01 October 2005
Muscat - Leading Omani engineering firm Bahwan Engineering Company (BEC) has been awarded a contract to operate and maintain the Sohar Seawater Intake and Return System (SI&RS), which has been built at the Sohar Industrial Port. The SI&RS facility, financed by the Ministry of National Economy at a cost of RO 22 million, is a key component of the infrastructure facilities being developed by the government and the Sohar Industrial Port Company (SIPC) to serve a number of petrochemical and industrial projects under construction at Sohar.
A consortium of Bahwan Contracting Company (BCC) and Sezai Turkes Feyzi Akkaya Construction Co (STFA) of Turkey has completed construction work on the facility. Construction was supervised by Fichtner Gmbh & KG Co. When operational the Seawater Intake & Return System will make available seawater at the maximum rate of 334,000 cubic metres per hour to meet the cooling water needs of a number of petrochemical and industrial projects under development at Sohar.
A key component of the Seawater Intake & Return System is a reinforced concrete-framed pumping station where each of the planned industries will install their own pumps to extract seawater and pump it through their own mains. The station will be fully equipped to screen and chlorinate the seawater before it made available to the industries to extract. Also included in the works is a power substation capable of supplying power for the pumping station as well as for the seawater intake pumps to be installed by the industries.
After utilising the seawater for cooling and other purposes, the industries will deliver the return seawater to a common outflow system (presently under construction under a separate contract) for discharging it back into the sea. The discharge of seawater will be undertaken as per environmental criteria, and at stipulated temperatures that will not harm the marine environment. Additional measures, such as oil barriers and anti-sediment screens, will also be in place at the pumping station to prevent entry of any material into the intake system.
Among the projects that will be served by the Seawater Intake & Return System are the $1 billion Sohar Refinery complex, the associated polypropylene plant under construction at a cost of $313 million, the $650 million ammonia and urea project of Sohar International Urea & Chemical Industries (SIUCI), the $500 million methanol scheme of Oman Methanol Company, the $1 billion polyethylene project jointly promoted by Oman Oil Company and Dow Chemical, a power and desalination plant, and a power island that will generate electricity for the Sohar Aluminium smelter project.
Authorities have also initiated the process of augmenting the industrial port's seawater Intake & Return capacity to serve projects that were finalised long after the present Intake & Return System was conceived and designed.
BEC led a field of five firms that vied for the contract to operate and maintain the Sohar facility, which is the largest of its kind in the Sultanate. It's for the first time that a local Omani company has been entrusted the task of operating a major seawater intake and return of this kind in the Sultanate. As part of its four-year contract, BEC will provide all management and engineering services for the operation and maintenance of Sohar Seawater Intake and Return System.
BEC, a key member of the Suhail Bahwan Group, integrates diverse engineering construction activities in the field of Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, Instrumentation, Power, Oilfield Operations, Water Treatment, HVAC, Plumbing and Sanitation, Elevators and Escalators and Diesel Power, under one management and, also undertake full maintenance contracts in these areas. Employing over 4,000 personnel including more than 200 engineers, BEC is the first company in Oman to obtain ISO 9002 accreditation for Project Management and Construction Activities.
Muscat - Leading Omani engineering firm Bahwan Engineering Company (BEC) has been awarded a contract to operate and maintain the Sohar Seawater Intake and Return System (SI&RS), which has been built at the Sohar Industrial Port. The SI&RS facility, financed by the Ministry of National Economy at a cost of RO 22 million, is a key component of the infrastructure facilities being developed by the government and the Sohar Industrial Port Company (SIPC) to serve a number of petrochemical and industrial projects under construction at Sohar.
A consortium of Bahwan Contracting Company (BCC) and Sezai Turkes Feyzi Akkaya Construction Co (STFA) of Turkey has completed construction work on the facility. Construction was supervised by Fichtner Gmbh & KG Co. When operational the Seawater Intake & Return System will make available seawater at the maximum rate of 334,000 cubic metres per hour to meet the cooling water needs of a number of petrochemical and industrial projects under development at Sohar.
A key component of the Seawater Intake & Return System is a reinforced concrete-framed pumping station where each of the planned industries will install their own pumps to extract seawater and pump it through their own mains. The station will be fully equipped to screen and chlorinate the seawater before it made available to the industries to extract. Also included in the works is a power substation capable of supplying power for the pumping station as well as for the seawater intake pumps to be installed by the industries.
After utilising the seawater for cooling and other purposes, the industries will deliver the return seawater to a common outflow system (presently under construction under a separate contract) for discharging it back into the sea. The discharge of seawater will be undertaken as per environmental criteria, and at stipulated temperatures that will not harm the marine environment. Additional measures, such as oil barriers and anti-sediment screens, will also be in place at the pumping station to prevent entry of any material into the intake system.
Among the projects that will be served by the Seawater Intake & Return System are the $1 billion Sohar Refinery complex, the associated polypropylene plant under construction at a cost of $313 million, the $650 million ammonia and urea project of Sohar International Urea & Chemical Industries (SIUCI), the $500 million methanol scheme of Oman Methanol Company, the $1 billion polyethylene project jointly promoted by Oman Oil Company and Dow Chemical, a power and desalination plant, and a power island that will generate electricity for the Sohar Aluminium smelter project.
Authorities have also initiated the process of augmenting the industrial port's seawater Intake & Return capacity to serve projects that were finalised long after the present Intake & Return System was conceived and designed.
BEC led a field of five firms that vied for the contract to operate and maintain the Sohar facility, which is the largest of its kind in the Sultanate. It's for the first time that a local Omani company has been entrusted the task of operating a major seawater intake and return of this kind in the Sultanate. As part of its four-year contract, BEC will provide all management and engineering services for the operation and maintenance of Sohar Seawater Intake and Return System.
BEC, a key member of the Suhail Bahwan Group, integrates diverse engineering construction activities in the field of Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, Instrumentation, Power, Oilfield Operations, Water Treatment, HVAC, Plumbing and Sanitation, Elevators and Escalators and Diesel Power, under one management and, also undertake full maintenance contracts in these areas. Employing over 4,000 personnel including more than 200 engineers, BEC is the first company in Oman to obtain ISO 9002 accreditation for Project Management and Construction Activities.
By Conrad Prabhu
© Oman Daily Observer 2005
