Vietnam lets contract for Dung Quat refinery optimization

Vietnam lets contract for Dung Quat refinery optimization

Binh Son Refining & Petrochemical Co. Ltd. (BSR), a subsidiary of
state-owned Vietnam National Oil & Gas Group (PetroVietnam), has let a
contract to Honeywell International Inc. subsidiary Honeywell UOP LLC, Des
Plaines, Ill., to provide a suite of cloud-based technology and interactive
support services aimed at helping to improve productivity, efficiency, and
profitability of the naphtha complex at BSR's Dung Quat refinery in Quang
Ngai Province, Vietnam.

As part of the contract, UOP will implement its proprietary Connected
Performance Services (CPS) technology, a cloud-based service that will
integrate the complex's specific process data with UOP's history of
operating experience to predict potential operational issues and deliver BSR
real-time, actionable recommendations and solutions to ensure the complex
runs at peak efficiency with the highest reliability, UOP said.

Part of Honeywell's broader Industrial Internet of Things approach to
automation, the CPS system will continuously monitor BSR's streaming
operational data and apply UOP process models and best practices, big data
analytics, and machine learning to detect latent and emerging performance
problems, as well as identify opportunities to optimize current operations.

Once an issue has been identified and analyzed via CPS's cloud-based tools,
the system will alert BSR's designated plant personnel and provide specific
operational solutions that a dedicated UOP CPS specialist will collaborate
on helping to implement, the service provider said.

BSR selected the CPS system for Dung Quat to help increase the refinery's
production of gasoline as well as reduce its consumption of energy, said
Tran Ngoc Nguyen, BSR's president and chief executive officer.

The contract award follows a memorandum of understanding BSR signed with UOP
in August for ongoing support in ensuring reliability and profitability of
existing UOP-licensed CCR Platforming and Penex technologies at the Dung
Quat refinery in line with the operator's ongoing project to upgrade and
expand the manufacturing site, according to an Aug. 20 release from BSR.

Refinery overhaul

BSR most recently let a contract to Amec Foster Wheeler to provide front-end
engineering and design for the refinery's expansion and upgrading, which
will increase the plant's crude processing capacity by 30% to 8.5 million
tonnes/year (tpy) from a current 6.5 million-tpy.

The fully upgraded and expanded refinery is scheduled to be commissioned in
2021, BSR said.

Alongside work to increase capacities of existing units, revamping of
auxiliary units, construction of additional oil storage and product tanks,
and the addition of a single-point mooring terminal capable of accommodating
vessels up to 300,000 dwt, the Dung Quat project will include the addition
of refining units.

While it did not reveal specific providers, BSR said it has now signed
technology-related contracts for the following seven new units to be added
as part of the project: hydrogen generation, diesel hydrotreating, gasoline
hydrotreating, naphtha hydrotreating, alkylation, solvent deasphalting, and
sulfur removal.

In addition to enabling the plant's flexibility to process a wider variety
of crudes, the expansion and upgrade project also will equip the refinery's
production to conform to Euro 5-quality standards and increase its
competitiveness in the global market, as well as reduce Vietnam's dependence
on imported petroleum products, according to BSR and PetroVietnam.

On Sept. 3, the Vietnamese government approved an agreement authorizing BSR
to operate under its own autonomy beginning Jan. 1, 2017, the company said.

In accord with a government-set schedule and its hope to attract capital
investors from abroad, BSR said it will launch an initial public offering of
its business at yearend 2017.

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Link to Original Article:
http://www.ogj.com/articles/2016/11/vietnam-lets-contract-for-dung-quat-refi
nery-optimization.html

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John Diecker
APT Consulting Group Co., Ltd.

www.aptthailand.com