Italy’s RINA Services has been awarded a major contract to inspect the weld testing for the 487 km Baku-Tbilisi pipeline. The 48 inch pipeline is being built by the SAIPEM - AZFEN consortium on behalf of BP and it is part of the Tanap and TAP infrastructural project that will make it possible for gas from Azerbaijan to be supplied directly to Italy and the European gas pipeline system.
RINA’s Azerbaijan-based company has been chosen by SAIPEM-AZFEN as the third party body that is to check the welding testing on the Azerbaijan and Georgian parts of the gas pipeline over the next thirty months. The contract covers 424 km in Azerbaijan and 63 km in Georgia with installation of associated block valves, pigging facilities and tie-ins.
Two teams of technicians from RINA will be based in Azerbaijan and Georgia and will inspect Visual (VT), Radiography (RT), and/or Automatic and Manual Ultrasonic (AUT) and Magnetic Particle Tests (MT) covering all welding on the network.
RINA opened an office in Azerbaijan in 2014 and in Georgia this year to deliver a wide range of testing and certification services to these fast-growing markets. RINA Services certifies around 20,000 welders and 1,100 welding procedures every year on behalf of major global engineering and construction companies.
