Shutdowns

1. this time and you will be aligned with all the
companies or all the departments to develop your
scope or list. Start with the total overview of the PID.
That’s the advice that I can give. It will cut out the
doubling of your workload by people replicating tasks,
which is more common than you would think.
TH From speaking to a lot of turnaround
coordinators, many say that their main preoccupations
are communication and flow of information between
contractors and operators, but also finding the right
people. Has the low oil price made it easier or harder
in this respect?
AB So retirement is one thing, a lot of people are
going into earlier retirement because of the oil price,
but it is also a little bit difficult because a wider issue is
that fewer people seem to be interested in this kind of
work. It’s a big issue.
Contractors and operators are also fishing in the same
sea for people, and the sea is becoming smaller all the
time.
Then there is the issue of money. In my role I have to
be looking at the financial situation as well as making
sure that I am doing things safely, efficiently and to a
high quality. When I get these all right is when I
succeed in my job. If you do things right the first time,
you don’t have to do them a second time.
Equally, when you hit your finger and you can’t come
to work the next day, your work is not done. You
have to organise new people, you lose efficiency and
add time to your scope. And time is money.
TH Absolutely. Finally, André, if you were to
highlight the three main requirements in maintenance
for the effective running of your turnaround system
then what would they be?
AB Quick and successful maintenance during
turnarounds is a key objective for any turnarounds or
maintenance manager, particularly for keeping control
of costs.
Special repairs have to be accounted for throughout
the project’s activity. This aligns to day-to-day
processes and developments in repairs, improvements
and general maintenance.
You will also need to be prepared for unexpected
issues and have repair techniques in place.
Finally, as we have covered, preparation is key.
Planning your process with a healthy set of
procedures that can be efficiently applied is important,
just as much as then following them up on a daily
basis.
TH Well, André, thank you so much for your
time today and I look forward to meeting you in
Rotterdam to discuss this further.
AB Thank you, Tim, see you there.
Figure 1.
Figure 2.
ith an ever increasing need for cost
control and management of project
complexities, the significance of every
decision made by a TAR manager during
the planning and execution stages of
these events is continuously imperative.
As the current oil price downturn has widened refining
margins and set owners smiling from ear to ear, the
realities are still the same for the shutdown manager.
In this interview, we speak with a veteran turnaround
manager about the growing difficulties of finding the right
people for the job, and how the simple, graphical
visualisation of the turnaround process can really swing
the balance between success and failure.
SPEAKER KEY
TH Tim Haïdar, Editor In Chief, Oil & Gas IQ
FG André Bokma, Turnaround Coordinator, Neste
TH André, thank you so much for joining us today.
AB Thank you, Tim.
TH André, I want to get a feel for what you are doing
at Neste, please give us a bit of background
AB Well, Neste is quite a small company on a global
scale, but it is big in Finland, doing traditional oil refining
but also moving into bio projects. To reflect their
diversity, they changed the company name from Neste
Oil to Neste. The company has a patented process for
making a renewable diesel fuel called NExBTL, which
uses vegetable oil and waste animal fats. It can
supplement or replace diesel fuel and be used in all cars,
trucks etc.
We are now making preparations for the first turnaround
at this facility. There are a number of challenges because
we do not have the historical data that is normally
collected over the past 20, 30 or 40 years, because it’s a
totally new process and facility. Most people think that a
refinery is a refinery and pipelines are pipelines, but this is
a little bit different.
TH So, given that this is not your average oil refinery,
what do you have to take into consideration?
AB It is a new kind of challenge, but my experience of
working with a lot of other companies, from DuPont to
Kuwait Petroleum, has allowed me to develop a way of
working – processes and procedures – that give you an
overview for all the work that has to be done right from
the start.
You have to comply with government regulation, licenses,
inspection of vessels and security, safety and emergency
systems and should forward plan for things like
modifications and capacity increases.
So as you can see from this example (Figure 1), I always
use a circle for shutdown standards, a square for
shutdown specials and a hexagon for special projects. I
then use colours for each resource group (Figure 2). For
example, mechanical work is blue, instrumentation is red,
rotating equipment is yellow and electrical equipment is
green.
So, when you get an overview of the Project Initiation
Documentation (PID), then obviously your blueprint of
the factory or the outside allows everybody from
operations to contractors who are involved with the work,
to see what they have to do. So, they can see their own
work, but also if there are other departments involved in
their tasks, such as instrument engineers or an electrical
work order etc., then they can also see theirs.
TH How important is it to visualise what is actually
going on day-to-day?
AB I think it is essential. When production people talk
to me they always say that seeing things is the only way
they can really appreciate the total scope. You can define
when you have a work package and see what is really
going on.
The best way to begin starting this mapping, to align your
shutdown plan for scope management, is during the
scope development. Collect all your scope items during
W
If you have found this interesting please download the 2016
Shutdowns and Turnarounds Agenda here:
www.shutdownsandturnarounds.com/ call +44 (0)20 7036 1300 or
email enquire@oilandgasiq.com for more information.