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uncategorized ยท 5/11/2015

Neste's turnaround is a EUR 100 million investment in the future

Neste's turnaround is a EUR 100 million investment in the future

News
8 May, 2015

A lot is happening at Neste's Porvoo refinery, even though production is temporarily at a standstill. The turnaround, which is gigantic even on a global scale, ensures that the operation of the refinery will be safe and cost-efficient also five years from now.

The largest maintenance turnaround in the company's history is currently underway at Neste's Porvoo refinery, the largest production area in the Nordic countries. The aim of the turnaround arranged once every five years is to ensure the safety and operational reliability of the refinery for the next five years.

"The Porvoo refinery is the largest construction site in Finland during the turnaround. Therefore, safety is of utmost importance to us. Our aim is that every day will be a safe turnaround day. Smooth cooperation of different tasks is essential to the success, safety and schedule of the turnaround as a whole," says Jukka Kanerva, VP, Production at Neste.

The turnaround began in April 2015 and will halt all refinery operations for approximately eight weeks. All statutory inspections will be carried out and equipment cleaned and repaired during it.

During the turnaround, investments related to the development of the refinery will be carried out, such as replacing the furnaces of the crude oil distilling unit and significant replacement of automation in several areas. In addition, a number of connections will be prepared for upcoming investment projects. However, the refinery's oil terminal and road transportation of products will operate normally during the maintenance work.

Year's work in a month

The eight-week turnaround is a major effort for Neste Oil and all participants to the turnaround. The turnaround will cost approximately EUR 100 million and employ almost 4,500 employees. External service providers account for some 3,500 employees in the turnaround.

"We expect the workload of the turnaround to amount to approximately 1.3 million hours. This means that we will be doing a year's average workload in a month. Therefore, we can talk about a massive turnaround even on a global scale. We began to plan the turnaround already a couple of years ago and the preparation work last fall," says Turnaround Manager Antti Nissinen.

Increasing the value added of gasoline

Over a hundred new investments will be made and approximately 5,000 pieces of equipment serviced during the turnaround. After eight weeks of hard work, the refinery will be as good as new and ready for the following years' arduous work. The aim is for the Porvoo refinery to become operational normally again before Midsummer.

"We want to be the leading provider of fuel solutions in the Baltic region in the future as well. Therefore, it is important to make new investments. After the turnaround, a new gasoline isomerization plant will start at the refinery, among other things. The purpose of the process unit is to make the current gasoline fractions into more valuable and higher-quality gasoline and increase the overall production of gasoline at the refinery," Jukka Kanerva says.

Porvoo refinery in brief: