Butinge Oil Terminal

The project provided facilities to import and export 6 to 8 million tons per year of crude oil. It was the first major petroleum project in Lithuania after the country became an independent republic.

Fluor was the managing contractor and conducted studies for the project, performed preliminary engineering, and prepared a cost estimate and a lump sum, turn-key bid package of $300 million.

Fluor then carried out detailed engineering, procurement, construction management, and commissioning for the offshore single-point mooring and pipeline, an onshore terminal, and pipelines and pump stations.

Client's Challenge

The Mazeikiu NAFTA facilities at Butinge, Lithuania, handle an annual throughput of 8 million tons of crude oil in the exporting mode and 5 to 6 million tons in the import mode. Facilities include a 36-inch, 7.5 km offshore pipeline; 22-inch pipeline to oil tankage; three 50,000-cubic-meter oil tanks; pump stations; and a single-point mooring terminal.

The crude oil single-point mooring (SPM) catenary anchor leg mooring facility was designed to accommodate tankers of up to 80,000 metric tons dead weight. It is connected to shore by means of a 36-inch-diameter, 7.5-km-long submarine pipeline.

Onshore terminal storage facilities contain three 50,000-cubic-meter floating roof tanks for crude oil, as well as fixed roof tanks for storing diesel fuel and slop oil. The facilities also include a pump for loading tankers and for transferring product between the Butinge terminal and the Mazeikiu Refinery some 91.5 kilometers (57 miles) away.

A 22-inch crude oil pipeline transports crude between the refinery itself and the tank storage facilities nearby. A pump station allows crude transfer to the terminal.

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Fluor's Solution

Fluor conducted studies for the project, performed preliminary engineering, and prepared a cost estimate and a lump sum, turn-key bid package of $300 million. Fluor then carried out detailed engineering, procurement, construction management and commissioning for the offshore single-point mooring and pipeline, as well as an onshore terminal, and pipelines and pump stations. The single-point mooring, off the port of Klaipeda, had an offloading capacity of up to 4,932 cubic meters per hour.

Fluor's work scope also included SCADA (supervisory control and pipeline data acquisition system), crude oil shipping pumps, the onshore pipeline, a storage tank for “early oil scheme” piping directly to booster pumps, the 22-inch onshore pipeline linking the Mazeikiu Refinery to the Butinge Terminal, a 110 KV power line from Sventoji substation to the terminal's 110 KV substation, three 50,000-cubic-meter floating-roof tanks for crude oil, fixed-roof tanks for storage of diesel fuel and slop oil, a wastewater treatment plant, and three terminal substations.

The engineering, procurement, construction management portion of the project began in July 1995. Construction required that some foundations be kept under steam (in “lines”) to defrost the ground.

The project was completed ahead of schedule in July 1999.

Conclusion

The project, on 1,239 hectares (3,062 acres) of land, encompassed the refinery; the single-point mooring (floating buoy) terminal that was the first in the Baltic Sea; tanks, pipelines, power substations, crude oil shipping pumps, and a wastewater treatment plant. A pipeline also connected to the Duzbai pipeline from Russia by means of a refinery bypass line.

Fluor and its contractors (one international contractor, and remaining contractors from within Lithuania) completed the project under budget, while reaching 2.5 million safe work hours.