Ensuring the safety of national offshore gas pipelines
Currently, off the coast of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province, there are 3 gas pipelines transporting gas from mines to the mainland to serve the electricity and fertilizer production industries, including: Nam Con Son Pipeline, Nam Con Son P2 and Bach Ho.
Ensuring security and safety for gas pipeline projects from sea to land is a particularly important task for management and operation units, local authorities, and armed forces stationed in the area such as border guards, coast guard, navy, etc.
Timely prevention of many cases of ships violating the safety corridor of gas pipelines at sea
Speaking to PetroTimes, Colonel Tran Ngoc Tang - Deputy Commander, Chief of Staff of the Border Guard of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province said that in recent years, the national security situation and territorial sovereignty in the maritime border area and seaport gates of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province have been stable, the socio-economic situation has developed, national defense and security have been consolidated and maintained. However, the situation of vehicles showing signs of violating the safety corridor of offshore oil and gas projects still occurs frequently; posing potential risks of insecurity, safety, fire and explosion... deeply affecting the work of protecting oil and gas security and safety and sovereignty of the sea.
Therefore, the Border Guard of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province identified the protection of oil and gas security and safety as one of the important tasks in protecting national sovereignty and border security. Implementing the coordination regulations between the Border Guard Command and Petrovietnam - the National Energy Industry Group, the Provincial Border Guard Command has closely coordinated with 4 oil and gas units, including: Vietsovpetro Joint Venture, Vietnam Gas Corporation (PV GAS), Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Corporation (PVEP), Vietnam Petroleum Technical Services Corporation ( PTSC ) signed the implementation of the coordination regulations No. 890/QCPH-DK-BP dated May 28, 2014 on protecting oil and gas security and safety and protecting maritime sovereignty.
Oil rigs offshore Vung Tau city.
From 2019 to now, after 5 years of implementing the Regulation, forces and units have regularly maintained the exchange of information, the situation of maritime sovereignty, plots, methods, and tricks of enemy activities and all types of subjects, illegal entry and exit activities, smuggling, trade fraud, illegal drug trafficking and use, and violations of laws related to security and order in maritime border areas and seaport areas. At the same time, they regularly exchange information on the situation of fishing vessels fishing and exploiting at sea in violation of oil and gas activities and the activities of foreign coast guard and law enforcement vessels violating maritime sovereignty and violating the safety corridors of Vietnam's oil and gas fields.
The Border Guard of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province and PV GAS have coordinated to organize 606 nearshore and offshore patrols... thereby detecting and chasing away many vessels that were fishing and anchoring in the safety corridor of the gas pipeline.
Through inspection, the Provincial Border Guard has fined 3 cases with a value of 300 million VND for the act of "illegal intrusion into the oil and gas safety zone of offshore oil and gas projects" according to Decree No. 99/2020/ND-CP dated August 26, 2020 of the Government; fined 360 cases with a total value of more than 7 billion VND for acts of not ensuring conditions for fishing, violating maritime safety, losing security and safety in seaport areas...
The Border Guard of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province regularly inspects and propagates to fishermen not to encroach on the safety corridor of the offshore gas pipeline.
Border guards at the border gate coordinate with port security forces to maintain regular patrols on land. Through patrols, many fishing boats have been prevented from entering the port water surface, ensuring the safety of anchored ships and reducing the risk of fire and explosion.
In addition, the Border Guard of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province regularly coordinates with oil and gas units to participate in anti-terrorism drills, oil spill response drills; participate in fire prevention and fighting drills at oil and gas ports such as Vietsovpetro port, PTSC port, PV GAS Vung Tau port warehouse, ensuring security and safety at port warehouses, improving the effectiveness of coordination work when situations arise.
The unit also coordinates effectively in receiving and handing over cases of workers having occupational accidents on rigs, fishermen having accidents at sea, transporting by helicopter from rigs to Vung Tau airport and transporting by ship to oil and gas ports to ensure speed and timeliness.
In addition, the Border Guard of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province also coordinated with the above units to do a good job of propaganda, popularizing the law, and mobilizing the masses to ensure security and safety of oil and gas projects and protect sovereignty and security of the sea.
Simulation of a gas pipeline under the seabed.
