Turnaround...

Today at work is all about turnaround. I joined two seperate meetings in the morning and in the afternoon discussing about it. Basically a turnaround is an event,whereby refineries/processing plants are taken off stream from operating & production (basically shutting down in layman terms). Turnaround (or TA as we called it) is the time major maintenance works were done,thorough inspection conducted to ensure the integrity of the structures,as well as modification or revampibg works will be conducted. This will be my first TA experience,and you know what,from what I saw it's gonna be a huge deal.

The morning meeting is all about safety. We're discussing the JSA (Job Safety Analysis) of the major jobs to be done during TA. This is where we detail out every single safety aspects in the job. We're talking equipment inspection,hazard awareness,manpower competencies,basically the whole lot. Safety during TA is especially a huge deal,because time is of the essence,and we can't afford to lose precious time for not doing things safely. In O&G, time is money,literally.

Then in the afternoon,we had a discussion as to the works to be done during TA. Here the planner will outline the detailed plan of what's to happen from shutdown to startup. Every single item is detailed out,like the minimum time to drain out the whole system to go hydrocarbon free,what jobs start first,even to extend of crane mobilization. We are given such a tight window,as let's face it; the longer you're down, the more losses you'll incur.

So that's about it. Expect long workhours,sleepless nights and deprived state of mind...

O&G: Not For The Faint Hearted

I'm sorry I can only update my blog now; I'm having some major (i mean major!) situation at the refinery I'm working at. Basically it involves a lifted 46" feed pipe into the distillation column. Basically we are not quite sure what caused the lifting, and we are now looking at the possibility of the incorrect settings on the support spring systems. Long story short; the maintenance team are put on standby 24/7. To make things more interesting, I am covering both the maintenance planner and the mechanical supervisor job.

I'm not here to talk or ramble about what is going on; I rather talk about the experiences gained from these major challenges. Despite the good pay, being in the O&G industry is indeed tough. It's a dynamic work environment; anything can happen in anytime, and it takes sheer determination, hardwork and being plain nuts and crazy to survive in this world. Imagine, being called early in the morning if something came up then requires urgent attention; imagine working 18-20 hours straight without proper rest. We are also juggling our acts up in pressing situations; we have scaffoldings to erect, insulations team on standby, bolting crew, even heavy lifting machinery. Operations, Engineering, and Technology will sync up their mind body and soul to complete the tasks at hand. Every second counts, because in the end, time is money (literally speaking!). We are indeed playing with our lives in our everyday worklife. At sometime, even our body could not cope with the workload and stress; not to mention our biological clock gone nuts due to working shifts; lack of sleep and so on. So in the end if you guys complaining that we got paid so much, trust me..we deserved every single cent.

Till the next post...