Overview of Turnarounds & Shutdowns

Developing a comprehensive turnaround (TA) work scope for process equipment is a critical step for achieving a facility's business goals. Risk Based Work Selection is a proven process for prioritizing and optimizing planned work for an impending TA.

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Risk Based Work Selection (RBWS) is an industry best practice used to help refiners better-manage the safety and reliability of operations for a facility. When properly conducted, RBWS can help refiners optimize major turnaround projects.

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Major maintenance events require proper planning, scheduling, and execution to achieve a successful outcome. An outage assessment process can deliver an effort that is safe, on budget, on schedule, and ensures long term plant equipment reliability.

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Creating a proper work scope and developing and executing an effective work plan are essential for a successful turnaround. However, behind the scenes exists the glue that pulls the entire effort together: logistics.

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An effective outage requires an efficient work effort, driven by a detailed work scope. Of all the different roles and efforts involved in these major events, Inspection plays a significant role in ensuring an outage’s success.

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LOTIS utilizes laser profilometry to conduct internal steam reformer tube inspections. The data captured by LOTIS is exceptionally powerful when combined with our LifeQuest™ remaining life assessment capabilities, providing an integrated...

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The most valuable unit of measure within a turnaround is not money, but time. Successful turnaround planners are now integrating the Detailed Inspection Planner (DIP) within their teams to increase the accuracy of planning and reduce the time...

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This article demonstrates how the use of APM software can help prevent unplanned downtime by quickly identifying potential hidden failures.

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As RBI continues to proliferate across industry, there are still those that are reluctant to transition from a time-based to risk-based inspection approach - especially in the upstream oil & gas business. These 4 benefits might help to lessen the...

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Teams planning and executing turnarounds are obliged to not only stay within budget, but to reduce or eliminate the need to spend the contingency allowance. This article introduces a risk-based approach to help avoid squandering finances.

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Fired heaters are among the most critical equipment in refineries and chemical plants. This article provides an overview of what a fired heater tube mechanical integrity program should include.

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ProSource Radiography Services, a sister company and subsidiary of Pro-Surve is ready to tackle your radiography needs. Should you need a small bore piping survey or other need for computed radiography. ProSource can take conventional film, and...

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Detailed operations planning and scheduling is an essential, yet often marginalized, element of an effective turnaround. To increase the likelihood of executing successful turnarounds, facilities should create and update sound operational shutdown...

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3 common repair scenarios include routine maintenance, scope repairs, and major discoveries. An inspector’s ability to properly manage each situation can mean the difference between mechanical integrity success and failure.

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Turnarounds operate at a different pace than routine work. Most plant-based inspection departments have historically struggled with Turnaround document control, such as integrating contractor reports into their routine data management system. Our...

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You probably already know that inspection apps for tablets and smart phones exist, and have notions of how these technologies can improve efficiencies in the field and beyond.

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In the previous articles, we have put all the Pre-Turnaround and actual Turnaround activities in place to get the job safely done. Now we need to find the API Inspectors and have them approved by the client as quickly as possible. I have indicated...

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Our proprietary furnace tube inspection system, FTIS™, is an ultrasonic inspection technology capable of rapid, automated fired heater coil inspection in refinery fired heaters. The data captured by our furnace tube inspection system is...

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A unit turnaround (TAR) provides opportunities for plants to execute capital and maintenance projects, or to make tie-ins during an outage window. This downtime is costly - not just in terms of lost production while the unit is down, but in...

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There is a lot of great technology currently available to us in the private sector, such as personal cell phones and telecommunication devices, including television, automobile features, e-mail, text messaging, data sharing,...

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One of the major challenges inspectors and plant operators face after each turnaround is to ensure that all repair and scope work is and was completed in accordance with the client’s requirements. Sometimes that verification will be to ensure work...

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The introduction of PAUT is a challenging effort initially, but can have a very positive impact on your first TAR and become a routine inspection for future TARs. When fully implemented, radiation safety boundaries can be reduced significantly or...

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Now that the stage has been set (via parts 1 and 2 of this series), let’s see what we can do to improve the efficiencies and effectiveness of the work execution processes through situation awareness. Who knows? Maybe even cut a few days off the...

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What do you need: CONSULTING - Subject matter experts, consultants, or team of highly skilled engineers to help solve my problem. SOFTWARE - My team requires software, products, or resources that will solve the problem. TRAINING - I require...

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This blog post is the second in a series about situation awareness (SA). The first part of this series introduced SA (defined as the gathering and utilization of data in real time and using it to improve work processes) and introduced an example of...

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In this issue of Inspectioneering Journal, I detail a roadmap for inspection activities during turnaround executions. This roadmap includes the critical elements of turnaround inspections, the keys to optimizing inspection activities, and the...

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Periodically, oil refinery and petrochemical plant operating companies conduct complex turnarounds for a variety of reasons, including but not limited to, scheduled maintenance, facility upgrades, and code compliance. In this series of articles...

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Leak related problems in bolted assemblies are an ongoing issue for virtually all facilities in the chemical, petrochemical, and refining industries. From leak detection to leak prevention, operators need knowledgeable and experienced technicians to...