The Provincial Border Guard Command has directed Border Guard Stations to regularly incorporate propaganda and guidance into their patrols, inspections, and verifications at fishing ports so that fishing boat owners, captains, and fishermen can grasp and strictly comply with legal regulations on ensuring security and safety of oil and gas projects; at the same time, investigate, verify, and handle cases of fishing boats in Ba Ria - Vung Tau province that show signs of violating the safety corridor of oil and gas projects according to the announcements of the four oil and gas companies mentioned above.
Propaganda to raise awareness for people living along both sides of the gas pipeline corridor
Mr. Vu Ngoc Kien - Head of Safety, Health and Environment Department of Nam Con Son Gas Pipeline Company (NCSP) said: "Currently, the unit is operating and managing the undersea gas pipeline system with a length of nearly 400 km from Lan Tay mine to the shore in Long Hai town (Long Dien district, Ba Ria - Vung Tau province), then transporting onshore about 40 km to power and fertilizer plants in Phu My town.
Ensuring the safety of the national gas pipeline is a very important task. For oil and gas projects, if there is a fire or explosion, it is a real disaster. If an accident happens, the factory may have to stop operating for many days. At that time, we will not be able to supply fuel to power and fertilizer plants. In addition, the damage to people and property in the area around the accident is very large.
To ensure the safety of gas pipeline projects, especially the pipeline corridor outside the fence area managed by the Company, every year we coordinate with local authorities to disseminate information to over 2,000 households living along both sides of the pipeline corridor about the dangers of encroaching on the gas pipeline on land from Long Hai town to Phu My town.
The communication program to ensure security and safety of onshore gas pipelines has a visual propaganda exhibition to help people understand and grasp the information better.
Regarding the undersea pipeline corridor, the Company has coordinated with the Border Guard Command of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province and 8 central provinces (from Da Nang city to Ho Chi Minh city) to propagate to fishermen and shipping enterprises to recognize the safety corridor of the undersea gas pipeline that they are not allowed to enter.
In addition, for onshore gas pipelines, the Company has equipped warning software to promptly detect behaviors that pose risks to pipeline works such as digging, trucks weighing over 5 tons or when there is a gas leak. During the years of operation, NCSP has detected many violations to the works. Typically, in 2002, the Company detected and promptly prevented a case of an excavator of a business digging on the gas pipeline corridor without a license. The excavation was only about 20 cm from the pipeline and if it went 20 cm deeper, there would be a risk of the pipeline breaking, leading to fire and explosion.
For undersea pipeline projects, NCSP has two systems to monitor and control security and safety. For cargo ships, the Company has an AIS system to monitor all cargo ships anchored and moored within the safety corridor of the undersea pipeline. For fishing vessels, the Company coordinates with the Department of Fisheries to build a software system to monitor fishing vessels in the safety corridor of the undersea pipeline from the Lan Tay mine area to the shore. If fishing vessels are found anchored or fishing in the pipeline corridor, NCSP will coordinate with the border guards to chase away and propagate to fishermen to move their vessels to safe areas. Recently, the Company has also detected a number of fishing vessels fishing in the safety corridor of the undersea gas pipeline and has coordinated with the Border Guard to handle many violations.
Mr. Vu Ngoc Kien also said that the biggest risk is that ships anchoring and hooking into the pipeline can cause a hole in the pipeline, leading to a gas leak. This can cause a fire or explosion in the violating equipment; at the same time, it can interrupt the fuel supply to power and fertilizer plants, affecting national energy security because it takes a long time to repair.
The Coast Guard, the Southeast Gas Transportation Company and the Nam Con Son Gas Pipeline Company coordinated to patrol to protect the security and safety of the gas pipeline at sea.
"Currently, we have a patrol force, patrolling every 30 minutes, from 6am to 6pm to promptly detect and prevent acts of encroachment on the safety corridor of the gas pipeline. In addition, we also propagate to people to grasp the safety regulations, not to encroach on the safety corridor of the gas pipeline," Mr. Vu Ngoc Kien added.
An Nhien - Thanh Phong
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Source: https://www.pvn.vn/chuyen-muc/tap-doan/tin/b52b48ba-b34f-42bb-8db3-563a6ced5c22
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