The Petroleum journal published an article: Support at sea and on land. № 4 (88) September 2014.

On 1st July, ASTEL JSC signed an agreement with NC Production Operations Company B.V. on the technical support of telecom systems at the client's facilities. The contract was concluded until 2017. Astel is responsible for technical support and maintenance of telephone communication systems, data transmission devices, public address systems, video surveillance around the perimeter of facilities, access control systems, fiber-optic communication lines and other systems, both on land and at sea facilities of the North Caspian project. For the first time, a Kazakh telecommunications company receives the status of a general contractor in such a significant project.

 

In an interview with Petroleum journal, Laura Ten, head of the International Project Division of the Sales Department of Astel, told about the victory in the tender for the North Caspian project. According to her, Astel will maintain telecommunications infrastructure at oil production and refining facilities, as well as along the NCPOC oil pipeline. Now the Astel company is preparing to send its personnel to the Atyrau region, who will work on Kashagan and Karabatan on a rotational basis. As you know, at oil facilities, especially at such complex ones as Kashagan, special attention is paid to safety issues. It is impossible to be there at all without training and safety instruction. And to work at different facilities, several types of permits are required.

 

As Laura Ten emphasized in an interview, Astel employees already had permits for hydrogen sulfide, survival at sea and work at altitude, and recently they were trained in working with explosion-proof electrical equipment. So now they can establish communication at any point on the territory of the North Caspian project.  "All our employees have received safety training," says Laura Ten. – And everyone we hire will also study and get the necessary permits. We have the HSSE service (Health, Safety, Security and Environment) which is responsible for strict compliance with all safety requirements regarding people and the environment. Our company has implemented health, labor, environmental and safety policies that apply not only to employees involved in such projects, but also to the entire staff in general. Work permits, medical examinations - all this functions in accordance with OHSAS-18001."

Ms. Laura also said that Astel will conclude about 10 subcontracting agreements within the framework of the signed contract. In fact, the company becomes the general contractor for NCPOC in the field of telecommunications.

 

As our interlocutor emphasized, being a wholly Kazakh company at the same time. The history of Astel partnership has been working at Kashagan for many years, which, by the way, we wrote about a year ago. But earlier the company provided NCPOC with communication services, including satellite. The contract for satellite communication services has already expired, Laura Ten said, and there is no need for this kind of communication anymore – NCPOC has fiber-optic cables laid everywhere, which we will service already under the new contract. Nevertheless, the previous successful experience, of course, contributes to the development of further cooperation between Astel and NCPOC. After all, over the many years of working at Kashagan, the employees of the Kazakh telecommunications company have implemented international standards of work, adopted the culture of compliance with HSSE requirements and have proven themselves well. Astel started cooperation with a consortium serving Kashagan in 2005.

 

The company has developed a project to organize communication between the Agip KCO office in the West Eskene camp and the artificial island D in the Caspian Sea. At the initial stages, options were considered for organizing an RRL channel of 16 and 32 Mbit / s, however, these solutions required the construction of towers above 100 meters. Therefore, the final technical solution was a satellite data and voice transmission channel at a speed of 16 Mbit. After winning the tender in 2006, 2 RRL channels of 34 Mbit were also organized between the islands D and A (drilling module), 15 base stations for wireless data transmission Wi-Max, covering a total area of 85 sq. km in the water area near islands A and D. They provided access to data transmission services (and Internet via the client's LAN) and voice on all vessels sailing in the area. Such a solution (the organization of a wireless network over the water surface in marine conditions) was applied in Kazakhstan for the first time.

 

 At the end of 2006, Agip KCO requested to reorganize its satellite network and bring it in line with modern standards. To solve this problem, ASTEL, in partnership with a German company, deployed SkyWAN technology, on the basis of which, at the beginning of 2007, a satellite network (data and voice transmission) was organized at 11 sea and land facilities of the client. The network also includes a unique automatic positioning system for a satellite manufactured by Schlumberger, installed on the Navruz ship. The system allows you to maintain a constant satellite communication channel when the ship is moving, even in storm conditions up to 7 points. In 2009 (after the successful renegotiation of two contracts for the provision of telecommunications services until 2012) ASTEL participates in a tender for the provision of long-distance and international terrestrial communication channels and successfully wins this tender. Within the specified time frame, together with international partners, the company provides the Astana-Milan fiber-optic channel (connecting the Kazakhstan office with the Agip headquarters in Italy) at a speed of 34 Mbit/s and Atyrau-Astana.

