Global testing company, Exova, has been awarded a £500,000 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 Company’s construction of a gas compressor station for the second phase of the Kingdom’s master gas system. When complete in 2018, it is anticipated that pipeline capacity will be boosted to 12.5 billion cubic feet of gas a day.

Exova will carry out materials testing on fresh and hardened concrete, along with soil classification and compaction tests.  All tests will be conducted to 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.

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.

Commenting on the testing programme, Younes Elkhdari, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia general manager 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 Company  can have confidence in the materials they are using, and assurance that construction is progressing to pre-set specifications.”

Source:  www.exova.com