Turnarounds
Turnarounds are scheduled events at a refinery in which the plant closes down for an extended time for operations and inspections.
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July/August 2016 Inspectioneering JournalBy Guy Bogar at HollyFrontier - Tulsa Refinery
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 solution was to execute RBI updates in real time during Turnaround execution.
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January/February 2016 Inspectioneering JournalBy Barbara Lasseigne at Envoc
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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November/December 2003 Inspectioneering JournalBy Kelley Jones at Pro-Inspect Inc.
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 below how to accomplish this task in a quick and efficient manner.
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BlogSeptember 14, 2015 By Bill Davies, P.E. at Engineering & Inspection Services, LLC
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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BlogMarch 2, 2015 By Greg Alvarado at Inspectioneering Journal
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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Partner Content
Offshore platforms are exposed to some of the roughest conditions on earth and require regular attention to ensure they are structurally sound and safe for continued operation. With so many components and major joints at elevated locations, it is clear why a well-trained rope access technician can be an invaluable resource for offshore operators.
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November/December 2014 Inspectioneering JournalBy Scott Corey at Sentinel Integrity Solutions Inc.
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 was completed in conjunction with the applicable codes, and sometimes that it was completed in conjunction with the client’s own in-house specifications.
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November/December 2014 Inspectioneering JournalBy Rajesh Bose at BP, and Terry M. Webb at BP
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 eliminated altogether.
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BlogOctober 27, 2014 By Greg Alvarado at Inspectioneering Journal
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 turnaround in the process.
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BlogSeptember 18, 2014 By Greg Alvarado at Inspectioneering Journal
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 how real-time SA can be applied to plant turnarounds to better achieve your turnaround objectives.
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July/August 2014 Inspectioneering JournalBy Scott Corey at Sentinel Integrity Solutions Inc.
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 emerging challenges and solutions during these projects.
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March/April 2014 Inspectioneering JournalBy Scott Corey at Sentinel Integrity Solutions Inc.
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 published in Inspectioneering Journal, I will begin by detailing a roadmap for pre-turnaround inspection planning activities.
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Online Article
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 address these issues before they become a serious problem. Recently, our friend and media partner, Inspectioneering Journal (IJ), sat down with Dave Godfrey of INTEGRA Technologies to see how INTEGRA is addressing these challenges.
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March/April 2013 Inspectioneering JournalBy Thomas Fortinberry at Quest Integrity Group, and James Widrig at Quest Integrity Group
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 include burner firing, flue gas distribution, and catalyst damage.
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September/October 2012 Inspectioneering JournalBy Abdullah Al-Harbi at Kuwait Oil Company
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 established shutdown schedule. We understand that the PM business is diverse and is vital to maintain the safety and integrity of the Production Facilities.
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November/December 2011 Inspectioneering JournalBy John Reynolds at Intertek
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 achieve excellence in pressure equipment integrity and reliability (PEI&R). The eighth article in this series will appear in the November/December issue of the Inspectioneering Journal.
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January/February 2003 Inspectioneering JournalBy Kelley Jones at Pro-Inspect Inc.
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 early discussions with the client. Now it is time to examine these inspector costs in-depth. What affects these costs? How can we increase our efficiency in this area?
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September/October 2002 Inspectioneering JournalBy Kelley Jones at Pro-Inspect Inc.
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 contractors trying to get in the same gate. Inspectors are a small fraction of the Turnaround workforce. However, they can get caught up in the overall delays.
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March/April 2002 Inspectioneering JournalBy Kelley Jones at Pro-Inspect Inc.
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 aware of varying safety requirements and their nuances as they go through the training processes at safety councils throughout the US. Not all safety councils are reciprocal and inspection companies and inspectors need to be aware of which are and which are not. It is very important that the site safety requirements are understood and are prepared for and complied with before the Turnaround starts.
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January/February 2002 Inspectioneering JournalBy Kelley Jones at Pro-Inspect Inc.
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 utilize the API Contractor Inspector effectively. The first part was the start of the Planning Phase involving Pre-Turnaround activities. We covered items 1 and 2 in Article 1. Now let's continue the Planning Phase with the third item...
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November/December 2001 Inspectioneering JournalBy Kelley Jones at Pro-Inspect Inc.
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 turnarounds involving contractor inspectors.
