DNV Technology Services in Aberdeen has recently won a pipework integrity contract with Conoco Limited at their Humber Refinery in eastern England. This project completes the inspection of all Humber Refinery piping systems (16,000 in total) within four months.
Says project manager Donald Payne, "This project, which is based on the API 570 Piping Inspection Code, involves the inspection of all Humber Refinery piping systems that have not been inspected by other programmes since 2001 in order to add to confidence in the condition of the refinerys pipework and provide baseline data for use in the RBM programme."
DNV provides an integrated service to Conoco with project and integrity engineers provided from its own resources and other services. The current workforce is made up of 78 full-time personnel on-site and 10 part-timers off-site.
"DNV provides project and integrity engineers, plus inspectors, rope access technicians, scaffolders and laggers sub-contracted by DNV. The use of rope access technicians to remove lagging instead of conventional scaffolding, accompanied by rope access ultrasonic technicians, has resulted in considerable cost savings," says Payne.
This contract is further work DNV has obtained from Conocos world-wide mechanical integrity programme.
Conocos Humber Refinery is situated on the east coast of England near the town of Grimsby. Refinery capacity currently stands at 85 million barrels (11.5 million tons) a year. The refinery is one of the most complex in Europe, producing a wide range of products for the UK market and for export.
Notable features are the LPG storage caverns mined in chalk 600 feet below ground and the fact that it is the only European refinery to produce petroleum coke - a vital ingredient in steel-making and aluminium smelting.