Bureau Veritas proposed "three priorities for overhaul planning" amid intensified petrochemical plant overhaul challenges. 

2020 China Petrochemical Equipment Maintenance Technology Conference was held by the Chemical Industry and Engneering Society of China in Nanjing from September 24 to September 25, 2020. Experts from Sinopec, PetroChina, CNOOC, Sinochem, CHEMCHINA, CHN ENERGY, Yanchang Petroleum, equipment management departments of local oil refining, coal chemical and chemical enterprises jointly exchanged and discussed the theme of "focusing on innovation - driving the operation and maintenance capacity of equipment management in petrochemical enterprises".

Petrochemical industry production is often associated with continuity, high temperature, high pressure and strong corrosion. With the progress of production technology and the pursuit of socio-economic benefits, the maintenance cycle is also becoming longer, which determines the importance of overhaul planning, especially scope planning. Mr. Zou Yonghong, an expert in petrochemical engineering and overhaul project management of Bureau Veritas, presented the key points to focus on in the overhaul planning process, along with the various phenomena that exist in petrochemical plant overhaul.

During the overhaul of a petrochemical plant, problems such as the inconsistency between overhaul scope and actual situation, change of plans and non-availability of resources are usually encountered, which not only poses challenges in terms of overhaul scope, project complexity, quality, but also in terms of overhaul hazards and overhaul timeframe. All of these placed higher demands on overhaul project management.

Overhaul is a systematic project. Overhaul work is carried out according to project scope, and project scope determination is regarded as the key and difficult part of overhaul. Project scope shall cover all operation factors, such as project list, project work packages, material and human resource requirements, safety elements, quality control elements, organization arrangements. From the perspective of scope determination, Bureau Veritas proposed three key points for overhaul planning: scope planning, time planning and work division, and put forward the concept of time axis for overhaul planning.

Bureau Veritas has accumulated rich management experience in a number of major overhaul projects and has developed a set of mature "overhaul project management" concepts. Combined with Primanager, BV's self-developed project management software, it applies internationally advanced management tools and innovative management models to assist the project team to ensure that scope, schedule, quality, cost and safety of overhaul projects are highly controllable.