UK-based Exova, a global testing, calibration and advisory services provider, said it has been awarded a £500,000 ($655,125) contract by Sepco Arabia Company to support construction on the main gas pipeline across Saudi Arabia.

The project will see Exova testing and validating materials and environments throughout Sepco Arabia’s construction of a gas compressor station for the second phase of the kingdom’s master gas system.

Once the project gets completed in 2018, it will boost the pipeline capacity to 12.5 billion cu ft of gas a day.  
As per the contract, Exova will carry out materials testing on fresh and hardened concrete, along with soil classification and compaction tests.

Exova said all tests will be conducted as per ASTM International standards using a nuclear density gauge for rapid determination of the in-situ density and moisture content of soils and compacted materials.

In addition, a concrete compression machine will be employed to determine that the concrete mixture as delivered meets the strength requirements of the job specification.

The global testing company said work will be delivered both onsite and in Exova’s Dammam laboratory.

A small on-site lab and a safe storage bunker to house the nuclear density gauge will be constructed at the gas compressor site to handle time critical and frequent tests such as concrete and soil compaction. Other testing such as asphalt and reinforcing steel will be carried out in Exova’s main laboratory in Dammam, it added.

On the win, Younes Elkhdari, the general manager for Saudi Arabia at Exova, said: "The equipment and test methodologies we will use in this project are critical to the longevity and safe operation of the finished pipeline. We are making a significant investment to be on site and delivering fast turnaround and real time information to the construction team."

"As a result, Sepco Arabia can have confidence in the materials they are using, and assurance that construction is progressing to pre-set specifications," he added.-TradeArabia News Service