At Shell’s refinery in Fredericia, the oil company refines Danish North Sea oil, sent via a 20-inch oil pipeline from the GORM field some 200 km out in the North Sea. Shell’s annual output of refined oil is around three million tonnes, or some 25% of the total amount that is pumped up from the North Sea.

In September 2004, Shell had planned a major turnaround with a dual purpose; firstly, it wanted to perform the required maintenance analysis of the production equipment;and secondly, it wanted to subsequently maintain and replace, and perform internal inspection and cleaning of comprehensive pressurised equipment.

Shell’s refinery in Fredericia, Denmark

The expertise of FORCE Technology

Shell found FORCE Technology to be the natural choice, the main reason being that from us Shell would be able to get all the inspection services required in a turnaround project of this calibre.

Moreover, FORCE Technology has previously solved similar projects for Shell and other oil and gas companies, which proves it commands the required expertise.

The planned turnaround of the plant has been underway for two years. For example, the purchasing of materials and spare parts had to be in place first. Prior to the actual inspection, FORCE Technology and Shell carried out a Risk Based Inspection analysis to determine the areas of the production plant with a potential risk of failure. We staffed the project with one man, working nearly full time on this account, and posted him in Fredericia as a member of the planning team.

Twelve hectic days and a 400-man strong project

During the 12-day turnaround project which involved a little more than 400 employees, 18 FORCE Technology inspectors were working on the activities planned at the refinery. Shell, FORCE Technology and the Danish Working Environment Authority opened and inspected around 160 pieces of equipment, working at least 10 hours per day. On balance, FORCE Technology contributed with 7,000 hours to the planning and inspection efforts.

Sound collaboration between all parties involved

The comprehensive and complicated turnaround was completed as planned and at the complete satisfaction of Shell. The project was completed within a short period of time thanks to a team of motivated engineering contractors whose exemplary approach showed they all wanted to solve this joint task and collaborate with each other and with Shell.

FORCE Technology has many years of experience in solving similar, shortterm yet comprehensive inspections, for example, at all the major Danish power plants and the majority of the nuclear power plants in Sweden, as well as several offshore production plants.