Oil Refinery Maintenance Best Practices

A critical component of any major industrial manufacturing or processing plant performance is regular and periodic plant maintenance and repair of equipment, materials, and systems employed in the operation.  

 

Perhaps nowhere is the need for effective plant maintenance more critical than in an oil refinery.  The maintenance of an oil refinery, with its immense size, complexity, technologies, and operating costs, involves highly technical systems and equipment. Expertise is required in chemistry, thermodynamics, electronics, distillation, cracking, treating, mechanics, materials, controls, transportation, and storage.  

 

All mechanical and automated equipment needs periodic maintenance or repairs. Unscheduled repairs (reactive or emergency maintenance) can be very disruptive and costly.  In an oil refinery, cost efficiency and safety are maximized by planning, organization, and having the right personnel in place.  Routine maintenance programs – inspection driven preventative maintenance, data-driven predictive maintenance, and plans for reactive repairs – can be efficiently planned and executed.  Effective oil refinery maintenance is the result of implementing processes and organizing the skilled personnel required to accomplish refinery maintenance best practices.

 

Direct Hire with Matrix NAC

Matrix NAC, the direct-hire subsidiary of Matrix Service Company, has a broad range of experience and expertise to deliver effective refinery maintenance planning and service.  Our extensive background in aboveground storage management created a natural overlap with asset management and maintenance throughout the refinery.  Over the years Matrix has expanded its plant maintenance service portfolio, adding general mechanical repair and maintenance, planning, and construction services as well as cycle ending and non-cycle ending turnaround programs.

 

Turnarounds with Matrix NAC

Turnarounds, whether non-cycle ending or cycle ending, are planned partial or complete shutdowns for refinery maintenance or even reconstruction. Each requires months and sometimes years of planning and each requires knowledge, skill, and familiarity with the unique systems and operations of the refinery.

 

Matrix NAC can perform cycle ending specialty turnarounds that require complex and lengthy infrastructure modifications to support new or replacement equipment. 

 

Matrix NAC has expertise in specialty areas that few other contractors offer – projects that require heavy rigging and engineered lifting programs. We also provide expertise in mechanical refinery maintenance.

 

We are proud of our team of engineers and technicians who know the assets and infrastructure employed in ongoing refinery operations.  In some markets, like the State of California, Matrix NAC is approved to place qualified personnel on-site for either ongoing turnkey maintenance or planned turnarounds.

 

In fact, our placement or “nesting” of professional staff on-site in the refinery is a key to our refinery maintenance best practices.  Matrix NAC personnel are charged with a scope of work which includes: 

  • Routine Maintenance Planning & Scheduling
  • Project Execution Coordinators
  • Quality & Document Control Personnel
  • Operations Support Personnel
  • Turnaround Scope Development & Planning.

This on-site presence, from the simplest machine repair or valve adjustment to the ongoing operation of highly engineered systems, provides an invaluable resource for planning and implementing large scale cycle ending turnarounds.  The end result for our clients is cost efficiency – an oil refinery maintenance best practice.

Check out a comprehensive list of our capabilities or contact our team at Matrix NAC to begin a discussion about your refinery maintenance program.