During the period 2011-2014, Petrotrin did refinery turnaround maintenance programmes at its Pointe-a-Pierre refinery. The company said these works have led to “an unprecedented rise in the level of turnaround maintenance activity for the refinery on a total of 15 process plants, resulting in an increased level of refinery efficiency and safety.
The programmes were conducted in two phases, with work on three process plants and associated pipelines from October–December 2013 and work on four process plants and associated pipelines from January–March this years. To ensure the continued operations of the refinery and minimize the impact to stakeholders, Petrotrin put into effect an optimal refinery operating plan during the Phase 2 Turnaround period.
Prior to the start-up of the No 4 VDU which provides feedstock to the FCCU, a risk assessment of the FCCU process unit was conducted between April and May by a multi-disciplinary team which included a representative from the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU). Risk mitigation measures were proposed and are currently in the final stages of implementation, the company said.
“Notwithstanding this risk assessment exercise, the OWTU continued to raise concerns. The company, in response, convened the Pointe-a-Pierre Occupational Safety Health and the Environment Committee on June 17 to collate and assess further concerns raised relating to the integrity of the fractionator column,” Petrotrin said.
“The concerns centered on minute cracking of the original internal lining along the lower section of a low-pressure column downstream of the FCCU reaction system, known as the fractionator column. In 2007, an additional liner was installed to protect the existing one and a comprehensive inspection monitoring programme was implemented in order to assure the integrity of the column to be safely operated within its design range. The lower section of the column has maintained its integrity based on inspection results.”