RasGas Company Limited (RasGas) further strengthened its position as one of the world’s leading liquefied natural gas (LNG) providers recently, when the company achieved yet another best practice milestone by completing its largest and most complex routine LNG Train shutdown on schedule and without any lost time incident.
The routine maintenance shutdowns of RasGas’ LNG Trains 3 and 4 were completed in record time during 13 May to 9 June 2011, logging over one million man-hours. The feat was achieved by some 7,000 RasGas’ employees and contractors working together across many areas of specialty, including operations, maintenance, projects, technical, transportation, warehousing and administration.
“ The sheer scale and complexity of a routine shutdown for two LNG trains is enormous and reaching such a milestone is a clear indication of the entire team’s commitment to achieving best practices ,” said Hamad Rashid Al Mohannadi, RasGas Managing Director .
“ In terms of normal operations at RasGas’ LNG facilities which consist of seven of the world’s largest LNG trains there are approximately 2,000 personnel on site at any time, however, during the 2011 planned shutdown period this peaked to around 7,000 personnel, including that of 20 contractors hired and trained specifically to assist with the additional activities ,” he said.
At a ceremony held to celebrate the achievement at the Four Seasons Hotel, Doha Hamad Mubarak Al Muhannadi, RasGas Operations Group Manager said: “On behalf of RasGas, I would like to express my appreciation to the entire RasGas team and our contractors for their dedication leading to this remarkable accomplishment.”
“These routine shutdowns provide opportunities to ensure the optimum reliability of the LNG Trains, and it is working. Train 3 was reported the most reliable in the world in 2010 according to Phillip Townsend Associates, Inc. (PTAI) Benchmarking results,” Al Muhannadi added.
The goal of RasGas’ Operations Group is to safely maximise the reliability of the trains while minimising the frequency and the duration of the planned shutdowns. This is accomplished using a structured planning process, minimising the amount of maintenance requiring a train shutdown, and pursuing engineering solutions to improve the durability of our equipment.
The achievement and entire process underlines RasGas’ commitment to excellence and is another example of why RasGas has become the supplier of choice.
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Source: RasGas, June 26, 2011;