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Steam reformers are critical assets to many refining and chemical manufacturing plants and facilities, and it is well known that the reformer is one of the most challenging assets to maintain and operate. Common problems in reformer operations...

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ASTM International in partnership with the Codes and Standards Training Institute (CASTI), launched the API 510 ICP Certification Preparation e-learning course to help people pass the API 510 Pressure Vessel Inspector ICP exam. Click to find out...

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Since its inception, one of the core businesses of the MS&R (maintenance, safety and reliability) Team for Kuwait Oil Company's NK (North Kuwait) Facilities has included carrying out Preventive Maintenance (PM) activities as directed by the...

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In the first article entitled How to Put It All Together - Guide to Organizing a Successful PEI Program in the current series of articles that I am writing, I provided an overview of the necessary Management Systems (MS) for a successful program to...

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We have discussed most of the pre-turnaround planning details. We are ready for the next step. The cost for the Turnaround is normally the most important item right behind SAFETY. In many cases the salary, per diem and travel costs have been part of...

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If you enter a petrochemical facility to work everyday, you realize the security issues. It is very important to have this issue resolved before the inspectors begin to arrive. The first morning of the Turnaround there are usually several thousand...

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We all agree that safety is the most important item on any Turnaround. It is also one of the most difficult items to sort out prior to the Turnaround. The fact that API Turnaround Inspectors travel all over the country increases the need to be...

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The second part of this article will continue to provide data regarding tasks to successfully plan for the use of API Inspectors prior to the start of the Turnaround. This article will provide information on what needs to be done to successfully...

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The use of contractor inspectors for turnarounds has increased in recent years. Mergers with reductions in staff personnel for major oil and chemical companies have fueled this growth. Still, we hear "horror" stories about problems that occur during...

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This three-part article describes some of the advanced on-stream inspection (OSI) methods available for use in inspection of pressure equipment in the petroleum and petrochemical industry. These methods can be used, under the right circumstances, to...

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A paper entitled, "Turnaround Scope Development Through Reliability, Availability and Maintainability Analysis," prepared by Shailendra K. Gupta and John E. Paisie, both senior reliability engineers with Sun Oil Company, Toledo, OH, USA, was...

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Petrochemical Update provides their most up to date & in-depth overview of the North American downstream industry in their latest Market Outlook and Insights white paper.

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This publication outlines 101 Essential Elements that need to be in place and functioning well in order to effectively and efficiently preserve and protect the reliability and integrity of pressure equipment (i.e. vessels, exchangers, furnaces,...

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Royal Dutch Shell Plc is finishing a planned multi-unit overhaul as it begins restarting the large crude distillation unit (CDU) at its 340,000 barrel-per-day joint-venture Deer Park, Texas, refinery on Tuesday.

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A hydrotreater and reformer were operating normally on Monday after being restarted late last week at Motiva Enterprises’ 607,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas, refinery, said sources familiar with plant operations.

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PBF Energy began restarting the cat feed hydrotreater at its 190,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) Chalmette, Louisiana, oil refinery on Monday, a day ahead of schedule, two sources familiar with the plant’s operations said.

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A $1.6 billion plan to refurbish a long-idled Caribbean oil refinery is about 75% complete and could begin delivering fuel supplies early next year, company and government officials said this week.

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Although Phillips 66, the 4th largest U.S. refiner by capacity, plans to spend less on capital projects in 2020 than 2019, the company plans to execute major projects at its Sweeny (TX), Ponca City (OK), Rodeo (CA), and Humber (England) refineries.

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Becht Engineering's Bobby Wright will be presenting "Reliability Ranking and Life Extension of Coke Drums" at Refcomm Rotterdam October 3rd at 11:10 am. Also be sure to visit the Becht booth #15 to meet with Chuck Becht IV, Chuck Becht V,...

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Husky Energy has received the required permit approvals to begin reconstruction activities at its damaged Superior Refinery. The rebuild will take place over the next two years with an expected return to full operations in 2021.

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BP Plc began a planned overhaul on Wednesday of the small gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracking unit (FCCU) at its 430,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Whiting, Indiana, refinery

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Exxon Mobil Corp began shutting its 369,024 barrel-per-day (bpd) crude oil refinery in Beaumont, Texas, on Thursday morning because of flooding from Tropical Storm Imelda

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Total plans to return the 66,000 bpd Diesel Hydrotreater 3, which was shut on Aug. 20, to production later on Monday, sources said. Total has repeatedly pushed back the restart date as repairs have taken longer than expected to complete.

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A biofuels producer said on Thursday it is proposing to acquire the fire-damaged Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery and convert it to make renewable diesel and jet fuels.

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ASTM International in partnership with the Codes and Standards Training Institute (CASTI), launched the API 510 ICP Certification Preparation e-learning course to help people pass the API 510 Pressure Vessel Inspector ICP exam. Click to find out...

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A fire broke out Thursday at Pertamina's 260,000 bpd Balikpapan refinery in the Indonesian province of East Kalimantan. No casualties were reported.

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Royal Dutch Shell Plc will begin restarting units at its Norco, Louisiana chemical and refining facilities this week following overhauls.

