Shymkent oil refinery in Kazakhstan
ABB says it has won a multi-million-dollar order to modernize a major oil refinery in Kazakhstan. ABB will leverage ABB Ability, the company’s unified, cross digital offering, to help modernize the Shymkent oil refinery in Kazakhstan. Sensors, data and advanced analytics will monitor and assess the real-time health of the plant’s assets with operator PetroKazakhstan Oil Products (PKOP) to gain critical, real-time insights into their assets and production processes. This is expected to increase productivity and lower operational costs with operators empowered to make better informed decisions based on accurate and live data and reporting, according to the company. The win is set against the wider backdrop of the government-led ‘Digital Kazakhstan’ program, which reportedly focuses on accelerating growth and elevating economic sectors including the oil, gas and chemicals industry throughout the Republic through digitalization, with a goal of creating a future digital economy by 2022.
Using ABB Ability Asset Performance Management solutions, the company’s maintenance strategy will progress from an hourly-based maintenance system to prescriptive-based maintenance. ABB will extend the current maintenance annual turnaround intervals at the refinery to a three-year plan. This will reportedly be achieved through early identification of when assets might need repair or replacement well ahead of potential failure – supporting operators to prioritize maintenance based on actionable insights.
ABB will also provide a business consultancy service to PKOP to support the lifecycle of the project and promote culture change in adopting digital practices at the plant. This will include assessing current work processes, leveraging opportunities to increase efficiency and resilience, recommending improvements and providing expert training.
The Shymkent project site was first commissioned in 1970 and is in the Sayramskiy region of Kazakhstan Shymkent. It is operated by PetroKazakhstan Oil Products (PKOP), as a joint venture between China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and KazMunayGas (KMG), the national oil and gas company of Kazakhstan.
For more information, visit: www.abb.com