The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline is one of the longest crude oil pipelines in the world. The Turkish section of the BTC export system included four pumping stations, two pigging stations, 52 block valve sites, and the Ceyhan marine export terminal. With a throughput of 1 million barrels per day, ensuring successful and uninterrupted operations is of key strategic importance. Offering cost-effective security monitoring, OptaSense was selected to monitor the pipeline to prevent incidents of theft or accidental damage.
Shortly after the system was installed, the OptaSense pipeline monitoring system detected the approach of a vehicle, footsteps, and periods of manual digging near the pipeline. The system raised an alarm, alerting operators to initiate and mobilize appropriate response mechanisms to the exact location of the incident. A significant impact to the environment and business operations were prevented.
The system continues to demonstrate its performance in detecting and classifying events ranging from third party intrusion, agricultural and construction activities near or within the right of way corridor and seismic activity, as well as slack line and inline inspection tool tracking.
