NPRA ESTABLISHES 'INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP' AT MAINTENANCE MEETING

The National Petroleum Refiners Association held its first-ever "International Workshop" at this year's Refinery and Petrochemical Plant Maintenance Conference, May 25-28 in San Diego. Conference organizers established the workshop in response to the growing number of conference participants from non-U.S. companies. As evidence of this trend, the general sessions were translated into Russian for a number of engineers from the C.I.S. states-primarily the Ukraine.

June 28, 1993

4 min read

The National Petroleum Refiners Association held its first-ever "International Workshop" at this year's Refinery and Petrochemical Plant Maintenance Conference, May 25-28 in San Diego.

Conference organizers established the workshop in response to the growing number of conference participants from non-U.S. companies. As evidence of this trend, the general sessions were translated into Russian for a number of engineers from the C.I.S. states-primarily the Ukraine.

In recent years, typical technical presentations at the convention were heavily weighted toward U.S. requirements and regulations. The new workshop is designed to better address the needs of registrants from the Middle East, Europe, South America, Asia, and other processing centers.

NPRA technical director Terrence Higgins and Russell Miller, general manager-maintenance for Citgo Petroleum Corp., Lake Charles, La., chaired the workshop. Panelists were:

S. Shams Akhtar, maintenance manager of Caltex Petroleum Corp.'s Oman Refinery Co. LLC, Ruwi, Oman
Jaffar A. Ali, general manager-refining at Caltex's Bahrain Petroleum Co. BSC (Bapco) refinery
Robert Fleming of Caltex Refining Co. Pty. Ltd.'s Kurnell, Australia, refinery near Sydney
Wilfrido Jatem of Lagoven S.A.'s Amuay refinery at Judibana, Venezuela.

NPRA's Higgins used an informal, open format for the meeting, beginning with the panelists each providing a brief description of their refineries. These opening remarks were followed by suggestions of topics from both panelists and participants.

MAINTENANCE PERSONNEL

One topic receiving heavy attention was the necessity to hire contract labor from across country borders. Delegates from the Persian Gulf area, Europe, and the Caribbean discussed the difficulties that accompany a multinational workforce, the most prominent of which is language barriers.

A refinery in Germany was reported, at one time, to have had 12 languages on its welcome sign as a result of the influx of laborers from eastern Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Poland, among other countries.

Akhtar explained how his refinery dealt with workers who spoke Arabic, English, and some 20 dialects from India. The first-line foreman must speak the same language as his workers and the second-line foreman must speak either Arabic or English.

Similar rules existed in European refineries to deal with language problems there.

Lack of skilled manpower was also a concern for the international processors. Local conditions were blamed for the loss of experienced technical workers in Aruba, and higher wages in the Middle East had caused labor from the Philippines to seek employment there.

Similar difficulties had been experienced in South America.

MATERIALS

Materials procurement also posed some unique problems for non-U.S. operators. Unusual international shipping rules had created a delay for one participant, who described how an item en route from one area of the world had to be offloaded in another region, then immediately onloaded onto the same ship, to comply with local laws.

Specialty, or custom-made, items require long lead times for Middle East processors, whereas "off-the-shelf" materials can be obtained relatively quickly. Unique materials must be ordered long in advance-sometimes as much as 18 months.

SAFETY/ENVIRONMENT

Comments from panelists and participants indicated that safety and environmental regulations in several areas are hot on the heels of the U.S. laws, in terms of severity.

In Venezuela, new environmental laws, similar to those in the U.S., are in the works. The laws will have criminal penalties. Safety and health regulations there also have criminal liabilities.

Australia's Environmental Planning Authority enforces strict emissions guidelines, also similar to U.S. statutes. The Work Cover Authority (WCA) is responsible for safety and health issues in the country.

Although the WCA does not monitor drug and alcohol use, Fleming commented that, based on what he had heard at the meeting, he would suggest to authorities that such a program be implemented.

In Bahrain, the Gulf Cooperative Council is using U.S. regulations as the basis for new requirements. If these requirements become law, the Bahrain refinery will have to spend $50-60 million to achieve compliance.

The Caltex refinery in Oman has to meet strict requirements on its emissions to Persian Gulf waters. Landfill regulations, particulate emissions, and other air pollution restrictions are not as rigid, but are likely to become more strict in the future.

The refineries in both Bahrain and Oman operate under labor laws which protect workers against unsafe acts. Those countries do not, however, have organizations such as the U.S.'s Occupation Safety & Health Administration or Australia's WCA.

At the other end of the spectrum is Germany. A representative of Esso Corp. said German environmental laws are equal to or worse than those in California.

The continuation of the workshop will surely be accompanied by greater participation, more diverse topics, and panelists and participants from more diverse refining regions.