Business & Finance Club - Muscat : ABB, the leading power and automation technology group, said its local unit in Oman, has won a three-year maintenance agreement from Vale for its iron ore pellet plant and distribution center in the Sultanate.

ABB Oman said the agreement covers project planning, commissioning and long term maintenance management to maximize efficient operation at Vale’s iron ore and pellet plant and distribution center in Oman.

Vale is investing $1.3 billion in the new direct reduction iron ore pelletizing plant and distribution center, located in Sohar Industrial Port in Oman. For Vale, it will be the first pelletizing operation outside of Brazil.

Scheduled for start-up in late 2010, the facility will cater to the Middle East steel industry’s growing demand for iron ore and pellets. The new plant will operate with 720 employees, of which 202 employees will be part of ABB’s maintenance team at the site.

The new agreement will be a continuation from the current agreement where ABB is responsible for the management and planning of the entire commissioning phase of the project.

The initial annual production capacity of the plant will be nine million tons and once completed the site’s distribution center will have a capacity of handling 40 million tons.

ABB will be active in both hiring and providing ongoing development of local Omani Nationals within their work team, said a senior official.

The ABB agreement will cover the development and execution of all maintenance activities at the plant. ABB will manage the entire maintenance crew to ensure that mechanical and electrical maintenance regimes, shutdown management, planning and scheduling, as well as reliability maintenance are completed according to the ABB’s maintenance outsourcing concept.

“By combining our engineering and project management excellence with the ABBs’ maintenance concept during the commissioning period, we will provide higher process and equipment reliability, maximum operating efficiency with reduced life cycle cost for this plant from day one,” said Saeed Fahim, country manager for ABB in Oman.

“Our long-term working collaboration with Vale and deep process knowledge of their operations were important factors in securing this contract,” he added.

Over the years, ABB has delivered numerous automation solutions, services and related support to Vale’s mining operations all over the world. Vale is a global diversified mining company present in more than thirty countries on five continents, and is the world’s largest producer of iron ore and pellets.