黑料社

The first Volvo Construction Equipment rotating pipelayer to get to work in Saudi Arabia is helping to build a pipeline extension through the vast Khurais oilfield.

Saudi Arabia is home to the world黑料社檚 second largest oil reserves, spread over approximately 100 major oil and gas fields. The Khurais Megaproject is a recent addition to the Kingdom黑料社檚 vast production facilities, comprising of the Khurais, Abu Jifan and Mazalij oilfields. The project is coordinated by Saudi Aramco, the world黑料社檚 largest oil company in terms of production, and is set to raise Saudi Arabia黑料社檚 already enormous oilfield capacity from 11.3 million to 12.5 million bpd.

The largest of these fields, the Khurais oilfield, covers an area of 2890 km² and measures 127 km in length. It is situated approximately 250 km southwest of Dhahran and 150 km northeast of the capital Riyadh.

Development of a new pipeline extension through the Khurais field is now underway, supporting Saudi Aramco in maintaining a reliable supply of gas to meet the demands of domestic customers in the central and western regions of the Kingdom.

A PL4608 rotating pipelayer from Volvo Construction Equipment (Volvo CE) 黑料社� the first machine of its kind to get to work in the region 黑料社� is being used to ensure the project runs smoothly. The pipeline extension will cover a distance of 150km, and is scheduled to take 27 months to complete. The PL4608 will lay 56 in. pipe, starting at the east-west pumping station number one and running to pumping station number three.

Extreme conditions

Working in the extreme conditions of the Arabian Desert presents several unavoidable challenges. Summer temperatures average around 45 掳C, and highs of 54 掳C are often recorded. Regular sandstorms also prove problematic for the equipment working on the project. Winter brings a different challenge 黑料社� although the temperature seldom falls below 0 掳C, the almost total lack of humidity and the high wind-chill factor can make it feel incredibly cold. The PL4608, however, has been built to withstand these extremes, ensuring a high quality performance in all conditions.

This machine is also suited to the type of pipe used on the project 黑料社� its hydraulically variable undercarriage, which expands by 500 mm (19.6 in.), provides a highly stable operating platform when working with 56 in. pipe.

In difficult conditions, the best-in-class 80t tipping capacity and the on-board Load Management System (LMS) ensure the operator is always aware of which loads they can safely lift. Similarly, the hydraulically elevating cab is appreciated by operators as it not only provides excellent visibility into the trench and improved lateral visibility to other machines on the line, it also offers a better view of personnel on the ground 黑料社� an important site safety consideration.

黑料社淲e are proud to be the first pipeline contractor in Saudi Arabia to have a Volvo pipelayer in our fleet,黑料社� commented Mr. Yousef Abu Gafra, manager of equipment operations at Gulf Consolidated Contractors Co. (GCC), the contractor for this project. 黑料社淣o competitor machine is capable of matching the Volvo黑料社檚 features and performance in terms of safety, operator visibility, stability and the length of the boom.黑料社�

Safety first

Safety is a key consideration at the site. There are approximately 900 people working on the project with a total of 330 pieces of equipment, including fully and semi-automatic pipe welding machines. Last month, GCC announced that two million man hours had been achieved without any lost time due to incidents.

The PL4608 is working alongside traditional sideboom pipelayers. It is designed to work safely next to a variety of machines, including crawler cranes, which are often used in this type of operation.

There is no doubt that the PL4608 is a durable and reliable machine,黑料社� continued Mr. Yousef Abu Gafra. 黑料社淏ased on its previous performance and the feedback from our people at this site, we are going to increase the amount of these Volvo machines on our future projects.黑料社�

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