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May/June 1999 Inspectioneering JournalBy John Reynolds at Intertek, and Mark Bell at Ethos Mechanical Integrity Solutions
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 supplement or in lieu of invasive and turnaround inspections, usually at much lower cost. Cost savings associated with using OSI techniques in lieu of internal inspections may include lower total inspection costs, lower turnaround costs, avoiding lost production opportunities, and avoiding vessel cleaning and decontamination costs. On-stream inspection also avoid the safety hazards associated with confined space entry of vessels. However, to achieve these savings and benefits, and still maintain high levels of pressure equipment integrity, the owner-user must understand the technologies in order to intelligently select, apply and interpret the results of these nondestructive evaluation (NDE) methods.
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May/June 1997 Inspectioneering Journal
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 presented at the recent NPRA Maintenance Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana.
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NewsReuters, April 17, 2017
Operations at the alkylation unit at Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA's El Palito refinery resumed on Sunday, according to the refinery's Twitter account.
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NewsReuters, April 13, 2017
Austrian oil and gas group OMV has announced plans to spend 110 million euros ($116.7 million) for a planned turnaround at its Schwechat refinery this month.
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NewsS&P Global Platts, April 3, 2017
LyondellBasell will reportedly begin a planned maintenance turnaround in April at the company's 780,000 mt/year methanol plant in Channelview, TX.
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NewsGreater Baton Rouge Business Report, February 14, 2017
Deferred turnaround work has led to a surge in planned maintenance turnarounds across south Louisiana and the Gulf Coast in 2017.
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Partner Content
Industrial Rope Access is a proven method of achieving a safe work position at elevated heights or areas that are difficult to access. When combined with advanced NDE technologies, rope access technicians can substantially reduce the cost of inspections and maintenance activities by virtually eliminating the need for fixed scaffolding.
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NewsReuters, February 8, 2017
Indian Oil Corp, the country's largest refiner, expects its crude processing to inch up in 2017/18 despite planned maintenance at some plants.
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NewsS&P Global Platts, January 23, 2017
ExxonMobil Chemicals began a planned 30-day turnaround at its 988,000 mt/year steam cracker in Baton Rouge last week.
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Partner Content
InVista is a lightweight, hand-held ultrasonic in-line inspection tool (intelligent pig) capable of detecting pipeline wall loss and corrosion in unpiggable or difficult-to-inspect pipelines. The pipeline geometry inspection data captured by the InVista tool is exceptionally powerful when combined with the LifeQuest™ Pipeline fitness-for-service capabilities, providing an integrated solution set for the pipeline industry.
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NewsMehr News Agency, January 18, 2017
Iran and China are reportedly close to finalizing a deal to overhaul the 364,000 bpd Abadan Oil Refinery in order to...
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NewsReuters, January 16, 2017
Exxon Mobil Corp plans to overhaul a gasoline producing unit and the hydrocracker at its 560,500 barrel per day (bpd) Baytown, Texas, refinery in March...
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NewsHusky Energy, December 13, 2016
Husky Energy recently announced that the company plans to spend $2.6 - $2.7 billion on capital projects next year, up from $2 billion in 2016.
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NewsS&P Global Platts, December 5, 2016
LyondellBasell is reportedly close to restarting a steam cracker at its 1.7 billion lb/year olefins plant in Corpus Christi following a planned turnaround.
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NewsReuters, November 14, 2016
Saudi Arabia's Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Co. (PetroRabigh) will shut its ethane cracker for 21 days effective Nov. 14 for maintenance
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Partner Content
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 exceptionally powerful when combined with our LifeQuest™ remaining life assessment capabilities, providing an integrated solution set for refinery fired heaters in the refining and chemical industries.
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NewsS&P Global Platts, October 18, 2016
Following a two-week planned maintenance turnaround, Enterprise Products Partners is restarting five units at its Mont Belvieu, TX petrochemical complex.
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NewsS&P Global Platts, July 25, 2016
According to S&P Global Platts, LyondellBasell has begun a 45-day turnaround at the company's monoethylene glycol (MEG) facility in Bayport, Texas. This is just the first in a series of planned maintenance outages...
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NewsS&P Global Platts, July 11, 2016
Westlake Chemical is reportedly wrapping up a three month long turnaround at the company's ethylene facility in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
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NewsStress Engineering Services, April 28, 2016
Stress Engineering Services, Pro-Surve Technical Services, and Calculated Controls jointly announced the forming of a strategic alliance designed to offer refineries, chemical, petro-chemical plants, and power stations a coordinated planning-to-completion solution for turnarounds, projects, and fire damage assessments.
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NewsAggreko, September 21, 2015
Aggreko has been awarded a patent (US Patent No.9,134,064) for its ‘Catalyst Cooling’ process, which is designed to reduce catalyst cooling time during the initial stage of a planned or unplanned maintenance turnaround for hydro processing and reformer units within the petrochemical and refining industry.