 

In 2010, this contract was supplemented with the Atyrau-Aktau 10 Mbit/s terrestrial channel. In the same year, high-speed radio relay flights (STM-1, 155 Mbit/s) were organized between the artificial islands EPC2, EPC3, ERS4, as well as at pipeline monitoring stations in the camp "West Eskene" (Bolashak plant). Over the years of cooperation, ASTEL has radically reorganized its approach to safety, confirming the high level of management of international certificates ISO 14001 (environmental management), 18001 (OZTOS and B), 20000 (provision of telecommunications services). In March 2009, ASTEL renegotiated two contracts for the provision of telecommunications services until 2012 with NCPOC. At the end of 2012, both contracts were extended until 2014. Integration and equipment of Astel are not limited to the provision of services, it is seriously engaged in system integration and production of equipment. In May 2014, the company presented a portable rapid portable satellite complex (PSC) designed for the Ministry of Emergency Situations, oil workers, drillers, builders at an exhibition in Moscow. The development aroused great interest among market participants. The complex consists of two or four suitcases (depending on the configuration), in which all the necessary equipment is placed, easily configured by a specialist. With the help of the PSC, you can quickly send photo and video materials, audio files to the head office. The constructive solution of the complex allows you to establish communication from any place in the shortest possible time at any temperature from minus 40 to plus 60 degrees Celsius. Another interesting integration project that ASTEL offers is universal cars - communication complexes. They are equipped with receiving and transmitting devices. Auto-communication complexes operate on the basis of Niva, KAMAZ, Ural, Ford. Thanks to them, for example, naval exercises in the Caspian Sea were broadcast to Otar, where a parade was held with the participation of the president of the country. Astel has entered into partnership agreements with operators with extensive networks of fiber-optic lines (Kazakhtelecom, KazTransCom, Transtelecom).

 

This allows the company to provide its customers with maximum flexibility in solving their tasks. In other words, the optimal solution is selected for the customer from what is on the market, and he does not have to compromise, because the contractor does not have certain technologies or capabilities. The company can offer not only the largest satellite communications network in Kazakhstan, which consists of more than two thousand stations operating on five communications satellites, but also access to the most powerful ground infrastructures of all major market players. And the enormous experience and engineering expertise in the field of telecommunications accumulated by ASTEL specialists over more than 20 years of work allows the company to solve the most difficult tasks in the field of communications: from network design and equipment supply to implementation, commissioning and training of customer personnel. ASTEL has major national-scale projects under its belt: building networks for the Ministry of Defense, the Customs Control Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the State Pension Payment Center, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Border Service of the National Security Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan, as well as many projects for major banks, oil companies and state corporations.

 

The extensive capabilities of ASTEL make the company an ideal partner in terms of telecommunications outsourcing. Every day business becomes more and more dependent on the smooth operation of networks, and not everyone wants to maintain a large staff of specialists. Firstly, it is too expensive, and secondly, having no daily experience in solving the most complex tasks, the specialists of companies do not respond quickly enough to certain challenges. Astel initially has all the necessary resources and expertise and will be able to provide a high level of quality services at a reasonable price. Thanks to extensive experience, various international standards (which are not only implemented, but also really work), partner communication channels, there are practically no such tasks for Astel in the field of telecommunications that could not be solved. By the way, about international standards: ASTEL already has five international certificates in various fields (ISO 27001:2005, ISO 20000 - 1:2011, OHSAS 18001:2007, ISO 14001:2004, ISO 9001:2008).

 

As a service integrator, ASTEL fully complies with all international requirements and intends to further improve the quality of service to its customers. The supply of equipment will also not be a problem since the company is a distributor of leading manufacturers of network equipment. At the same time, ASTEL specialists will undertake further maintenance of all telecommunications equipment, equipment or telecommunications infrastructure, and, if necessary, customer personnel will be trained.