Dubai-based Future Pipe Industries Group (FPI) has won a major new contract to supply Fiberstrong fiberglass pipes and fittings for the project to expand the seawater cooling facility at Ras Laffan Industrial City in Qatar. 

The new order, for Phase 2, category II of the project, is valued at over $138 million. 

FPI, through its subsidiary, Future Pipe Industries Qatar, has already supplied Fiberstrong for a portion of Ras Laffan’s piping systems in connection with Phase 1 and the category I of Phase 2.  By the time Phase 2 is complete, FPI is expected to have delivered approximately 176,000 metres of Fiberstrong fiberglass pipes.

FPI Fiberstrong pipe systems will be used for above and below ground seawater cooling lines, fire water and chlorination.

Located 80km north east of Doha, Ras Laffan City’s industrial port, operated by state-owned Qatar Petroleum (QP), is amongst the largest facilities in the world for the export of liquefied natural gas (LNG), gas that is cooled to a liquid for transport by ship. A common cooling water supply facility is critical given the scale of industries present there. By 2010, QP expects demand for more than 1 million cubic metres of cooled water per day, compared with supply of just under 600,000 cubic metres now.

Commenting on the contract, Rami Makhzoumi, president and CEO of FPI, said: “This important contract demonstrates our ability to service some of the world’s largest infrastructure projects. Our home market, the GCC, is the fastest growing fiberglass pipe market in the world and it is here that FPI has proved that fiberglass can be the pipe solution of choice for the biggest infrastructure and industrial projects. 

“In the case of Ras Laffan, our fiberglass pipe systems demonstrated their ability to perform at a superior standard to other materials, given harsh environmental conditions in the Gulf region, the design parameters, and the highly corrosive elements of seawater being transported. Cutting edge technological innovation and quality make FPI’s Fiberstrong pipe systems ideally suited for a project of this caliber, the largest of its kind in the region,” he said.
 
FPI will supply Fiberstrong fiberglass pipes for the cooling water system as this type of pipe system is highly capable of resisting the region’s high temperatures – which can soar to 50 degrees centigrade – and the corrosive conditions from seawater.  GRP pipes are also more efficient carriers, light in weight, durable and easy to install. 

The delivery of these fiberglass pipe systems in connection with Phase 2 category II , which are directed through Athens-based Consolidated Contractors Co, is expected to commence this year. The project is expected to be completed by the first half of 2010. - TradeArabia News Service