Case Study
Control for Complex Colombian Natural Gas Pipeline System
The Centro Oriente 12-22 inch diameter natural gas pipeline traverses 484 miles (779 km) of diverse terrain ranging from hot plains, wet tropical forests and rugged Andes Mountain foothills. Six operational centers where the system interconnects with other gas pipelines are required to communicate with fi eld SCADA RTUs which interface with local fi eld devices. The centers provide a communications hub and a link to a master operational control system located in the northeast Colombian city of Bucaramanga.The pipeline is complex, with more than 50 city gates and custody transfer metering stations providing gas to 44 municipalities for residential and commercial use, large industrial users and power plants. The fi eld communications network relies on a complex radio and satellite system to transfer tremendous amounts of data and voice information. Logistic challenges are signifi cant to ensure high integrity information gathering and transmission under rugged conditions.
