Plan to Install Control System on Gas Pipelines

The Iranian Oil Pipeline and Telecommunications Company is implementing a data collecting system for pipelines, known as supervisory control and data acquisition (Scada), the company’s director of Telecommunications Department said.

“The company has begun implementing the Scada system across the National Gas Trunkline,” Alireza Moqaddam was also quoted as saying by Shana, the Oil Ministry’s official news agency, on Monday. Scada is a system of hardware and software elements for monitoring, gathering and processing data for major utilities as well as oil and gas pipelines, particularly in remote locations.

The system utilizes devices such as sensors, valves, pumps and motors to monitor the flow of oil and gas in pipelines, detect anomalies and help reduce downtime. According to the official, the project will take two years for completion and is estimated to cost $3 million.

“Scada will collect, monitor, analyze and manage all the data and changes in the pipelines automatically,” he added.

Moqaddam stressed that in the earlier stage, the system would operate manually and it will be gradually upgraded to a fully-automatic system.

"The construction of a Scada management center is underway in the city of Shahr-e Rey," he said.

The initiative comes as Iran is expanding its domestic pipelines for transferring oil, gas and derivative fuels.

A new pipeline is planned to be built to transport refined oil products, including Euro-4 gasoline, from the Persian Gulf Star Refinery in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas to Tehran and other cities in the central and northern regions. Hassan Montazer Torbati, managing director of Iran Gas Engineering and Development Company, said last year that the country plans to lay 6,000 kilometers of gas pipelines nationwide, thereby raising the total length of the gas transportation system to 40,000 kilometers in the coming years.

A gas pipeline stretching from the city of Damghan in Semnan Province to Neka in Mazandaran Province is set to become operational this week.