With a daily oil refinery capacity of more than two million barrels per day, Canada has plenty of refineries and plants that keep the country’s economy going. Shutdowns and turnarounds in the oil and gas industry assume great significance, as they help to ensure our refineries run as efficiently and safely as possible.
Shutdowns & turnarounds are complicated procedures with a lot of moving parts. When executed poorly, or past deadlines, they can have a significant impact on a company’s bottom line.
Keep reading for our 8 tips to help your shutdown/turnaround run as efficiently as possible!
First, Let’s Get Down To Basics
Shutdowns and turnarounds are scheduled to address refinery maintenance and safety issues that cannot be rectified when a plant is operational.
What does turnaround mean?
Turnarounds tend to be of shorter duration, and deal with things like scheduled maintenance or installing new equipment.
What does shutdown mean?
Shutdowns tend to be longer in duration, and address major system overhauls, such as replacing faulty equipment or piping.
8 Tips to a Successful Shutdown/Turnaround:
The key to a successful turnaround lies in efficient planning and execution.
As Gilles Morel, director, Canadian Fuels Association, says, “The planning part is often the most critical part of a successful turnaround. This is when the scope is identified, engineering plans and drawings are finalized, and equipment procurement, pre-fabrication and site preparation take place.”
TIP 1: Plan Ahead – A detailed and well thought out plan of action is an integral part of a shutdown/turnaround. The plan needs to be well outlined out in terms of defining scope, identifying key members, assigning responsibilities, and allocating a budget.
- It is also important to make use of data from previous shutdowns/turnarounds, and include information on what problems need to be addressed during refinery maintenance. The plan must calculate all operations down to the hour.
TIP 2: Proper Gear – Make sure that your team is well equipped with the correct safety gear for the shutdown/turnaround. This includes (but is not limited to): hard hats, steel toed boots, goggles, gloves and coveralls.
- Shutdown/turnaround time calls for the utmost efficiency. Not only does Goodfish offer the best maintenance coveralls in the industry, but we also have the largest industrial dry cleaning facility in Canada. We can manufacture, repair, and clean your coveralls in once place – saving you time and money.
TIP 3: Communicate Clearly & Efficiently – The smooth and consistent flow of information is critical to the success of any shutdown or turnaround. Open channels of communication must exist between all key players. Identify a chain of command, and ensure each team member knows their role.
TIP 4: Get On The Same Page – Contractors, subcontractors, and clients must ensure transparency when it comes to data flow. Making use of the latest technology can also help make efficient and communication and reporting a possibility. For example, using drone inspection software tools allow for easy access and reporting across the team.
TIP 5: Risk assessment – While it is a fact that refineries provide extensive training to those engaged in shutdown/turnaround projects, mistakes happen. Due to the nature of the oil and gas industry, risks are always present. It is essential to take steps to mitigate risk and educate team members on a plan in case of an emergency.
TIP 6: Anticipate failures – As with all great endeavors in life, failure is inevitable. It’s quite possible that not every little detail will go to plan during the course of the shutdown/turnaround. Make provisions for failure, and plan for ways to tackle it when drawing up your shutdown/turnaround schedule. You can do this by seeking the opinion of experienced consultants during the planning stage, and including safeguard.
TIP 7: Stick to the scope – See to it that your team strictly adheres to the scope of the shutdown/turnaround. If the need for a change in scope arises during the implementation phase, take a good hard look before approving the change. If a change is unavoidable, analyze and accurately report the impact it will have on the deadline before proceeding.
TIP 8: Regular assessment of performance indicators – All the data gathered during the planning and execution stage must be studied and processed to ensure the shutdown/turnaround goes smoothly. This can also help to pinpoint any possible issues in a timely manner. Routinely examine the progress of the shutdown/turnaround to ensure things are done right the first time.
Oil and gas shutdown/turnaround planning is extremely important to the well-being of the industry. Not only do shutdowns/turnarounds protect employee safety, but they also help a refinery run to its optimal capacity. Chances of failure diminish when oil and gas shutdown/turnaround plan is detailed and extensive.
Participating in upcoming shutdowns or turnarounds?
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