Refinery project set to begin
Turnaround Maintenance and upgrades planned for several major processing units
SANDRA DAVIS
Telegraph-Journal
KâtÈ LeBlanc/Telegraph-Journal
Eight hundred workers will be involved in a $20-million turnaround that begins at the Irving Oil refinery today.
SAINT JOHN - Over the next month, 800 additional workers will perform scheduled maintenance and upgrades on several major processing units at the Irving Oil refinery.
Starting this week, work will be underway 24 hours a day, seven days a week, until the project is completed, says Dale Cooper, the refinery's operations manager.
Known in the refining industry as a "turnaround," the project represents a $20-million investment.
The 800 tradespeople - most from Atlantic Canada - will join the refinery's 1,500-person workforce; their jobs will range from electrical to ironwork, carpentry, bricklaying and surveying. There will be a total of 10 cranes on-site.
The turnaround will include work on the refinery's No. 3 crude unit, No. 2 rheniformer, the diesel hydrotreater and the sulphur plant. Maintenance work will include cleaning, equipment inspection, repairs and piping upgrades.
"This investment will ensure our refinery continues to operate reliably, safely and cleanly," refinery general manager Mark Sherman said in a press release.
The turnaround investment comes just months after the completion of a new $70-million tail gas unit, which has reduced the refinery's sulphur dioxide by an additional 25 per cent, making it one of the lowest emitters of sulphur dioxide on a per-barrel basis in Canada.
Safety training orientation sessions will be held before turnaround work starts and, as the work begins, daily safety audits will be conducted and additional safety specialists will be on-site.
Cooper describes this latest turnaround as a "large" one, but not the largest. In 2006, for example, 1,000 additional workers were brought in for a seven-week-long turnaround.
Turnarounds are required at regular intervals to ensure mechanical reliability within the units and to allow modifications to improve plant operation and environmental performance.
Cooper describes the work as a "proactive, pre-emptive inspection" to make sure any equipment that may be wearing out is repaired before it breaks.
Such projects are planned years in advance, Cooper said; typically, there might be turnarounds done in four of five years. Planning for this one began two years ago.
All refineries do turnarounds on a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week basis, Cooper said, to allow the work to be done quickly and efficiently so the process units can go back online.
As a courtesy, the refinery sends a letter to its neighbours informing them that a turnaround is planned. The latest letter, dated Nov. 5, tells residents they may notice some elevated noise levels and increased traffic, but Cooper is confident that disruptions will be minimal.
"We plan hard to executive these turnarounds," he said.
"We want to be known as the stealth refinery to our neighbours. I don't want our neighbours to hear us, see us, or smell us.
"We work hard not to have excess flaring, any odour, or anything like that."
Process units will be started up at times when, if there is any venting of steam, it won't disrupt people, he said.
Most of the turnaround tradespeople will be entering the refinery via Grandview Avenue, as opposed to Loch Lomond Road and Champlain Heights, said Cooper, and because they will be working two shifts, vehicles won't all be coming and going at the same time.
The increased number of workers will generate opportunities for local businesses, including hotels and restaurants and transportation, Cooper said.
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