Honeywell automates, reinstruments nine oil pipelines in Italy

Phoenix, AZ— To help improve safety and reliability of nine crude oil and finished-product pipelines in Italy, Honeywell recently completed a $5-million automation project for Societa per Azioni Raffineria Padana Olii Minerali (SARPOM). The engineering procurement and construction contract included automating and reinstrumenting the company’s nine pipelines by March 2004.

SARPOM is a joint venture between ExxonMobil and ERG. Its finished products include gasoline, diesel oil, heavy and light fuel oil, jet fuel and virgin naphtha.

“Honeywell’s Experion Process Knowledge System (PKS) will help us improve operation safety and reliability in compliance with current requirements and pipeline automation progress in protecting the environment,” said Paolo Tagliaretti, SARPOM’s project manager. “Having Honeywell as our single interface for the entire project will prove beneficial to us now and in the years ahead.”

Honeywell was responsible for the engineering, design, management, implementation, procurement and construction of SARPOM’s entire pipeline automation system. In addition to boosting production capacity, reliability and quality, Experion will help SARPOM comply with new environmental protection laws by improving the detection of and response to pipeline leaks.

“SARPOM selected us for this project because of our reputation for reliability, safety and customer service and support,” says Jack Bolick, Honeywell Process Solutions’ president. “Honeywell had the right combination of technology solutions that met SARPOM’s requirements for quick start-up times and immediate benefits.”

The project included a variety of Honeywell technologies, including three global user stations, Honeywell ST3000 Smart Transmitters, Fail Safe Controllers (FSC), and safety systems. SARPOM chose Honeywell’s FSC systems because they are easily integrated with the company’s existing Honeywell systems and because TUV approved them for use in safety applications.

SARPOM operates a complex network of pipelines comprising 470 km of pipes in varying sizes ranging from six to 20 inches. The Honeywell pipeline automation project affects the Quiliano crude oil pipeline; the Arluno, Chivasso, Malpensa Airport, Vado Ligure and Turbigo finished-product pipelines; and other smaller pipelines.

The Quiliano pipeline moves 8 million cubic meters of crude oil per year, which makes up the total refinery feedstock. The finished-product pipelines move 6 million cubic meters of refined products, equaling 80% of refinery output.

SARPOM’s refinery in San Martino di Trecate, close to Novara, has operated since 1952. The refinery covers an area larger than 1 million square meters and produces 250,000 barrels per day. It has a balanced oil capacity of 9 million tons per year and a real capacity of 6.7 million tons per year. The Vado Ligure sea terminal in Savona supplies the refinery’s crude oil through a 20-inch, 150-km pipeline via a depot in Quiliano.

Control Engineering Daily News DeskJim Montague, news editorjmontague@reedbusiness.com

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