Emerson Process Management has been selected by Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) to automate a new gas/oil separation plant at Barik Gharif field. Emerson will supply PlantWeb® digital plant architecture for the approximately USD 3.4 million project that will increase safety and efficiency. This will be Emerson’s ninth project to supply PlantWeb architecture for PDO projects in Oman. “Safety and production efficiency are key drivers for our projects in Oman,” said Rashid Bidwawi, Barik project engineer of PDO. “For this reason, the technology used for our automation projects is most important. We employ remote management of often unmanned facilities, and we view Emerson’s PlantWeb with FOUNDATION fieldbus to be leading technology to deliver the functionality needed for our challenging process environment.” Emerson will also supply and install remote monitoring and control technology for eight gas injection wellheads in two remote manifold locations where the flow lines from the individual wellheads are combined. The Barik Central Gathering Station will be remotely operated from Qarn Alam. Emerson’s front-end engineering and design of the project is under way, and startup is scheduled for early 2004. Crude oil produced at Barik is transported to the coast via the Saih Rawl station.