Pilipinas Shell Refinery Expansion

In response to increasing demand for refined petroleum products, Pilipinas Shell contracted Fluor to perform engineering, procurement, and construction management to expand their existing refinery from 60,000 barrels per day to 115,000 barrels per day.

Fluor's office in Manila performed detailed design of offsites and utilities, and construction was subcontracted solely to local contractors, which equated to a construction workforce of more than 5,500 Filipinos working at the site.

Client's Challenge

Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation wanted to expand refinery capacity to meet growing demand for petroleum products.

In addition to new process units, additions and modifications to existing utilities systems and oil movement areas were also required.

Fluor's Solution

Fluor provided engineering, procurement, and construction management services to Pilipinas Shell for a refinery expansion at Tabangao, Batangas City, Philippines. The new process units located adjacent to existing facilities use Shell (SIPM) licensor technology. The platformer unit uses UOP licensor technology. Additions and modifications to existing utility systems and oil movement areas were also required.

Fluor's office in Manila expended more than 400,000 work hours on detailed design of offsites and utilities.

The $460 million project was the first of its size in the Philippines in more than 30 years, and one of the first projects in the region to use local subcontractors.

Conclusion

Despite the sheer volume of work, large number of local subcontractors, and schedule requirements, Fluor completed more than 14 million continuous work hours without a lost-time accident.

Overall, the project lost-time incidence rate was less than .06.

The project was completed under budget and start-up went extremely well, achieving product specifications and capacity.