Front End Engineering Design of Oil & Gas Capital Projects “The Nerve Center of Project Control”​

Overview

The Progress of a Nation is critically dependent on the Investment that it makes in the high CAPEX Oriented Infrastructure Projects. Almost all the sectors which have an impact on the Economy of a Country are incidentally, in sectors where Economies of Scale are important and hence the Project Sizes and the Investment related to them is high. Be it Steel, Non Ferrous, Power, Coal, Mining, Exploration of Hydrocarbons, Crude oil Refining, Gas processing, LNG liquefaction and Transportation, Gas processing, Petrochemicals, Fertilizers, Coal gasification to chemicals etc, all of them are highly Technology and Capital Intensive. Consequently, it is always a great challenge to ensure that the Projects in these domains are carefully planned and successfully implemented with schedule and budgets.

For a while the Energy Sector has been pretty dominant in terms of the large Project Initiatives. The Investment has consistently been high notwithstanding the cyclic nature of the businesses in this segment. In fact, the cyclical nature of the business too is very much dependent on the size and scale and intensity of the Projects at any given point of time, the gestation period involved, the peaks in the prices due to increased demand of the products and the sudden troughs, upon the maturity of the large projects in quick succession hitting the market with plenty.

The Important issue in these projects though, is the fact that Schedule is of utmost significance. Billions of Dollars are at stake and a few million dollars per day would be the penalty if the projects are delayed. In fact, the strategy has always to be to ensure as to how the schedule can be controlled, to enable the owner gain the advantage of early completion. All the Strategies and Planning Efforts therefore, need to be centered around this objective.

For the purposes of discussion we will launch ourselves in the Hydrocarbon Segment which is a high Technology, High Capex, Extremely Complex, highly sequence dependent and fraught with considerable complexities / interfacing for smooth start up and stabilization. The Schedule for such a complex Industry is therefore, a high end activity and perhaps central to the control associated with the Projects in this Industry. It is our belief that controlling these high Capex Project Schedules is one of the severe challenges to Project Management and hence this discussion.

Project Criticalities and Control Points

The Hydrocarbon projects have several key work centers around which it is necessary to exercise the control. These may be broadly be divided as under

1. Formulation of Project Concept, Outline Configuration and formulation of FEL 1 ( Pre-feasibility Report Capex +/- 30%)

2. FEL 2 — Formulation of Project Design basis, Finalization of Configuration, Licensor Selection, and Finalization of Detailed Feasibility report ( Capex +/- 10 to 20%) for Investment Approval.

3. Basic Engineering and/or FEED depending on the Mode of Implementation and Selection of LSTK contractors for EPC mode. Alternatively concurrent procurement and contracting can be taken up in case Conventional mode of Implementation is adopted.

4. EPC Phase ( Engineering, Procurement and construction by LSTK contractor) or Engineering, procurement and Contracting ( Recommendations) and construction supervision by consultant lined up by Owner

5. Pre commissioning, Commissioning and Start up with the assistance of LSTK/Consultant and Licensors. Owners to take Lead In this phase

6. Project take over and stabilized operation by Owner

All the facets of the Project Control under the above subheads are subjects in themselves and it would be difficult to accord the importance or precedence of one over the other. However, there are certain beliefs and time tested experience supported by irrefutable logic. Let us recall some of them:

a. Projects are made and destroyed in the first few months or sometime a few weeks of the Project Commencement.

b. The Team Leader and his vision is central to the project success.

c. Experience and its wisdom is not in the number of years which one may have behind themselves, but essentially lies in the ability to decide quickly, decisively and preemptively.

d. The Leader is not to direct and advise alone but must command respect. No problem from the table of a Leader should go unanswered. A direction and decision has to be taken

e. The Project is to be led with example. The Leader must assume responsibility and take a quantum leap all the time. He must protect his team

f. The Team must agree, disagree, discuss and debate but finally follow the leadership without an iota of doubt.

g. Speed of Decision making is the essence. The ability lies in deciding without information. If one has to wait for all information to be available infinite schedule is required.

h. Aggression, passion and devotion of the entire team is a prerequisite. It is the Leaders responsibility to call the call and galvanize the team into a unit.

i. Planning, respect for schedule and value of time is the essence to be inculcated in the team.

j. No one in the chain, Licensor, Consultant, vendor / Contractor or even the owner is above schedule. The Team has to be Logical, creative and decisive all the time. The leadership team must sign and give confidence to the team members rather than passing the buck.

