The Petroleum journal published an article: Partnership tie threads. No.5 (95) October 2015

For twenty-two years of work in the oil and gas sector of Kazakhstan, telecommunications company ASTEL has carried out more than 40 projects ordered by oil companies, the largest of which is, of course, technical support for all telecommunication systems at Kashagan. Each oil and gas project is unique, has many technical features, and therefore requires an individual approach and a certain flexibility.

ASTEL specialists are constantly faced with this in their work, they made sure that there is no single standard solution. Therefore, it is necessary to constantly improve qualifications in order to quickly create projects that meet the needs of clients from the oil and gas industry on the basis of existing experience and the best world technical solutions. ASTEL JSC is a system integrator providing services to companies in various sectors of the economy. However, the oil and gas sector is of particular importance for ASTEL - after all, it has the highest requirements for health and environmental protection, international standards for organizing business processes, stringent requirements for the transparency of project management and constant personnel development.

ASTEL is certified according to six quality management systems, the company prioritizes high-quality and timely execution of republican-scale projects for corporate clients. The equipment used at oil and gas facilities is supplied by generally recognized vendors of equipment and telecommunications systems, since reliability and safety are priority tasks for ASTEL.

The system integrator offers a wide range of telecommunications services. Audit of objects and systems; Consulting - analysis of information and development of technical requirements; Design; Equipment supply; Installation and supervising; Technical support. The most difficult, most interesting and most important project for ASTEL is, of course, Kashagan. Here ASTEL is responsible for telephone communications, data transmission devices, public address systems, notifications around the perimeter of objects, video surveillance, access control systems, both on land and on the islands.

For the first time, a Kazakhstani telecommunications company receives the status of a general contractor in such a significant project. The task was set quite serious - to ensure the uninterrupted operation of all telecommunication systems and equipment responsible for the safety of personnel and business support at offshore and onshore oil refineries. It was required to ensure competent personnel management, processes of preventive and corrective maintenance of systems and project management for complex modernization of systems. We are talking about 33 systems: radio communication systems, voice communication systems, information transmission systems, cable systems, control and monitoring systems, warning systems, telecommunication nodes and facilities, and so on.

The scope of work is impressive, and at the same time the strictest safety requirements - injuries at work should be at zero and nothing else. To implement the project, key tasks were identified: staffing the engineering staff with highly qualified engineers specializing in technical support and project development, supply and management of a wide range of tools, measuring instruments and other specialized equipment for telecommunications systems, implementation of maintenance processes at levels one, two and third support lines, preparation of draft documents for the purpose of maintaining documentation on systems as part of the modernization of systems; carrying out activities to update all technical documentation and equipment, ensuring uninterrupted support by equipment manufacturers at the first and third levels.

First, the general contractor set up a dedicated department to support telecommunications maintenance services for the oil and gas sector. This department is a competence center for the provision of engineering services and project management support for a wide range of telecommunications systems for the oil and gas sector, as it is in constant contact with manufacturers, competence development centers, internal company resources and customers. Another difficulty was that there was very little time to set up all the processes. The full mobilization of resources under the contract was carried out in a seemingly unrealistic period for such a project - two months. The tight deadline turned out to be far from the only challenge within the framework of this project.

As acknowledged by ASTEL employees, it was difficult to implement a comprehensive KPI metrics system for quarterly monitoring of the contractor's performance within the framework of the contractual local content of the business, staff rotation, equipment availability, aspects of ensuring safety at work and timeliness of deliveries. In addition, it was not easy to implement partnerships with nine equipment manufacturers - all of this technology is needed to support complex customer systems. Nevertheless, everything worked out. And each challenge gave new experience, new knowledge and skills, which will be much easier to apply on other projects.

The client, on the other hand, received comprehensive support from a single system integrator, which significantly reduces the administrative burden and reduces business risks. And for ASTEL, the desire to satisfy the needs of the client is the main rule. And within the framework of this project, the company's employees once again became convinced of the value of this rule, since the implementation took place in full accordance with the requirements of the project.

At the same time, the agreed - very tight - deadlines were met, which also cannot but serve as a reason for pride in the team of professionals who are distinguished not only by excellent knowledge of their field of activity, but also by the ability to work harmoniously in a team.