Last autumn, Caspian Pipeline Consortium purchased for its facilities 40 cathodic protection installations, CKZ-IP-MN4P, the manufacturing of which was mastered by Signal, Stavropol Radio Plant. The test operation confirmed the product quality and in 2021 the Consortium will buy a new lot of Russian-made CP installations.
The cathodic protection principle is widely used in the oil and gas industry as an efficient way to prevent corrosion of underground steel pipelines, tanks, pillars and other metal structures. Progress of corrosion in the highly corrosive soils is prevented through polarization of metal structures by external electric current.
A CP installation is a set consisting of a DC power supply with two main lines: for anode polarization and structure cathodic protection. Signal, Stavropol Radio Plant (which is part of KRET, Rostekh corporation) has mastered manufacturing of these installations over the recent years as part of the import substitution program. The efficiency of the Russian-made CKZ-IP-MN4P CP installations reach a record 98% (the efficiency of the existing similar units is approximately 10% lower), at the same time, these installations are five times cheaper than the foreign ones. The Signal plant is currently capable of manufacturing up to 100 installations of this type per year.
The Caspian Pipeline Consortium has become the first client of Stavropol CP installations. The first pilot batch of CKZ-IP-MN4P of 40 units was purchased in October 2020 for scheduled replacement of end-of-life US-made similar units installed at CPC facilities in Kazakhstan and Astrakhan Oblast.
“In the course of operations, our development has proven to be efficient, the plant has received a new order, - notes Andrey Kocherga, General Director of Signal plant. - The next lot of CP installations for CPC will be shipped already in the first half of 2021. As part of the import substitution strategy, our products enable the renewal of the Company’s servicing yard with the installations more efficient and affordably priced than the foreign counterparts”.
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The CPC Pipeline System is one of CIS largest energy investment projects that involves foreign capital. The length of the Tengiz – Novorossiysk pipeline is 1,511 km. This route moves over two thirds of all Kazakhstan export oil along with crude from Russian fields including those in the Caspian region. CPC Marine Terminal is equipped with three Single Point Moorings (SPM), allowing tankers to be loaded safely at significant distance offshore, including in poor weather conditions
CPC Shareholders: Federal Agency for State Property Management represented by Transneft (trustee) – 24%, CPC Company – 7%, KazMunayGas – 19%; Kazakhstan Pipeline Ventures LLC – 1.75%, Chevron Caspian Pipeline Consortium Company – 15%, LUKARCO B.V. - 12.5%, Mobil Caspian Pipeline Company - 7.5%, Rosneft-Shell Caspian Ventures Limited - 7.5%, BG Overseas Holding Limited - 2%, Eni International N.A. N.V. - 2%, and Oryx Caspian Pipeline LLC – 1.75%.