Frankly Project Management and Capital Projects Implementation is the art of creating possibilities out of the perceivable impossibility. A methodical approach, all round knowledge and sustained devotion is inevitably required and has practically no substitute. Nothing accept the experience of going through the drill will help when it comes to taking the bull by the Horns!

Front End the Key

While all the facets of Project Management are critical and have their own repercussions on the schedule, the Front end activities are perhaps the most critical. It is believed that well begun is half done. The Importance of the Front end activities therefore, come to the fore. The fate of Projects is universally dependent on how well these activities are planned and effectively and intelligently implemented.

The Major Activities pertaining to the Front end would broadly comprise of the following:

1. Finalization of Project Configuration

2. Site Selection and Study of logistics

3. Preparation of Plot Plan

4. NIT and Licensor Selection

5. Completion of Open Art Design

6. Basic Engineering Packages from Licensors

7. Basic Engineering

8. Formulation of Implementation Plan

In this article we will concentrate on the above excluding S. No 2 and 8 which are subject in themselves. The idea is to appreciate the significance and importance of the Front end Design activities and their overlaps to arrive at a stage from which the project can smoothly take off.

Experience reveals that this is an area which is well known to be one of the most important, but as luck would have it, it is provided the least of time to carry out appropriate value engineering and analysis. In our opinion, if these activities are appropriately controlled, Projects will invariably be implemented well within schedule and budgets. The key actually lies here. The subsequent implementation either on the EPC mode or the Conventional mode is a matter of Owners choice and preference.

Experience reveals, that in case adequate attention is not paid in initiating and defining it well at this stage the changes in the implementation stages keep recurring setting the Project back by many a mile. The central aspect of Project control lies in restricting and inhibiting change. Irrespective of the temptation, no conceptual change should be affected. This calls for determined, decisive and unyielding leadership. Let’s do it well in the first attempt has to be the Motto!

Project Configuration and Plot Plan

The Project Configuration is the essence of the Objective function. Certain basic parameters need to be clear to finalize the configuration to maximize the Objective function through Linear Programming Techniques. In the Hydrocarbon Industry a very prominent way of arriving at an optimal configuration is through the PIMS program which over a period of time has been improved upon by coding in critical technology and yields related data for the various facilities. It also has a vast library of crude essays and other product property related information, which could help in finalizing a configuration to meet the objective function. Some of the critical entities required for finalization of the Configuration would be to have clarity on what the project intends to achieve:

1. Type of Crude to be processed.

2. Flexibility and variety of crudes to establish the range of the API upper and lower limits to be processed.

3. Limits of Tan numbers to be considered for crude.

4. Capacity Considerations of a Single Train refinery cum petrochemical complex based on proved Designs and Proven Track Records. Evolve the Optimal Capacity.

5. Gas Integration to the Project to maximize distillate, minimize Co2 footprint.

6. Maximization of gasoline or diesel.

7. Production caps on various products, if any.

8. Product Specifications to be addressed.

9. Petrochemical Integration Intent. Is it to be included in the initial stages or in phases.

10. Any specific Preference for bottoms up-gradation. For example some companies may not prefer a Delayed Coker for instance.

11. Steam and power generation Limits for the captive facilities. In case Coker is considered the CFBC based options to be closely examined

12. Maximize Petrochemical Intermediates such as ethylene and propylene from the Integrated Olefin Complex. Recommendation of Feed Diet to the Cracker.

13. Recommend whether the production of Aromatics from the complex makes Economic value. If so, Specify limits including Integration with the tail end of the Olefin complex.

14. Owner to specify as to how the C4 mix is to be disposed optimally.

15. Ensure all facilities to be World scale size for availing the benefits of Economies of scale.

16. Report the Highest GRM, Directional return based configuration based on International and Owner determined prices.

17. Confirm that the configuration ensures utilization of the last molecule for optimal recovery of value for money.

18. Owners own market survey or the ones carried out through a specialized agency to assess the supply/demand scenario of products over a period of time may be a useful input for the fine tuning of the configuration through iterations.

