The Siemens Industry Automation Division is to equip the Reficar refinery in Cartagena, Colombia, with an integrated water treatment solution. It will form the heart of a combined system for treating both process and waste water. Siemens technologies will be applied to prepare river water for use as boiler feed water, and to purify wastewater before discharge, for example. The order is worth over thirty million US dollars. It is part of a project to expand and modernize the refinery, which is scheduled to be completed in the first half of 2013.

Water is required for a number of steps in the refining process. Siemens will supply a multi-component solution for treating the process water in the Reficar refinery. These include contact basins for softening the water and a J-Press filter press for thickening the accumulated primary sludge. Siemens will also provide plants for desalinating the boiler feed water and treating waste lye. The condensate is to be cleaned with granular, active charcoal filters.

SNC-Lavalin (TSX: SNC) has announced that it has signed a project management contract with Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA) for the Delta Caribe Oriental Project. The value of the contract is approximately $133 million CDN.  The Delta Caribe Oriental project is in the Sucre State in northeastern Venezuela and consists of four offshore gas fields; Dragon, Patao, Mejillones and Rio Caribe, as well as a substantial onshore development for industry, named Complejo Industrial Gran Mariscal Ayacucho (CIGMA).

Working closely with PDVSA, SNC-Lavalin’s project management team will supervise the work of contractors who will be providing engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning services for the offshore and onshore facilities. There are also major social and infrastructure aspects to the project, which will serve to develop the Güiria region, including programs to train Venezuelan personnel to operate and maintain the facilities.

“This type of technological alliance in the offshore sector strengthens and increases knowledge in all our businesses, including civil engineering in ports, airports, docks, and subsea gas pipelines. The work that we have awarded to SNC-Lavalin results from years of studies” said Douglas Sosa, General Manager, Offshore Division, PDVSA, “Taking into account the magnitude of our projects, we have decided to create a high-performance team with state-of-the-art technology and the experience we need to develop the gas supply belt and the social infrastructure required in Sucre State”.

Invensys Operations Management, a global provider of technology systems, software solutions and consulting services to the manufacturing and infrastructure operations industries, announced an alliance with Microsoft Corp. for migrating some Invensys applications to the Windows Azure cloud. By bringing together industrial thought and technology leaders, the alliance expands the company’s continuing relationship with Microsoft and will afford end users cloud-based offerings in the manufacturing and infrastructure operations space.

"As Microsoft’s Alliance ISV Industry Partner of the Year in 2011, we are excited to enter into this alliance, which further defines our position as a leading provider of automation solutions that help optimize manufacturing business operations in real time,” said Ravi Gopinath, president, Invensys Operations Management’s software business. “Working with Microsoft reinforces the strategic alignment between our two companies, with a mutual goal of using Windows Azure technology to bring leading-edge cloud solutions to the industrial market. By offering cloud-based variants of our existing Historian and business process management solutions, we can help our customers lower costs, reduce systems complexity and cut hardware and software investments, while creating a high-performance environment for more agile operations management.”

Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA (15 March 2012) – The Continental Automated Buildings Association (CABA) has entered into a memorandum of understanding with the International Society of Automation (ISA) to promote ISA courses to the CABA membership.

ISA is recognized worldwide as a leader in non-biased, vendor-neutral education and training programs for automation professionals. Industry professionals, whether experienced engineers, practicing technicians, or newcomers to the industry, can hone their skills at ISA’s regional training centers, through onsite training programs at their companies, or via distance education. Many ISA courses are lab intensive to reinforce important skills.

ISA’s extensive instructor-led curriculum is organized into three training paths. Although ISA’s certification programs for technicians and automation professionals are not tied directly to ISA’s training courses, the training paths are designed to cover the body of knowledge for technicians and automation professionals and can be helpful to those preparing for certification as an ISA Certified Automation Professional (CAP) or ISA Certified Control Systems Technician (CCST).