MUSCAT -- Larsen & Toubro Heavy Engineering LLC (L&T HE LLC) has announced the successful delivery of a mammoth Wet Gas Scrubber (WGS) that was fabricated in record time to replace a similar unit that was damaged in a fire incident at Orpic's Sohar Refinery complex last March. The blaze, which occurred on March 11, had caused significant damage to the unit during Orpic's planned shutdown of the refinery, and while an outside contracting team was working on the Wet Gas Scrubber (WGS).
The WGS is an important element of Orpic's environment protection system for the Catalytic Cracking Unit and contributes to the refinery's capacity utilisation. Orpic immediately investigated the rapid replacement of the unit. "Conventional manufacturing facilities and methods would have taken around 4 to 5 months for completing this work. When Orpic, through its contractor Alstom Power, approached Larsen & Toubro Heavy Engineering LLC (L&T HE LLC) at the Port of Sohar, the latter decided to take up the challenge despite already having a full schedule of work. L&T HE LLC agreed to complete the fabrication and transportation of WGS within a 62 day-time frame. This schedule included material procurement, rigging up of all required resources and obtaining required permits to deliver the job to Orpic's site, in addition to developing a new yard facility," the company said in a press statement.
"The special yard facility was constructed and innovative manufacturing sequences were adopted to meet the challenging schedule. Orpic and Alstom gave active support throughout the process to enable the Execution Team to forge ahead on a 24/7 basis. In addition to Orpic and Alstoms' constant assistance, the Orpic CEO, Musab al Mahruqi, and senior management from both companies visited the facility to motivate and guide the team," it further added. In the end, L&T HE LLC beat its own target by completing the job seven days ahead of schedule, in what has been described as a "fantastic achievement".
With the manufacturing completed, there was a further challenge in transporting the Wet Gas Scrubber from L&T HE's workshop to the Sohar Refinery. The Wet Gas Scrubber is a massive vessel (12 metres diameter with a height of 11 metres and weight of 95 metric tonnes). A survey was done to find a route with 12-metre height clearance to the refinery. This required clearances from multiple agencies, co-ordination with them and civil work to remove various obstacles, height posts, electrical lamps and sign boards. Moving the unit needed special equipment and a separate study which was also completed on time. A host of agencies and companies worked co-operatively in order to ensure the delivery went smoothly.
The equipment was finally delivered to the Orpic site on May 24, after a five-hour journey to cover 4.5 km route. A K Modi, GM, L&T HE LLC -- Oman Operations, and Pallav Chattopadhay, Head, L&T HE LLC Sohar Works, expressed their special thanks to Orpic, Alstom, ROP, SIPC, C Steinweg Oman, ROP Customs, L&T MFY, SIUCI, Lift & Shift and all other agencies which supported L&T HE LLC in successfully completing this benchmark project.
© Oman Daily Observer 2013