19. An Optimal configuration could therefore be arrived upon which could be utilized for preparation of the Prefeasibility Report ( FEL- 1) to arrive at +/- 30% level Capex Estimates

Plot Plan

The Configuration of the plant and the Site contour are essentially the two key inputs to develop a preliminary plot plan. The Plot plan is a Strategic Document and is essentially the reflection of the Confidence and the range of the Organization that it is capable of foreseeing. It is worthy of notice that this document is developed at a time, when the specific and detailed information about the facilities envisaged in the project are not finalized but the expectation of a master plan to foresee and provide for is the intent. This is surely an experience and logic driven document.

Basic Site Inputs required

1. Site Contour and Location map.

2. Rail, road and Air Connectivity to the site.

3. Proximity to the Marine facilities.

4. Product centers and conceptual product evacuation mechanisms i.e. rail, Pipeline, Road, marine.

5. Existing Environmental Footprint.

6. Habitation around the Plot including Flora fauna.

7. Rehabilitation and site encumberances, if any.

8. Effective Plot Area excluding the Green belt provisions.

9. Nearest source of Water, Power, Stone, Aggregate, Gravel, sand, earth.

10. Potential for Smart villages, Smart Cities and Other Industries to develop around the Plant in Future. Expandability possibilities.

Most of the above information is generally available in the site selection report.

Project Related Information

The Project Related Information which is required essentially comprises of:

1. Project process configuration.

2. Indicative tankage list for the Project.

3. Indicated Utility system capacities.

4. Unit capacities.

5. Product Evacuation facilities to be Incorporated in the Plot plan.

6. Indicative Expandability provisions to be made.

7. Metrological Data.

8. Effluent Disposal point.

Based On the above Information which is generic the Plot plan can be developed. The Inherent considerations which the Project Leadership and the Plot Plan Specialist should take into consideration may include the following:

1. Process Sequencing and Start Up sequence.

2. Integration and connectivity of the facilities in the complex through multitier racks and sleepers.

3. Storage and Warehousing facilities.

4. Heavy lift cargo movement in the plant and ODC roads.

5. Heavy Duty Crane movement roads and hard Stands.

6. Space for site assembly of Equipment preferably near the final location of the equipment.

7. Plant Terracing , Drainage and water evacuation facilities.

8. Plan for minimization of Underground piping and segregation of Cooling water and Utility generation system as required.

9. Location of Power Generation and Distribution Substations including the Philosophy of laying the cabling.

10. Location of master control room and satellite rack rooms for interfacing with main control room through Optical fibre networks.

11. Location of Waste water Treatment plant and recycling facilities for water conservation.

12. Location of all solids handing facilities such as Coke, Sulphur, lime and Gypsum in the Refinery segment and the Polymer pallets in the Petrochemicals

13. Location of rail and Truck Loading gantries along with the traffic studies to finalize the evacuation schemes.

14. Location of water Bodies and the water distribution systems.

15. Plant Safety and escape route studies for quick evacuation in emergency.

16. Segregation of the plant and the non Plant Area for minimization of the people density in the plant.

17. Location of Workshop and maintenance facilities.

Plot plan is clearly a experience driven document. It is critical that the plot plan is subjected to detailed constructability, risk and safety studies before it is utilized for downstream engineering. This is the mother document and one finalized no conceptual change can be made in the same as it would have a cascading effect. The document finalization therefore, is not only a matter of Engineering skill, but visioning and planning for the future. A good front end base is settled upon the finalization of the Plot plan. It forms consequently all the basic inputs for further conceptual documentation formulation

Licensor Selection and BDEP

The Core of project control centers around how well the Licensor selection and Basic Design performed by the licensors is carried out. Often it is observed that it is around these areas, that there are gaps which creep into the system, mitigation of which is a time consuming process.

The subject of Licensor Selection in a basket or individually has been discussed in detail in another post. In this section it would be advisable to examine the steps and the basic inputs which could enable licensor selection and the Basic Process Design in a manner which could enable a smooth fillip to project Implementation.

Licensor Selection Considerations

Formulation of a proper scope for licensor selection is important. Normally the licensors are tune to technology work and apparently tend to restrict themselves to technology and process domain only. They believe, that the basic engineering work is essentially best performed by an Engineering company. This understanding though may be having its own merits in certain area, in general is problematic and highly interface driven from the schedule perspective. It leads to tremendous overlap in issues between the licensor and the engineering companies.

