Italian RINA Services company inked a contract with Saipem/Azfen consortium to conduct the technical inspection of welding work on the South Caucasus gas pipeline (Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum). According to the report, the contract covers a 487 km section of the pipeline. “The contract envisages the inspection and testing of welding work at a 424-kilometer Azerbaijani section and a 63-kilometer Georgian section of the gas pipeline,” a statement said. “It also includes the installation of valves, scraper acceptance and start-up units and attached systems. Two teams of specialists in Azerbaijan and Georgia will conduct the work on the visual, radiographic, ultrasonic and magnetic testing.”
RINA opened an office in Azerbaijan in 2014 and in Georgia in 2015. This Italian company annually certifies about 20,000 welders and 1,100 welding procedures for major engineering and construction companies in the world. Some 4.2 billion cubic meters of gas were transported via the South Caucasus gas pipeline in January-July compared to 3.6 billion cubic meters, transported over the same period in 2014.
The length of the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline is more than 700 kilometers. The gas produced at Shah Deniz gas-condensate field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea is supplied via this gas pipeline. Gas is supplied to Georgia and Turkey.
