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Posted On: 09/13/2005

Learn from hurricanes past

When Hurricane Georges devastated its Pascagoula, Mississippi oil refinery, Chevron Corporation needed help fast. Rockwell Automation’s local sales office was in contact at once. Within 48 hours, the Petroleum and Mining Solution Center organized an expert team that assessed damage to motors and controls; wrote a recovery plan; coordinated repair work; and built, delivered, and installed new equipment on an accelerated schedule.

Rockwell Automation also put a Motor Management program in place that cuts operating costs and leaves Chevron much better prepared for the future. Acting as Chevron’s single source for motors and
controls, the Rockwell Automation team became an extension of Chevron’s staff, working long hours to return the refinery to productivity three weeks faster than expected.

The Chevron Products Company Pascagoula Refinery, one of the world’s largest, processes 295,000 barrels of crude oil a day. It is located in the Gulf Coast region of the United States, a major center
for petroleum operations with many offshore drilling platforms and “cities” of
processing refineries.

On September 27, 1998, Hurricane Georges struck Pascagoula with 125 miles per hour (210 kilometers per hour) winds and almost 17 inches (43 centimeters) of rain. The 17-hour storm pushed over the refinery’s dikes with surging 12-foot (3.6 meter) waves, flooding it with five feet (1.5
meters) of salt water. Water levels in different buildings ranged from three to 64 inches (8 to 163 centimeters).The hurricane destroyed four major offices and substantially damaged administration, operations, and maintenance facilities.

All grade level mechanical and electrical equipment, including motors and associated controls, was submerged. Chevron was just unlucky. Hurricanes, floods, and other natural disasters strike
all over the world.

Electric Motors: Vital to Operations
In a refinery, crude oil flows from one plant process to the next, with peripheral processes for special products. Electric motors are vital to operations, since they drive more than 90 percent of the pumps,
compressors, fans, and other systems.

If the motors in the main process operations are not functioning, the refinery shuts down. The ability to store or ship crude oil lessens the impact that side processes can have on the overall refinery.

Still, well over half the installed base of motors must be fully functional to ensure continuous operations. Shutdowns mean zero product while costs continue. Within a week after the hurricane, all Chevron employees returned to work. An initial damage review—conducted in the midst of alligators and snakes that had washed into the operating units and control centers—estimated that as many as 2,000 of the refinery’s 3,600 motors were damaged. That day, Chevron asked Rockwell Automation to assess the damage in detail and help with motor recovery and repair. Chevron wanted to resume full
operations within 90 days.Chevron has had a strong relationship with Rockwell Automation’s Reliance
Electric brand since the late 1970s. In 1996, an alliance was created, where Reliance Electric induction motors were supplied for Chevron installations and Chevron providing input for motor design.

The recommendation to create this alliance was based on Chevron’s own electrical equipment standardization efforts, which included motor reliability studies. Reliance Electric motors were selected
for this standardization, based on their long-term reliability and lower total cost of ownership.

“No other motor meets our corporate motor specifications better than Reliance,” says Aubrey Hammons, Reliability Team Leader at Chevron’s Pascagoula refinery and Chevron/Rockwell Automation Alliance Team Leader. “Reliance has been working for years to help develop our motor specifications.

“They have excellent products,and strong engineering and support capabilities,” he continues. “Unlike
other suppliers, Reliance almost never takes an exception to our corporate specifications and guidelines, andthe reliability of their motors has been outstanding.”

Recovery Begins
Long experience with Reliance Electricmotors gave Chevron the confidence to call on Rockwell Automation for immediate support in bringing Pascagoula back on line. Chevron asked Rockwell Automation to establish on-site operations at Pascagoula to manage the recovery
effort. In less than two days, an initial response team from Rockwell Automation’s Petroleum & Mining Industry group arrived at the Pascagoula refinery.

The response team grew to include 31 men and women from Rockwell
Automation’s Reliance Electric Motor Service Centers and Global TechnicalServices (GTS). It had the technical competency to assess and recover the refinery’s motors and related controls.

It integrated seamlessly with Chevron’s staff, working 16 hours a day, seven days a week until the refinery was back up and running.

Detailed on site assessment revealed that 2,400 units of the installed motor base were damaged. Rockwell Automa-tion and Chevron determined that all flooded electric motors rated 100 Hp or less should be replaced. There was no complete, accurate documentation of the motors in the refinery and many of the destroyed motors were custombuilt, modified, or out of date. To deal with this, each motor had to be manually pulled and examined in detail to determine the best replacement.

The use of adapter bases and/or shop modifications also was determined
for each motor. At times, the on-site recovery team examined more than 100 motors a day.
Rockwell Automation supplied approximately 1,400 new Reliance Electric AC motors, from fractional
horsepower to 600 Hp during the initial recovery and up to 3,500 Hp for
Chevron’s long-term recovery efforts.

Rockwell Automation’s motor plants in Athens and Bogart, Georgia, andKing’s Mountain, North Carolina, as well as several distribution centers and distributors, supplied custom engineered and standard motors in six weeks or less to meet schedule demands.

The on site team evaluated the condition of motors over 100 Hp, weighing cost and cycle time against start-up requirements, to determine whether they should be repaired or replaced. Motor service engineers from the GTS Motor Service Centers’ Hub and Spoke program supported this activity. The program coordinates the efforts of multiple shops (the spokes) and channels all repair invoices through one source (the hub) to minimize paperwork.

This meant that Chevron dealt with a single source and Rockwell Automation coordinated 18 different service shops—including eight non-Rockwell Automation shops—as they rewound and reconditioned more than 900 damaged motors. Rockwell Automation audited the repaired motors to ensure compliance with Chevron specifications, proper documentation, handling, and tagging.The storm destroyed eight motor control centers (MCCs).

Rockwell Automation added capacity at its Richland Center, Wisconsin, manufacturing plant to speed delivery of eight Allen-Bradley Bulletin 2100 Centerline MCCs. Rockwell Automation’s Packaged Control Products division also delivered 45 MCC sections within a week of specification.

The hurricane did not damage drives, programmable controllers, and other automation controls that were above flood stage in the refinery. These controls were integrated with new and repaired motors by on site control engineers from GTS.

To manage its motors after recovery and cut life cycle costs,Chevron installed Rockwell Automation’s Motor Management program.

Throughout recovery, all aspects of the project were documented and all
progress was reported daily. This helped Chevron plan and schedule work efforts while it improved communication within the refinery.

Pascagoula now has a complete and accurate motor database. Refinery personnel can instantly call up information for new and repaired motors, and all hurricane-related repair information.The Rockwell Automation response team worked a continuous schedule for three months to help bring the refinery online approximately three weeks ahead of schedule. Chevron gained millions of dollars in added production through the speedy recovery process, improved its refinery operations, and feels well prepared for the future.