Often when the licensor selection is carried out by the Owners themselves, a whole lot of Engineering related issues are left open which consume considerable time and energy to resolve in subsequent stages. It is imperative therefore, that the NIT must be succinct and non compromising in terms of the scope definition for the licensor, such that, upon receipt of the BDEP from the Selected Licensor the implementation related problems are obviated. The following must necessarily be stipulated in addition to the conventional scope of work included in the licensors scope of work:

The following mandatory scope must be included by the licensor in their scope. Failure to comply this is liable for bid rejection

1. Licensors to include the thermal design of all the heat exchangers in their scope and ensure that the findings of the thermal design are incorporated in the BDEP P&ID’s.

2. Owner shall define the criteria for sizing of the Air coolers and also provide the maximum acceptable width and location of the bundles. Licensor to ensure that thermal Design of all the Air coolers is included in their scope and the results of their findings is clearly depicted in the P&IDs including manifolds and piping arrangement with size and line numbering.

3. The Thermal Design and API data sheets of all the Fired furnaces should be included in the scope of the Licensor. All the pass control arrangements etc must be depicted in the P&Id’s in detail for the Owner/Consultant to follow. This is an absolutely important requirement and should not be left open for any discussion.

4. All control valves and Safety valve sizing must be Included in the scope of the Licensor. This provides a degree of completeness to the P&IDs and enables very high degree of upfront planning and discussion to be carried out with the licensor if need be.

5. Between the Owner and the consultant Team the procurement philosophy should be evolved and as required the scope definitions of the packages must be clearly marked in the BDEP packages. The Owner may provide this input to the licensor for proper depiction in the P&ID’s.

6. The Licensors have a whole lot of proprietary items and preferred/mandatory suppliers. A fair degree of understanding with respect to the procurement of the items during implementation must be held with the licensors. It is observed, that in case the domestic support is to be provided to agencies for supply a good idea would be to reconcile a vendor list in agreement with the licensor.

7. The Hydro carbon Plants are critical and many factors need consideration. In a changing market when the domestic industry is able to serve the Hydrocarbon Industry it is always a great idea to maximize the Indigenous supplies. This also helps during the operation stages of the plant. It would be worthwhile to develop a comprehensive list of items and restrict the same to avoid NIT’s for items where the vendor list is restricted. This can be an important schedule and effort saving measure.

8. A detailed Line list with all details duly filled up by the licensor in must be obtained. This is absolutely important for initiating downstream engineering and vertical take-off of the plant.

9. The Schedule of deliverables is critical and agreement with the licensor is important

• Award of Works to The Selected Licensor — Zero Date
• Finalization of Design Basis 2W
• Reconciliation Of Piping material Specification 3W
• Finalization of all Engineering Considerations 3W
• Discussion on Equipment layout Considerations 3W
• Receipt of Process Flow Diagrams 9W
• Heat and material balance 9W
• Indicative Equipment layout 9W
• Finalization of PFD 12W
• Indicative Utility Summary 13W
• Dimensioned Equipment Layout By Consultant 11 W
• Finalization of Equipment layout 12W
• Receipt of Critical Data Sheets for long Leads 9W
• Equipment data Sheets 17–22W
• P&Ids 22 W
• Finalization Of P&Ids 26W
• Thermal Data Sheets of all equipment 26W
• Thermal Data Sheets/API data Sheets- Furnaces 26W
• Line List, Instrument data Sheets 30W
• BDEP 30W
• Updated and Finalized Dimensioned layout 30W
• Operating manual 34 W

Licensors need to confirm upfront that all the Hydraulics of the systems and lines shall be carried out based on the dimensioned Equipment Finalized at the 12th Week of the commencement of work any input required to facilitate the Owner shall be provided by Owner/Consultant.

For certain packages with the Technology units where the specific Systems are to be engineered by the Licensors to complete the conceptual mechanical Design as well all the Data Sheets /Drawings and Documentation to be furnished latest by the 39th Week.

All the requirements of the NIT as above are to be agreed by the Licensors upfront and no deviation on the same is to be accepted.

With This it is expected that the licensor selection activity could be completed within 6 Months of Initiation of the NIT

Process Design

The Owner/Consultant Design Teams to be positioned at licensors offices to ensure that all decisions are taken across the table and no point is left outstanding. Availability of such high quality package is perhaps the single most important point to enable concurred basic Engineering to be carried out by the owner and the Consultant team.

