Oil & Gas

Profits on a Razor’s Edge​​​​​​​
Accuracy and speed matter in a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) terminal — an environment of razor-thin margins. Because LPG prices can move quickly up or down, terminal operating companies recognize their profits depend in part on the company’s ability to move product through the terminal efficiently to meet changing customer needs.
Seeing increases in global energy usage and geographic imbalances between production and consumption, an LPG terminal decided it was time for an update. They set priority on reliability of the end process, the movement of data and product, and the project automation team with whom they would partner.

Improvements on the Horizon​​​​​​​
The organization knew they could improve operations by fully replacing the old locally built control system. They also wanted realtime delivery data for their customers while optimizing lines to create more efficient transfer operations for ship, truck, and rail terminals. Complicated, yes.

Expertise and the Remote Virtual Office Reduced Project Complexity 
As the project started, a dedicated Emerson team partnered with the LPG team to discuss goals for the enterprise and for the project execution. Relationship and understanding the terminal business model were important. A high-speed terminal such as this must avoid shutdowns, so communication, expertise, and planning were vital to prepare the team to respond to project issues and keep the terminal online as much as possible. Emerson’s project execution strengths enabled execution with high confidence of success. Emerson’s local presence and global capacity meant a large group of commissioning resources were available at the right times to work in shifts. Resource flexibility allowed the schedule to be met.

The global project team benefitted from Emerson’s Remote Virtual Office (RVO) — a dedicated, secure engineering environment accessible by Emerson and its customers. Using RVO, operators, maintenance, and technical personnel (locally and at company headquarters) could participate in the project. In addition to preparing the team to engineer, operate, and maintain the control system, RVO sped up the project by removing complications in FAT and implementation.
After 33,000 project execution hours spanning just nine months and a 1.5-week shutdown, the LPG’s routings are safe. And the organization can satisfy customers with real-time data and an optimized process. Thanks to expertise and partnership.