Gulf Construction Online - Amiantit’s Flowtite passes quality test

Pipes & Fittings

On test ... Amiantit’s DN2000 PN25 joint being monitored at 50 bar pressure.

Amiantit’s Flowtite passes quality test

01 August 2006

Leading Dammam-based pipe manufacturer Saudi Arabian Amiantit Company has recently achieved a technological breakthrough with the successful testing of its DN2000 PN25 Flowtite joint that has passed all requirements without problems.

“This is really a ground-breaking event for us and passing this test proves the robustness of our flexible joints and demonstrates our company’s ability to design and manufacture GRP (glass reinforced plastic) products for high-pressure applications,” says Fareed Al Khalawi, president and CEO. “This development now enables us to bring forward pending projects in the Middle East, North Africa and Latin America, and paves the way for further expansion of the group.”
With six technology companies supporting more than 30 global manufacturing facilities, the Amiantit Group is a world leader in research and development of pipe manufacturing technologies as well as being the exclusive owner of worldwide patents for Flowtite, which is the foremost technological process used in the manufacture of fibreglass-reinforced plastic (FRP) pipe products.
“Amiantit’s latest success with the Flowtite joint is yet another demonstration of the importance of the work done by the company’s research scientists to further the global pipe manufacturing industry’s understanding of the behaviour of composite materials under the stresses and pressures involved in practical applications,” he says.
“The joint is qualified according to international quality certification of ASTM D4161 as well as to the more stringent requirements of ISO 8639 and EN 1119 of an angular deviation at 50 bar for 24 hours and sheer load at 50 bar for 24 hours, as well as cyclic loading and vacuum,” says Assim Alhakeem, a spokesperson for Amiantit.
The demand for large-diameter, high-pressure GRP products has been increasing steadily in recent years, partly because of the high price of steel and also because of the advantages of Amiantit’s environment-friendly GRP products, which are corrosion-resistant, strong yet lightweight with easy installation, offering a cost-efficient alternative to steel, he says.
Established in 1968 at Dammam as a limited liability company, the Saudi Arabian Amiantit Company was converted into a joint stock company in 1994. The prime activity of the company is to initiate and manage new industrial projects, and market its technologies and products. The company also monitors and controls the business of all the subsidiaries of the Amiantit Group through its corporate management office in Dammam in Saudi Arabia.
The company recently secured orders worth SR97 million ($25.9 million) for the supply of pipelines to state-owned utility firms, following major orders sealed last December, worth SR1.7 billion – or more than half of its projected turnover for this year.
Khalawi feels that results for this year appear promising, with the company having undergone a restructuring of its business which helped it post a net profit of SR1.5 million in 2005 against a net loss of SR16.6 million in the first half of the year.
Over the six months, Amiantit has secured a number of major contracts in the region. These include:
• A contract with a total value of $25 million to supply concrete cylinder pipes (CCP) and fittings for the Tabuk pipeline project in Saudi Arabia, which is planned to transmit treated water from a well field 82 km north of Tabuk city. At source there will be about 36 wells from which the raw water will be transmitted through collector pipelines to a nearby water treatment plant. A pumping station will then forward the treated water through separate pipelines to Tabuk city and Al Sharaf town. From Al Sharaf the treated water will be transmitted onwards to Haqal, Duba, Al-Wajh and Amluj towns on the western coast.
• 11 orders totalling SR95.2 million to supply pipes and accessories for projects in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi. The orders in Saudi Arabia amounting to SR76.5 million, are for GRP and GRE (glass reinforced epoxy) pipes which will be produced at two Amiantit Group manufacturing facilities in Dammam – AFIL and Bondstrand. The pipes are for gravity water and sewer systems at Saudi Aramco, Khurais, and for potable water, fire water, cooling water and oily water pipe systems for various projects in Rabigh, Jubail and Yanbu; and

Amiantit abroad
Amiantit has also set up joint ventures to build plants in Algeria and Morocco at a combined cost of SR165 million. The firm has teamed up with Moroccan conglomerate ONA Group in a 50-50 partnership to build a production plant in Casablanca, worth SR86.25 million to supply major irrigation projects in the North African country. Meanwhile in Algeria, Amiantit and a local firm struck a similar partnership in a SR78.75 million plant also to make irrigation pipelines, with both the plants yet to start its production.
Elsewhere, Amiantit’s Indian joint venture in partnership with the Salgaocar Group of Goa – Amiantit Fiberglass Industries India Limited (AFIIL) – has recently won orders worth a total of $22.5 million to supply pipe systems for oil refineries, power projects and tank systems for petrochem retail outlets.
These include a $6.5 million contract from Essar Oil for engineering, supply and installation supervision of GRP pipes for the seawater intake and outfall system at its upcoming refinery in Vadinar, Gujarat, which AFIIL has completed; a contract worth $10 million for sea water intake and outfall system also from Essar Oil, which is to be completed this year; and orders worth $3.5 million for the supply of double wall GRP underground fuel storage tanks to Dutch oil major, Shell India, which has a licence to open 2,000 retail outlets. AFIIL is forecasting a 90 per cent sales growth forecast for this year, due to the huge demand for GRP pipe systems and storage tanks from India’s booming industrial sector.
The Amiantit Group, which is currently a leading industrial organisation with global strength, comprises companies both in Saudi Arabia and abroad who manufacture various kinds of pipes, joints, fittings, tanks, rubber products and related accessories. Other activities include own and transfer technology, and water project and management consultancy around the world.