BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 2. The oil and gas
industry is accelerating the implementation of smart fire safety
systems to reduce damage from accidents and fires, the Director of
Sales and Marketing at Vimal Fire Controls Pvt. Ltd., Falgun Doshi
said, Trend
reports.
He made the statement during a panel session at the 31st
International Caspian Oil and Gas Exhibition, currently taking
place in Baku.
According to him, traditional fire protection methods are
gradually giving way to modern automated solutions that allow for
much faster detection of fires and response to emergencies.
“Today, the industry is shifting from hydrants, water monitors,
and manual firefighting equipment to automatic fire detection,
intelligent fire suppression systems, remote control, thermal
imaging monitoring, and unmanned surveillance,” he noted.
Doshi emphasized that the main goal of implementing new
technologies is to reduce fire detection time, accelerate response,
and minimize damage to facilities and the environment.
According to him, oil and gas facilities, including LNG terminals,
petrochemical complexes, offshore platforms, tank farms, and oil
depots, remain among the most fire-vulnerable elements of the
energy infrastructure.
He noted that major fires occur regularly in various countries
around the world, including Kuwait, Malaysia, India, and the U.S.,
and that the damage caused by such incidents can run into the
hundreds of millions of dollars.
According to the company representative, floating-roof tanks
pose a particular danger, as most fires in these tanks start in the
seal area. The causes can include lightning strikes, static
electricity, mechanical friction, and the accumulation of
hydrocarbon vapors.
Furthermore, Doshi added that the further development of
automatic fire detection and suppression systems will be one of the
key areas for improving safety at oil and gas industry
facilities.
