Yokogawa Electric Corporation announces that its subsidiary, Yokogawa Engineering Asia, has received an order from Toshiba Plant Systems & Services Corporation to deliver control systems for the Thai Binh coal-fired thermal power plant in Vietnam. Toshiba Plant Systems & Services will be responsible for installing the electrical and other facilities at this power plant.

The Thai Binh coal-fired power plant is being built in the Thai Thuy district of Thai Binh province in northern Vietnam by Vietnam Electricity (EVN), a national power company. With two 300-MW units, the plant will have a total output of 600 MW. The first unit is scheduled to start operation in October 2017.

For the control of the boilers in each unit and the integrated control and monitoring of the boilers, turbines, and auxiliary facilities throughout the plant, Yokogawa will deliver the CENTUM® VP integrated production control system and the Exaquantum™ plant information management system. Yokogawa Engineering Asia will be responsible for the engineering and delivery of these systems, and will provide support with installation, commissioning, and operator training. The delivery of all systems for unit 1 will be completed by September 2016.

Yokogawa has a long track record in delivering control systems to the power industry in Vietnam, and the company's systems are currently in use at facilities such as the Pha Lai 2, Vung Ang 1, Nghi Son 1, and Mong Duong 2 coal-fired thermal power plants. Yokogawa was able to win this order thanks to its strong project implementation capabilities and the high reliability and long-term stability of its products.

Throughout Southeast Asia, demand for energy is rapidly growing in line with economic growth. The Southeast Asia Energy Outlook-World Energy Outlook Special Report published by the International Energy Agency (IEA) in September 2013 predicts that Southeast Asia will need to invest 1.7 trillion dollars in energy infrastructure by 2035 and that the electric power industry will account for approximately 60% of this total. Currently, over 30 coal-fired power plants are either under construction or in the planning stage in Vietnam, making this country one of the region's most active investors in electric power.

Yokogawa Electric Corporation announces the establishment of Yokogawa Analytical Solutions in Malaysia. This new subsidiary, whose opening ceremony was held on December 3, will manufacture process analyzer systems for use in oil refineries, petrochemical plants, and other industrial facilities. It is expected that the new company will play a role in expanding Yokogawa's process analyzer systems business.

Process analyzer systems consist of gas analyzers, liquid analyzers, and sampling instruments, and are installed in a dedicated structure that is called an "analyzer house." As demand for such systems is expected to grow in Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries, Yokogawa has established Yokogawa Analytical Systems to speed up its response to customers in these markets.

The engineering of process analyzer systems requires advanced technical knowledge and expertise. To improve the quality and reduce the cost of such systems, Yokogawa Electric Corporation has shared its engineering and assembly expertise with other companies in the Yokogawa Group. Previously, Yokogawa companies in the U.S. and Singapore were principally responsible for large process analyzer systems projects. With the establishment of Yokogawa Analytical Solutions, this company will work with these companies to optimize the utilization of production resources within the Group. Through the establishment of this new collaborative network, Yokogawa aims to increase the sales for its process analyzer systems business from 15 billion yen in fiscal year 2013 to 20 billion yen in fiscal year 2020.

Yokogawa Electric Corporation announces that its subsidiary, Yokogawa China, has received an order from PetroChina Yunnan Petrochemical Co., Ltd. to deliver control systems for an oil refinery that is being built in China's Yunnan Province. With an annual output of 10 million tons, this will be one of the largest refineries in southwestern China.

As most of China's oil refineries are located along the country's east coast, the high cost of transporting oil products to inland regions is a concern. As a national priority measure, a pipeline is being constructed that will transport 23 million tons of crude oil annually from Myanmar to China. To receive and process the oil from this pipeline, multiple oil refineries (total annual capacity: 20 million tons) and an ethylene plant (annual capacity: 1 million tons) will be built in Yunnan Province, with work on these facilities to be completed by 2020. The refined oil products and ethylene from these plants will be sent on to other plants in Yunnan Province and other inland regions, significantly reducing transportation costs.

In the first stage of this project, PetroChina Yunnan Petrochemical is constructing an oil refinery (annual capacity: 10 million tons) in the Anning Industrial Park, 40 kilometers from Kunming City. This will be one of the largest refineries in southwestern China, and it will start operation in 2015.

Noriaki Hirose, president of Yokogawa China, commented as follows:

"In 2013, Yokogawa China received an order for an oil movement and storage (OMS) system at this refinery. Following that order, we received an order for a CENTUM® VP integrated production control system to monitor and control the main facilities at this plant. I believe we were able to win this order thanks to the high reliability and long-term stability of the products that we have delivered to other oil and petrochemical plants in China, including some that were of a similar size, as well as our excellent engineering capabilities. I sincerely thank PetroChina Yunnan Petrochemical for choosing us as a partner. We will strive to meet their expectations by working closely with them to complete the project."

Encouraged by this order, Yokogawa will seek to expand its control business in China's large oil and petrochemical markets.

BP has awarded Emerson Process Management, a global business of Emerson (NYSE: EMR), a contract in excess of US$40 million to be the Main Automation Contractor for the Shah Deniz Stage 2 development project in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea. Emerson will provide integrated control and safety systems to help ensure safe and efficient control of gas production on two new offshore platforms and at an expanded onshore gas processing plant at the Sangachal terminal.

The contract is part of Emerson’s global agreement with BP to provide services for greenfield automation projects. Selecting Emerson as the Main Automation Contractor helps BP simplify procurement and project execution. In this role, Emerson will provide system engineering, installation, configuration and testing, supported locally by the Emerson Azerbaijan service center in Baku.

“This contract is a testament to Emerson’s experience in deepwater offshore oil and gas applications and to the quality of our work providing similar technology for BP’s nearby Chirag Oil Project,” said Steve Sonnenberg, president, Emerson Process Management. “This latest large-scale project continues the long-standing and trusting relationship that exists between our companies.”

Emerson is also providing automation technology and services for BP projects west of Shetland in the UK, including two offshore platforms in the Clair Ridge field and a floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel for the Quad 204 development.

As part of the integrated front-end engineering and design team for Shah Deniz Stage 2, Emerson worked closely with BP and its engineering contractor to define the digital automation solution. The integrated Emerson solution will use Emerson’s DeltaV™ distributed control system, DeltaV SIS™ process safety system, and AMS Suite predictive maintenance software.

The DeltaV system will control and monitor onshore, topside and subsea operations. The DeltaV SIS system will perform process and emergency shutdown functions, if needed, plus control the fire and gas detection systems to enable secure gas production. Electronic Marshalling with intrinsically safe CHARMs technology will help reduce the complexity of connecting the automation systems with thousands of control and measurement devices.

In addition, Emerson’s AMS Suite software will deliver predictive diagnostics from the control and measurement devices to enable timely corrective maintenance. Diagnostic data will be integrated with similar information from BP’s Chirag project to present a clear picture of overall asset health and performance of BPs operations in the Caspian Sea.