4,500 interlocks ordered
In one of the largest interlock orders of the last ten years, valve operation specialist Sofis is to supply 4,500 Netherlocks interlocks to an EPC contractor delivering the first phase of a heavy oil development programme for the Kuwait Oil Company (KOC). The interlocks will mainly be fitted to pressure safety valves and pig traps.
The contractor chose Sofis for this project because of the latter’s local engineering support and engineering capability. Delivering such a large-scale project requires close coordination between project teams and, with its regional office in Dubai, that was something Sofis could provide.
Also, as large as a project of this nature is, it still only represents a small proportion of Sofis’s annual production capacity. Following the recent merger between Netherlocks and Smith Flow Control, the newly-created Sofis’s combined manufacturing capability was strong enough to comfortably meet the order’s requirements.
The KOC programme covers greenfield and brownfield facilities, including engineering, procurement, construction, pre-commissioning, commissioning, start-up, and operations and maintenance work for the main central processing facility (CPF) and associated infrastructure, as well as the production support complex. This includes a 162-km pipeline to transport the heavy crude from the CPF to the South Tank Farm located in Ahmadi.
