Eyes and Ears’ guard major oil pipeline
A high-tech UK security system has been chosen to protect a vital part of India’s energy infrastructure, the 670-kilometre-long Mangala oil pipeline. The Mangala is the world’s longest continuously heated and insulated pipeline. Operated by Cairn India it will have access to 75 per cent of IndiaÕs refining capacity after it reaches Bhogat in Gujarat. The state-of-the-art security OptaSense system – developed by Qineti, the UK’s largest international defence and security technology group – is designed to detect, classify and locate potential threats to buried pipelines. OptaSense is a buried cable fibre-optic sensor system that can detect multiple, simultaneous disturbances every 10 metres over a 40-kilometre length of existing or installed optical fibre. In border and perimeter security applications, anyone climbing or cutting wire fences or digging near the perimeter alerts the sensor and sets off an alarm. The system then classifies the disturbance, provides the position and cues other aids/sensors, such as cameras, to ensure the operator instigates the appropriate response. In cable and pipeline protection applications, any activity – such as the approach of a digger or the lifting of a manhole cover – also generates an alarm. The system’s acoustic sensitivity can also be used to listen to the flow through a pipe, to allow the location of blockages and leaks. OptaSense has huge implications for pipeline operators, where a real-time alert of a leak and its location could save millions of dollars. Vandalism, terrorist attacks or problems with these assets can impact on the environment, the economy and on the lives of staff and consumers. The contract was awarded by Cairn India and ONGC Joint Venture through Qineti”s distribution partner, Optilan, following tests in 2010. Under the contract, Qineti”s OptaSense system will be installed along the whole length of the pipeline to provide highest-level security. “Pipeline […]