Mastering your Asset

Nicholas Palmer, Palmer International Partnership LLP , UK, UK

This is a Program we have developed based on 30 years of consulting assistance to Refining and Petrochemical clients around the world to improve the profitability of their assets through operational improvements and Smart Projects (i.e. low Capex, high return.)  We have used this Program also to improve the design of new projects at the concept stage.

In its complete form, the Program starts with a strategic review of the Client's asset, covering the market in which it operates for feeds and products, an assessment of its process configuration and the associated process support facilities (notably steam & power systems), a detailed analysis of the way the asset is operated and its reliability.  A key focus of the Strategic Review is to identify configuration and performance weakness (often already revealed in benchmarking studies performed by specialist consultants, but with no mitigation solutions provided) and then find ways to mitigate such weaknesses.

Through improved operational strategies, for an average sized asset the Program typically generates performance improvements in excess of 10 $million/year for little or no capital investment and considerably more by implementing "Smart Projects."

The Program is routinely applied to new projects, a recent example of which generated a performance improvement a staggering 30 $million/year in future EBITDA by best use of cogeneration units couple with integration between the process facilities and the power station, an inherent part of this project.

The success of this Program depends upon a combination of the industry experience of our consultants and the effective use of process simulation programs.  We use an industry standard simulation program to model process systems, but key to this use is a modelling approach that we have developed to accurately model large refinery/petrochemical systems.

We also use an in-house simulation program, SAPSIM, to model the complex steam and power systems found typically in all downstream assets. More on this application at the end of this session.