12 impact

CASE STUDY

Building a large and complex

petrochemicals plant is an enormous

undertaking. But the greatest tests

often come during the commissioning

and start-up process. Passing this vital

milestone without any serious problems

represents a major achievement. CNOOC

and Shell Petrochemicals Company

Limited (referred to as CSPC) has done

just that with its giant petrochemicals

complex in Daya Bay, Guangdong

Province, China.

Developed in response to the rapidly

growing demand for petrochemicals in

China, the $4.3-billion project has

involved one of the largest ever start-ups.

The processing complex covers 2.6 km2

and is expected to yield around 2.3 million

tonnes of products per year. CSPC needed

a smooth start-up to meet product

delivery commitments and to maintain

operational safety. Any delay could have

meant substantial lost revenues.

The project is an integrated chemicals

complex with steam and electricity

generation, and storage, handling and

shipping facilities. As well as an ethylene

cracker, which can process feedstocks

ranging from light naphtha to heavy

condensate, the complex includes units to

manufacture styrene monomer, propylene

oxide, ethylene oxide, ethylene glycol,

Smoothly does it

propylene glycol, polyols, polypropylene

and high- and low-density polyethylene.

The huge size of the complex presented

tremendous challenges for the

commissioning team. Jean Louis Bilhou,

manufacturing director, CSPC, explains,

“The transition from construction to

commissioning is usually a difficult

period, but the normal trials were

magnified by the scale of the Daya Bay

project. A total of 3000 systems needed

to be tested and handed over while plants

were still under construction and 20 000

workers were on-site.”

The project managers realised that

detailed planning was essential for

successful start-up and so commissioned

Shell Global Solutions to help them put

an operations implementation plan (OIP)

in place. An OIP helps project developers

and owners to arrive at a documented

basis from which the facility can be

developed and also helps the organisation

to be ready to receive the facility by the

end of the project.

An OIP is modular. Each module

addresses one or more stages of the

project development, for example,

scouting; front-end engineering and

design; final investment decision;

engineering, procurement and

construction; and commissioning and

start-up. There can be as many OIPs as

there are project phases. In the Daya Bay

project, there were three phases.

The OIP for each phase contains the

same elements, but these become more

detailed as the project progresses. In the

recruitment element for example, the OIP

at the outset of the project identifies the

need for a recruitment and training plan.

In the next phase, information, such as the

numbers of inexperienced and experienced

staff required, is added. The final OIP

specifies details such as the type of people

to be hired, when to hire them, how to

assess their skill levels and the training to

be given.

The principle is the same for each

element of the OIP; the low-level

definition is established in the first-phase

OIP, and a detailed plan is produced by

the end of the project.

An assurance gate review process,

whereby every phase is approved before

the next is begun, facilitates the transition

between the different phases. This review

helps to keep the project aligned and to

ensure that all processes are at the same

stage of development before embarking

on the next phase.

CSPC enjoys successful start-up of $4.3-billion petrochemicals complex

Issue 4, 2006 www.shell.com/globalsolutions

impact 13

The OIP at Daya Bay has been key in

contributing to the success of the start-up.

“A massive, highly integrated project such

as this needs to be planned in great detail

from an early stage,” says Martin van

Uden, lead coordinating process engineer,

CSPC. “The overall schedule was defined

during the feasibility studies, and the key

issues and the critical paths were addressed

and set out in an integrated commissioning

and start-up schedule.

“The site-wide process integration of the

individual engineering, procurement and

construction projects has been achieved by

using site-integration management tools to

plan the commissioning and start-up and

to connect all the logical process interfaces.

This process has been instrumental in

helping to detect and solve schedule

disconnects,” says van Uden.

The OIP encompasses Shell Global

Solutions’ Flawless‡ start-up initiative

(FSI). The FSI process is based on early

identification of potential flaws in plant

and equipment during start-up and putting

tools and activities in place to help mitigate

the numbers and effects of those flaws.

The OIP focuses on organisation, and

the FSI focuses on the plant and the

equipment. The OIP–FSI process has

been developed from successful practices

and lessons learned from previous start-

ups, and is based around several key

quality areas.

Because most flaws originate in the

development phase, the objective of the

OIP–FSI process is to begin planning

for start-up early on. Bilhou says, “The

OIP–FSI process was introduced during

the project implementation phase in 2002,

and began with a series of workshops for

the project teams and the engineering,

procurement and construction contractors.”

An important aspect of the OIP–FSI

process was having a separate member

of the CSPC staff to drive the

implementation of agreed activities and

to take responsibility for one of the key

quality areas, for example, integrity,

operability or safety. “The concept of

system ownership has greatly helped in

achieving an excellent level of quality

during commissioning,” Bilhou concludes.

One of the distinctive features of the

project was the multicultural make-up of

the staff, which included people from all

parts of China and from other countries,

cultures and technology backgrounds from

in- and outside Shell. Building on the

work of the experienced operating teams,

Shell Global Solutions played an

important role in introducing health,

safety and environmental standards and

international best practices for operating

systems and management processes. Care

was taken to accommodate the different

work methods and to develop lines of

communication to identify problems and

work together to solve them.

CSPC successfully started up the plant –

on time and on budget – in January this

year. Gerard de Nazelle, technology

manager, CSPC, says, “This success was

due in part to the quality of the design and

construction and the plant’s operational

readiness, and in part to the skills and

competence of the operational staff, who

are extremely motivated. There has been

an outstanding atmosphere of cooperation.

We received excellent support in all areas

from Shell Global Solutions that was based

on its experience of previous challenges

and successes in other large projects.”

“THE CONCEPT OF SYSTEM OWNERSHIP HASGREATLY HELPED IN ACHIEVING AN EXCELLENTLEVEL OF QUALITY DURING COMMISSIONING”

• Contact: Peilin XuEmail: peilin.xu@shell.com

‡Flawless is a Shell Group trademark.

Issue 4, 2006 www.shell.com/globalsolutions