Turnaround business an important pillar of Bilfinger’s industrial services activities
This year, TOTAL Raffinerie Mitteldeutschland GmbH successfully completed the turnaround and inspection (T&I) 2014 project at its Leuna refinery in which Bilfinger specialists played a decisive role. Minor activities remain to be executed by the end of the year, with the scaffolding to be dismantled and the experience gained from the project to be distilled and evaluated for the next compulsory periodic T&I. The services provided by Bilfinger were valued at over EUR 10 million.
Further T&I projects with an aggregate value of some EUR 35 million are planned for the autumn and the beginning of next year in Austria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States for energy and chemicals companies as well as in the paper and consumer goods industry. Customers include Borealis, BP, Essar, ExxonMobil, Huntsman, Ineos, Neste Oil and Syngenta.
The T&I at the Leuna facility is a perfect example of what is required of a project of this magnitude today. The roughly six-week execution phase is preceded by preparations lasting over three years. With a processing capacity of twelve million tons of crude oil per year, Leuna is one of the four largest refineries in Germany and the country’s largest producer of methanol. During the 2014 T&I, Bilfinger specialists acted as unit contractor with responsibility for mechanical services for the POX/methanol plant. The services entailed preparation and follow-up activities during the planning phase, plant shut-down and start-up support, operational assistance in the execution phase and management activities.
Bilfinger conducted all activities - including subcontractor coordination - independently and autonomously. Further services entailed primary and secondary activities for the storage tanks and loading areas, materials management, mechanical engineering for the POX/methanol plant and the inspection of the regulating and hand-operated valves as well as the instrumentation and control systems. Bilfinger executed a total of 250,000 hours of work free of any reportable incidents. Accordingly, it was one of two companies to be named “2014 T&I Contractor” in recognition of its consistently good safety record.
In addition to a focus on extremely precise planning and disciplined management, TOTAL turnaround manager Chris Kempe considers the right degree of flexibility to be a crucial determinant for success. “The greatest challenge in a turnaround of this magnitude is to find the right response to the unexpected. As we made sufficient allowance for the unavoidable extra work in capacity planning, we were able to adhere to the tight schedule. In this connection, the experience of professional service partners such as Bilfinger is indispensable.” Speaking on Bilfinger’s behalf, Gerald Pilotto, the Executive President of the Industrial Maintenance Division says: “Every major turnaround provides us with a wealth of experience benefiting us as the provider of technical services as well as our customers. We are particularly committed to ensuring that this valuable expertise remains available to the customer as it forms the basis for continued collaboration characterised by mutual trust in the next turnaround.”
