BP Dimlington Plant

Fabrice maintenance refurbishment project at BP Dimlington plant

Facts and figures

Duration: 3 years

Fabric maintenance refurbishment project

The BP Dimlington Gas Terminal is situated in the north east coast of England. It is a critical link in the gas supply into the UK and as a consequence integrity and reliability are not negotiable.

Added to this, BP’s own high standards demand that the terminal is maintained effectively. However, the site is exposed to significant weather conditions and had suffered from extensive corrosion and BP was keen to rectify this.

Overview

Having been selected as the preferred contractor for the site, Interserve was then invited to deliver the refurbishment programme to address the corrosion. Due to the fact that much of the corrosion was hidden under insulation the full scope and urgency of the programme was not clear which provided significant logistical challenges.

Interserve formed a working partnership with the site team and inspection authority to not only address immediate known issues but also identify efficient ways to schedule, prioritise and manage site work. The first year of the programme was used to perform high priority repairs and establishing a strategy for future work to be delivered in the most efficient manner possible:

Services

  • Mechanical installation
  • Blasting
  • Painting

Achievements

  • Ensured that all trades were brought together as an integrated team by coordinating work as a one-stop-shop solution and providing all trades required.
  • Removed insulation and corrosion debris, where necessary, to enable inspection work, fabrication of replacement pipework, removal and replacement of damaged pipework before painting and insulating this. Each trade team was kept fully utilised by bringing a flexible approach to the work and carefully planning their workload.
  • Reviewed the BP insulation standards and site experience to agree the most appropriate standard for the site. This eliminated a number of historic failure modes whilst reducing cost of installation significantly.
  • Agreed efficient methods of managing risks of performing a significant and often complex volume of work on a running plant. This was the most significant maintenance task since the plant had been initiated so required close control for safety as well as quality and the Interserve safety performance has been rated as world class.
  • Delivered alternative and effective ways of preparing damaged equipment for repainting. Different areas of the site brought different hazards and constraints so we worked closely with BP to predict when the use of high efficiency machinery was possible and when a more cautious hand preparation was required.
  • This work is currently approaching completion with customer feedback being that Interserve has contributed significantly to improving site work methods and has made a valuable contribution to the success of the project as well as significant cost reductions compared to the initial expectation.