News and Projects

5C-Tech GmbH, a subsidiary of the FRIEDRICH VORWERK Group, has secured a major international contract: the company is supplying its highly automated PX-II pipeline welding technology for one of Central Asia’s most important energy infrastructure projects at present – the construction of the second leg of the Beineu-Bozoy-Shymkent gas pipeline in the Republic of Kazakhstan. The pipeline is one of Kazakhstan’s most strategically important long-distance gas pipelines. The second line (BBS-2) will significantly increase the transport capacity of the approximately 1,450-kilometre-long system – from the current figure of around 15 to up to 30 billion cubic metres of natural gas per year. The project is regarded as key to security of supply in the south of the country and to gas exports to China. The expansion is being driven forward as part of a strategic partnership between the state-owned gas company QazaqGaz and Qatari investors. In this challenging environment, 5C-Tech is contributing its core technology for the automated welding of large-diameter pipes. Over the course of the project, which is expected to last around eight months, more than 28,000 welds are to be produced on pipes with a diameter of 42 inches.

For 5C-Tech, the project underscores its commitment to providing next-generation solutions for pipeline construction. Following several successful deployments of the welding technology on construction projects within the group and its first international deployment in northern Iraq in 2025, Kazakhstan represents the next step in the company’s international growth strategy. At the heart of the solution is the company’s proprietary PX-II dual-torch technology. Unlike many traditional processes, 5C-Tech combines state-of-the-art sensor technology, advanced algorithms and high computing power, enabling the equipment to adjust all welding parameters in real time and fully automatically.

(June 2026)