OREANDA-NEWS. May 03, 2012. Oil refining company ORLEN Lietuva is starting the Refinery Turnaround. 50 different modernization and maintenance projects will be implemented during the 35 days till the 3rd of June. The biggest so far refinery revamp will allow for better utilization of refining capacity, energy consumption savings and ensuring smooth operation of the process units in future, reported the press-centre of ORLEN Lietuva.

The key project of ORLEN Lietuva Refinery Turnaround is the Replacement of FCC Reactor Internals, which will enhance the utilization of production capacity. During the Turnaround, mechanical, electrical, instrument and insulation works, equipment and vessel inspection, replacement and revamp of pipelines and valves will be also performed in all Refinery subdivisions. Installation of state-of-the-art automatic process control and emergency shutdown systems will be completed during the Turnaround. In total 1500 various types of jobs which will be performed by well over 4.000 people are scheduled for this Turnaround.

“Constant investments into the Refinery upgrade are essential for further modernization of the Company, which is necessary to ensure its profitability in the long term. Adverse impact of the current economic environment can be mitigated only by means of higher production efficiency and lower operating costs,” said Ireneusz Fafara, General Director of Public Company ORLEN Lietuva.

During the Turnarounds day shift, in addition to permanent employees of ORLEN Lietuva, as many as 4,300 manpower of contractor organizations will be employed. 900,000 working hours are planned to be carried out during the biggest Refinery overhaul so far. 107 contracts in total have been signed: 78 of them with contractors from Lithuania, 22 – from Poland and seven – from Estonia, Russia, Germany and the Netherlands.

All operating processes will be shut down during the Turnaround. The supply of fuels to the internal markets will be fully ensured from the previously accumulated stocks.

The previous Turnaround of the Refinery was performed in 2007; however its scope was not as vast as this one’s.

100 per cent of the shares in ORLEN Lietuva are owned by PKN ORLEN. The largest company in Middle and Eastern Europe since the acquisition of Mazeikiu Nafta Refinery has invested 1.9 billion LTL in Lithuania. After the turnaround, which starts at the end of April 2012, is finished the total investment will exceed 2 billion LTL.