Background
In 2002, the South African and Mozambique Governments agreed on a Gas-Pipeline Project. The 865km Sasol gas transmission pipeline ran from Mozambique to Secunda, for the transmission of natural gas to its Secunda processing plant. The gas was sourced from the Pande and Temane Gas Fields in Mozambique. Sasol Petroleum International, the upstream subsidiary of Sasol Ltd., has started up its 63 million gigajoule/year (158 MMscfd) expansion at the Temane, Mozambique; gas
processing plant capacity is 458 MMscfd in 2012.The pipeline is 50% owned by Sasol, 25% by the South African government and 25% by the Mozambique government.
However, South Africa's energy demand has been growing fast in its new democracy. Another pipeline was agreed upon running parallel to the current pipeline from Mozambique to South Africa.
The first phase of this pipeline 125km was under construction from year 2013.
User
Sasol Petroleum Temane Limitada (SPT),
Mozambique
Market Segment
Oil & Gas
Project Time
2014
Product
RD98X Repeater
PD78X Portable Radio
MD78X Mobile Radio
The Challenge
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The first phase of the pipeline project stretching 125 kilometres has been awarded in a joint venture to two construction companies, the local construction partners of SASOL. They soon realised that communication throughout this 125 kilometres stretch of pipeline was of the upmost importance as an emergency could happen anywhere at any time and help will be literally hours away without communications. Currently there was no cellular communications in this remote part of Mozambique.
So during the construction period, a radio communication system would greatly satisfy the daily communication requirement and ensure the personnel security.
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After the pipeline construction, the radio communication system can also be left for Sasol pipeline route maintenance, or can be removed into the next new construction area.We were approached to come up with a solution with which they can have communications anywhere alongside the current project. The solution is based on reliable wide coverage digital radio communication system and also easily deployed power supply system.
The Solution
After an extensive site survey was done alongside the proposed route, we have come up with the following solution:
7-Site RD98X Repeaters linked via 5.8 GHz Microwave link;
35-PD78X Portable Radios used by personnel roaming up & down the construction site;
35-MD78X Mobile Radios were mounted in the construction vehicles.
By carefully selecting and planning the correct positioning of the Repeater sites, we have come up with a solution that we connect all the Repeaters via IP-Microwave links to each other. Yagi-Antennas are used to give the range in a straight line that is required to the next repeater.
Roaming function of the Hytera terminals give the advantage to allow the customer to either talk locally (in the same Repeater site) or throughout the network without having to select the repeater you are closest to, thus being able to connect to any radio throughout the network.
The Benefits
The radios are robust with high ingress protection level, suitable for daily work in the construction environment. The repeater IP-connection and terminal emergency function can inter-connect all the subscribers to protect them from wild animal attack or unexpected situations.
Ace communications, a Hytera dealer in South Africa, supports supervision and commissioning during the project. The fast response during and after the project implementation would greatly satisfy the client.
Future Expansion Possibility
This system can be either moved as the next phase of the construction requires or easily expanded to “Grow” with the length of the Pipeline.