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.
