Posted: 14 Jul, 2011

On 8th June 2011, Gassco launched its new pipeline management system in the operations environment. The successful launch is the result of close collaboration between Gassco and Atmos International over the past few years.

Gassco is the operator responsible for transporting Norwegian gas to continental Europe and the UK through a 7975-kilometer subsea network of pipelines. The new PMS uses Atmos SIM for advanced hydraulic modeling in order to simulate all the pipelines and provide flow, pressure and temperature profiles, inventory calculation, composition tracking, quality tracking, and look-ahead modeling functions. These calculations are used to predict the pipeline response to production disruptions. As no subsea measurements are available the pipeline simulation functions are essential for Gassco to operate these pipelines safely and cost-effectively.

Gassco Project Manager Svend-Aage Dan Nielsen said, "This project has been challenging in further developing and implementing the Atmos pipeline management system to support our subsea pipeline network. Along with configuring and tuning all pipelines, specific networks have also been built to support forecast scenarios across several pipelines. 
The model accuracy is above expectation taking into account that there is very little instrumentation to feed the SIM models with signals. Atmos has worked hard and focused, and with their commitment and field knowledge, Atmos managed to develop our next generation of the pipeline management system, which is fully integrated with the DCS/SCADA system. Since we went live, the system has been working reliably and the Gassco Operators are very pleased with the new functionalities."

www.gassco.no