(This is the first in a series about the Lion Oil turnaround and its impact on the local community.)
By JOAN HERSHBERGER
News-Times Staff
A daunting task, massive, a once-in-a-blue-moon type of thing, the largest project ever that J Christy Construction Co. – a wholly owned subsidiary of Lion Oil – has ever attempted. That is how Mark Boggs, general manager of J Christy, described this summer’s turnaround and capital improvement at Lion Oil .
The two major construction projects had to converge this summer at Lion Oil. All total, the company anticipates it will spend around $350 million.
The first capital improvement started three years ago. “It is pretty sizable,” said Steven Cousins, vice-president of refining at Lion Oil. “The vast majority of the cost is on the capital work. The capital improvement could not be done without turnaround.”
Lion Oil has always had periodic turnarounds. And just what is a turnaround?
“A turnaround is basically when we shut the equipment down, isolate or line it, enter it and inspect the condition of the equipment and vessels,” explained Brett Garrett, Lion Oil turnaround manager. “Parts have to be renewed, replaced, cleaned and we reverse that process to put it back into service. We evacuate all the air out of it, the hydrocarbon products, ready to heat up and make product.”
For that purpose, Lion Oil contracted Wyatt Field Service Co., based in Corpus Christi, Texas, to provide over 500 employees experienced in the work.
The capital improvement is a major investment of Lion Oil to increase production from 70,000 barrels of oil per day to 100,000 barrels per day with an expanded crude unit. One barrel equals 42 gallons, according to Boggs.
To achieve that goal, J Christy Construction workers took apart and re-built the crude unit to increase production. The physical aspect of the project began nine or 10 months ago with the installation of half of the 120,000 feet of piping. The pipes were fabricated in Wisconsin. It took until January or February before the J Christy crew received all the pipes. They installed about half the piping before the July 30 shut-down.
“Prior to the turnaround, starting the week of July 27, we shut down and had to empty out all the pipes. The plant has been completely shut down since July 30. Then in a 45-day period the other half of the pipes had to be installed. That’s about six miles of piping that had to be installed in this period from July 30 to mid-September,” Boggs said.
After all the piping is in place and the turnaround is completed, the plant will be put back on line and production will resume.
To accomplish the last phase of building the crude unit task, J Christy multiplied its staff by hiring qualified, experienced transient construction workers.
“We peaked at 982 people for the turnaround. We are down to about 800 now. When the project is finished we will be down to our normal level of around 100 — our core group. We swelled quite a bit for the turnaround,” Boggs said. “The workers had trouble finding lodging when we peaked out. We could not staff the way we wanted because they could not find a place to stay. They got discouraged and left.”
Boggs explained how the shifts worked for crews.
“During turnaround, we worked 10-hour shifts, but the foremen, general foremen and supervisors worked 13-hour shifts with overlaps for meetings and time to get re-organized for the next shift. The workers work from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and from 7 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. In-between the foremen overlap their hours in order to walk through the units and have turnover meetings. They work 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 7 a.m.,” he said.
“This is probably one of the most difficult things we have done. We had to do so much in such a short time. It is a daunting task. Half of the amount of piping we have done began in the last nine to 10 months. We did not get a large portion of it (piping) until January and February. So in that seven-month period we did half the piping and in this 45-day-period we had to do the other half of the piping. We staffed accordingly. That is why we really had to ramp up for the turnaround — to do half of the piping in the turnaround. That is a small unit (the crude unit) to put that many people in that small of an area. We had people on top of people. It was quite an undertaking,” Boggs re-iterated.
About 10,000 feet of piping was demolished, he said.
“It was 50 exchangers and 40 pumps to get out of the unit, be modified and a bunch of new ones and old ones cleaned and modified with larger flow and put back in. To take all that out, fix and replace, as well as the piping, is a big project with all the pieces of equipment. We had to take it out first and put it back in. A lot of it got relocated,” Boggs added.
Boggs compared work being done now to previous projects – and there’s no comparison.
“It was a massive project — the largest project that J Christy has ever done. We built the diesel hydro-treater for Lion Oil in 2004. It came on stream in early 2005. That was nothing compared to this. This is the biggest project we have ever tackled,” he said.
“We are pretty much on schedule, maybe a couple days behind. Start-up is a pretty lengthy period, especially with a new unit to play with. It could be the first of October before it is all up and going,” he said.
Cousins agreed on the progress of the duo projects. “It’s going well. It is a massive undertaking. There are always things which come up you did not expect.”
Although J Christy Construction Co. has worked for other local industries, this year it has been fully invested with Lion Oil for capital improvement and turnaround.
Tuesday: The temporary workers who have come to El Dorado this summer.