vopak Horizon Fujairah concerns the pipework and valves linking the terminal to other storage facilities at the port. The MM2 (“Matrix Manifold No. 2”) project covers another 48 SAEx .2 multi-turn and SQEx .2 part-turn actuators with ACExC integrated controls as well as two SIMA master stations. Plant safety is ensured at multiple levels: A global emergency shutdown (ESD) command can be transmitted from either the DCS or an emergency stop switch, through the SIMA, to a predefined set of actuators. In addition, each actuator includes a separate, hard-wired ESD function and can thus be shut down individually. The system was commissioned in September 2016.
In another recent project in this region, AUMA supplied 142 actuators for the first phase of the BPGIC Fujairah Terminal project for Brooge Petroleum and Gas Investment Company. AUMA also provided 36 actuators to the Port of Fujairah for its VLCC Jetty 1 project. The first berth opened in June 2016 for vessels of up to 330,000 tons, and a second is under construction.
AUMA actuator solutions are valued within the oil and gas industry for their proven product quality, ability to integrate with process control systems from multiple suppliers, and ease of installation thanks to their modular design. Local AUMA experts work closely with consultants, EPC contractors and end users to support them in actuator design, sizing and commissioning.
“We have recently installed AUMA actuators in our tank terminal,” said a spokesperson from the Vopak Horizon Fujairah team. “The compact modular design of AUMA allows maximum flexibility and interchangeability on site apart from fast communication speed which is crucial for the MOV operation. We appreciate the quick and efficient professional service support from the local AUMA team.”
