About Saudi Aramco and the Rabigh Refinery
Saudi Aramco's operations span the globe and the energy industry. The world leader in crude oil production, Saudi Aramco also owns and operates an extensive network of refining and distribution facilities, and is responsible for gas processing and transportation installations that fuel Saudi Arabia's industrial sector. An array of international subsidiaries and joint ventures deliver crude oil and refined products to customers worldwide.
World-class refineries located across the country, from the Arabian Gulf to the Red Sea, reliably supply more than a million barrels of products each day to meet the needs of the Saudi Arabian and international markets. The Rabigh Refinery, located 160 kilometers north of Jeddah on the Rea Sea coast, is one such refinery operated by Saudi Aramco.
The Rabigh refinery has a 400,000 BPD crude topping facility. Crude is delivered by tankers through the Saudi Aramco Rabigh port. The main products are fuel oil, naphtha, and jet fuel. LPG and oil are used as fuel for the refinery while recovered sulphur is bagged and shipped.
Background of This Project
As part of an upgrade project to reap the benefits of the latest technology, Saudi Aramco Rabigh Refinery awarded Yokogawa this project to replace the existing control system with a state-of-the-art distributed control system (DCS). The entire complex was previously controlled by single loop controllers and a Foxboro IA system.
The decision to introduce the new system was motivated by the need to reduce the high maintenance costs of the single loop controllers and to obtain improved functionality. The selection criteria emphasized system reliability and the ability to replace the system while the plant was operational (hot cutover).
With SNC Lavalin Inc. as the design contractor and Carlo Gavazzi as the construction contractor, Yokogawa delivered the control system with the engineering assistance of its Middle East office in Bahrain.
In addition to the DCS, the project scope included the implementation of an oil blending system (OBS), multi-variable control (MVC), and heater pass balance control by Yokogawa Middle East. The OBS implementation is in progress while the MVC implementation was successfully completed in March 2007.Twenty existing and ten newly installed subsystem interfaces increased the complexity of the hot cutover and function test.
Team Effort Always Pays
According to the Saudi Aramco Project Management Team Lead Engineer, "One of the key factors leading to the smooth hot cutover was the team effort. Every activity was meticulously planned to ensure a safe change over. This was possible because everyone adhered to the procedures stipulated before the hot cutover was started by all the groups involved."
The major challenge was the integration of the subsystem interfaces. "We never felt the complexity of the integration work", said the Control System Engineer, "and this was possible since the integrated site acceptance test (ISAT) was so comprehensive."
Hot Cutover Challenges
The major challenges were winning the operators' acceptance of the new system, scheduling and coordinating the ISAT with all the subvendors, and quickly troubleshooting the problems encountered during the hot cutover.
Pre and post hot cutover planning was done in several meetings between Saudi Aramco, SNC Lavalin, Carlo Gavazzi, and Yokogawa Middle East. Various check sheets and procedures were in place for the tuning of loops and the final handover.
What This Project Achieved
- A smooth and safe switchover to the new system
- An easy-to-use, easy-to-engineer system, plus various post-installation enhancements
- Tuned controllers for smooth plant operation and better traceability of process upsets
- Various other improvements thanks to advanced process control and MVC implementation
What's Next?
Having successfully completed the control system replacement project, Yokogawa was awarded the Saudi Aramco - Sumitomo Joint Venture, PETRORabigh project to engineer and install the CS 3000 DCS for a huge petrochemical complex that is being built next to the refinery.
SYSTEM DETAILS
| Control system: | CENTUM CS 3000 R3 |
|---|---|
| Number of I/O points: | 5000 |
| System configuration | |
| No. of domains: | 06 |
| Engineering stations (ENG): | 02 |
| Human Interface Stations (HIS): | 14 |
| Field Control Stations (FCS): | 12 |
| EXAOPC: | 01 |
| Plant Resource Manager (PRM): | 01 |
Industrias
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Refinación
En el siempre cambiante mercado, las refinerías no solo son vistas como unidades de procesamiento de crudo, sino también como centros de beneficios. Al mismo tiempo, hay una clara conciencia de la necesidad de la seguridad en este tipo de instalaciones. Una solución de la producción total que abarca la planificación, programación, administración y control es necesaria para lograr los objetivos a largo plazo para la rentabilidad, la eficiencia y la protección del medio ambiente. Con años de experiencia en el campo de la automatización, Yokogawa puede traer soluciones totales accesibles para mejorar la operatividad y un mundo más limpio.
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Transporte, distribución y comercialización de petróleo y gas
La industria de la refinación, comercialización y distribución de petróleo y gas ha estado enfrentando un número cada vez mayor de retos en años recientes. Entre ellos, las características cambiantes de la materia prima a procesar, el envejecimiento de las instalaciones y los equipos de procesos, el creciente costo de la energía, la falta de operadores de planta capacitados que puedan operar una refinería de manera segura y eficiente y los requisitos constantemente cambiantes del mercado y de los clientes.
Con el paso de los años, Yokogawa ha formado alianzas con muchas compañías de refinación, comercialización y distribución para proveer soluciones industriales enfocadas en resolver estos retos y problemas. Las soluciones VigilantPlant de Yokogawa han ayudado a los propietarios de plantas a alcanzar una máxima rentabilidad y seguridad sostenible dentro de sus plantas.
Productos y Soluciones Relacionadas
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Cutover Planning & Implementation
With careful planning and implementation, Yokogawa can help you achieve a safe, cost-effective, and value-added hot or cold cutover migration process for your system.
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Migración/Reemplazo del DCS
No hay un "camino correcto" para la migración de un sistema: cada planta es única en sus prioridades operacionales, restricciones presupuestales, sistemas Legacy, y así sucesivamente. Quedarse estancado con activos envejecidos no es la mejor opción, pero el camino a seguir debe planificarse con cuidado y flexibilidad.
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Sistema de Control Distribuido (DCS)
Yokogawa ofrece una infraestructura operacional crítica para la automatización de procesos. Nuestro sistema de control distribuido (DCS) permite la automatización y el control de los procesos industriales y un mejor desempeño empresarial. Más de 10,000 plantas confían en el DCS de Yokogawa para cumplir con sus objetivos de producción.