Filling Critical Technical Gaps for a Complex Refinery Restart
A West Coast refinery faced the dual challenge of restreaming a long-idled facility while simultaneously starting up a new renewable diesel unit. While they had developed a restaffing plan for steady-state operations, they lacked the surge capacity needed for such a complex undertaking. In addition, institutional knowledge gaps made it difficult to develop and approve operating procedures and adequately train the workforce.
Objective
Provide a range of augment staff to manage the increased workload, along with select key personnel to support critical activities during the complex refinery restart and major project commissioning.
Becht Approach
Becht collaborated with the refinery and project teams, participating in weekly planning meetings to assess both short- and long-term needs. Based on these discussions, Becht deployed targeted resources including:
- A team of three experienced unit operators to augment and coach the development and approval of unit operating procedures
- A Pressure Safety Valve (PSV) expert to lead the effort in ensuring all PSVs were adequate and compliant
- A team of 4 process engineers to support daily operations
- A temporary technical manager to lead the technical team while a permanent hire was made
- A warehouse subject matter expert (SME) to help ensure the storehouse was equipped with critical spares and consumables to properly support ongoing maintenance
- Various SMEs required on an ad-hoc basis, including metallurgy and pressure vessel integrity
Solution
Becht augmented the refinery’s team with key personnel and delivered timely technical support during the critical final stages of the restart and commissioning. The skills and knowledge of one of Becht’s operations professionals were so highly regarded by refinery leadership that the SME was given authority to approve operating procedures.
Client Value
Becht’s support helped the refinery overcome the challenges of high workload and complex technical issues. As a result, the facility successfully returned to product output and restreaming—delivering value to the refinery, its shareholders, and the surrounding community.
Contact