Chalmette Heavy Oil Processing Project (CHOPP)

Tenneco contracted Fluor for a refinery expansion and modernization project at its Chalmette, Louisiana refinery to increase crude oil capacity and gasoline production. Fluor provided engineering, procurement, construction and project management services for the project.

The expansion and modernization increased crude oil capacity from 100,000 barrels per day (BPD) to 127,000 BPD and gasoline production from 51,000 BPD to 80,000 BPD.

Client's Challenge

The updated facilities, along with the existing reformer capacity, provided the refinery flexibility to meet future gasoline quality demands and take advantage of a changing gasoline market.

Fluor's Solution

Fluor was responsible for managing the engineering, procurement and construction of the entire project. It also had responsibility for performing engineering, and procurement services on a substantial portion of the project, including eight major process units and eight licensors.

Overall work included a installing a 42,000 BPD fluid catalytic cracking unit (FCCU), a 16,000 BPD hydrofluoric acid alkylation unit, a 35,000 BPD FCCU feed hydrotreater, a vacuum unit, two 180 tons per day sulfur trains, a 19,000 BPD Delayed Coking Unit, an amine regeneration section and gasoline treating units. In addition, an existing crude unit was revamped, and numerous offsites and utilities were revised or added.

More than 3,500 workers were on site at peak construction. Scheduling was critical as 286 subcontractors under Fluor's direction assisted in building about one-third of the facilities.

Conclusion

Fluor's teamwork approach with Tenneco and subcontractors, along with a comprehensive, totally integrated critical path schedule, were key to the job's on-schedule, on-budget completion.