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Motiva Enterprises returned two crude distillation units (CDUs) back to normal operations at its 607,000 barrel per day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas, refinery over the weekend.

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Phillips 66 restarted the gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracking unit (FCCU) at its 253,600-barrel-per-day (bpd) Alliance, Louisiana, refinery following a month-long shutdown

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Motiva Enterprises plans to shut the big crude distillation unit (CDU) at its 607,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas, refinery, the nation’s largest, by Sept. 5 for a 60-day overhaul, said sources familiar with plant operations.

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Are you truly prepared for your next Turnaround? Effective work processes are required to successfully plan, manage, review and supervise plant turnarounds. Inspection planning and work scope selection are critical aspects of any turnaround and...

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Marathon Petroleum Corp may restart a reformer at its 585,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Galveston Bay Refinery in Texas City, Texas, by the end of the week.

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India’s state-run Hindustan Petroleum Corp plans to shut some secondary units at its Mumbai and Vizag refineries in the current fiscal year in order to be able sell Euro-VI compliant fuel from April, according to its chairman M. K. Surana.

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Valero Energy Corp shut a hydrocracking unit (HCU) and sulfur recovery unit (SRU) at its 335,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas, refinery on Monday.

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Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the company said on Monday, its second such filing in less than two years, after a fire last month prompted it to close the largest refinery on the U.S. East Coast.

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The Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery, the oldest and largest on the U.S. East Coast, is expected to shut its remaining units on Monday as the plant uses up the last of its crude supplies, sources said on Wednesday.

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ASTM International in partnership with the Codes and Standards Training Institute (CASTI), launched an eLearning course to provide individuals with a general knowledge relating to maintenance, inspection, repair, and alteration of pressure vessels...

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The gasoline-producing unit at Marathon Petroleum Corp’s 585,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) Galveston Bay Refinery in Texas City, Texas, may remain shut for two to eight weeks for repairs.

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An intensifying tropical storm in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico on Thursday cut more than half the region’s oil output, with energy companies evacuating staff from nearly 200 offshore facilities and a coastal refinery.

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Venezuela’s Amuay and Cardon refineries are halted following a blackout in the early morning hours, two oil industry sources with knowledge of the issue said on Sunday.

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Philadelphia Energy Solutions notified union workers on Wednesday that it was delaying planned layoffs until Aug. 25, according to two sources familiar with the company’s operations.

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Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) is expected to seek to permanently shut its oil refinery in the city after a massive fire caused substantial damage to the complex, two sources familiar with the plans said on Tuesday.

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The Vanta handheld XRF is Olympus’ first full spectrum PMI analyzer that is IP65 rated and drop tested. The analyzer provides accurate, repeatable material chemistry and alloy grade matching in as little as 1–2 seconds. Operation is simple with...

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Massive explosions that engulfed a Philadelphia refinery in flames on Friday have renewed concerns about the oil industry’s use of hydrofluoric acid to make high-octane gasoline at plants in densely populated areas.

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Cameroon's 42,000 bpd Sonara Refinery was forced to shut down after a storage tank explosion and fire over the weekend.

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In an announcement on Tuesday, Citgo Petroleum said it is currently in talks with the government of Aruba on its oil refinery operating contract, a day after Aruba announced it would form a committee to decide on the future of the plant.

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The government of Aruba said on Monday it will form an advisory committee to decide the future of a 209,000-barrel-per-day refinery that remains idled amid sanctions on operator Citgo Petroleum’s parent company, Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA).

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United Rentals' charity sporting clays tournament raises $20,000 for local veterans organization Fisher House.

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Auto-refrigeration can impose low temperatures onto process vessels and piping causing them to be at risk of brittle fracture, the sudden break-before leak phenomena that can result in catastrophic rupture of the equipment.

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Venezuela’s 310,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Cardon oil refinery, operated by state-run oil company PDVSA, halted operations on Wednesday due to damage at some of its units.

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U.S. oil refiners are planning a heavy slate of plant overhauls in the second quarter, with total production this month off 8.5 percent compared with the start of the year, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

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India’s Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd plans to shut a 60,000 barrels per day (bpd) crude unit and some secondary units for maintenance from mid-April for about a month, a company source said.

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Taiwan’s Formosa Petrochemical Corp will raise the throughput at its crude oil refinery from the second-half of April after finishing maintenance at a crude unit, a company spokesman said on Tuesday.

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The government of Curacao is sending officials this month to meet with companies interested in taking over and operating the island nation’s sole refinery.

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A large fire broke out this weekend at Intercontinental Terminals Company's (ITC) storage facility in La Porte, TX, just outside of Houston. The fire originated on Sunday in one storage tank holding Naptha, but has since spread to seven other tanks.

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Becht has experienced outstanding growth and continues to solidify its position as a premier provider of multi-discipline Central Engineering services and serving in the owners’ role for Maintenance, Projects and Turnarounds.

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A planned overhaul of the second-largest crude distillation unit at Exxon Mobil Corp’s 502,500-barrel-per-day (bpd) Baton Rouge, Louisiana, refinery is expected to continue for at least five weeks.

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