The Schedule and deliverables as agreed upon during the NIT stages to be rigorously followed up and closely monitored.

Basic Design and Project Take Off

Three or four subtle milestones are critical for the Front end basic Design to commence on the part of the Owner. Project management in its true sense is the art of paralleling as many activities as possible. Basic and important deliverables which are required for initiating the Basic Design are as below

1. Finalization of the Plot Plan in early stages and constantly updating the same to have it achieve a degree of finality by the time the Equipment layouts are being Finalized with the Licensors by the 12th week after award of the works to the selected Licensors.

2. Finalized Dimensioned equipment layouts with the licensors at the 12th week after the commencement of works by the licensors.

3. Receipt of equipment data sheets from the Licensors 9w through 26W

4. Receipt of P&Ids 22- 30 weeks along with BDEP.

Civil and structural the crux of Project Control

History is replete with case studies which reveal that the project slippages are essentially dependent on well the civil activities are controlled in the projects. Starting the Civil planning Early to initiate preparation of major Civil Engineering Inputs is perhaps the core to schedule Control. It may be remembered that civil works are sequenced and always guided by a slightly longer gestation period. Control of these implies proper control of schedule.

The Key work centers around which the civil works need to be controlled broadly include the following:

1. Piling works

2. UG piping, Gravity and Pressurized

3. RCC works below and above plinth

4. Structural Steel works

Details of the Civil structural works and its nuances affecting the Project control variously have been discussed in a separate post. In this post we intend to concentrate on fast track input generation for physical construction at site:

Plot Plan and Equipment layouts are the vital Inputs for initiating the civil works. It is important too that the Equipment layout must be essentially without holds on elevations and dimensions. The following activities can be immediately initiated

1. Identification of Major Piling Zones and Design of the Piles

2. Identification of all major large Diameter Pressurized Buried piping pertaining to cooling water and Fire water Systems

5. Identification of all major Gravity piping Headers on either side of the Pipe rack corridors

6. Identification of Multiple Exit Pints for the Gravity piping.

7. Initial Planning to ensure that the gravity piping is not planned below (-) 2.2 meters

8. Size of the Piping for UG and Piping to be increased to minimize the number of manholes and catch basins in the plot

9. Planning of the Underground blow down headers and pits. The idea must be to minimize the invert levels of the Piping and if need be more than one blow down drum may be envisaged

10. Conscious effort must be made to route the pump bearing cooling water systems above ground.

11. Tracer condensate system planning must be carried out upfront

12. Provision for Exchanger Back Flushing systems, can be done upfront and their routing decided before hand.

13. Maximum provision for Funnel connection to the Gravity piping should be made. The idea has to be that while the sub header and the branch connections are development at no point of time UG piping works drawings are altered. If need be, modifications should be done in Above Ground engineering.

14.Only the equipment layout is required for the above. For most of the other things experience based engineering decisions are important

15. All pipe rack Piling and foundation design must be given priority. As far as possible the span between the Pipe rack Columns should be maximized to minimize the footings. ISBL, wherever Piling is envisaged and Plinth beams need to be provided the Pump foundations could be located above the same.

16. All the Bulk Foundation Drawings including Pile layout and Pile cap drawings must be prioritized.

17. The Tech structures and Compressor houses which be standardized to a large extent must be piled and Founded early. This enables proper interface with UG piping as well and quick closure below ground engineering

18. All the compressors, packages and other vendor driven items must be piled conservatively in absence of precise information to ensure that the Civil Engineering is accorded serious priority. This will set the agenda for the Above Ground works more Pragmatically

Experience driven Norms

1. Where ever possible prefer piling over open foundations

2. Certain units must invariable be designed with Piling, for example Cracker, PFCC, Delayed Coker, HP Segments of the Hydro processing Blocks, CDU/VDU columns, double walled tanks, spheres, Boiler and turbine halls of CPP, High end Reactor and Purge Bin Requirements , major Pipe racks , CCR Sections of MS block, silos and bins, major compressors and houses.

3. Piling to a large extent is data agnostic in design and therefore, can help in fast tracking Implementation.

4. In large Plants such as an Olefin Complex for example, the density of the equipment is large. Equipment are tall and heavy, Piling would enable shrinking the size of the Foundations. So is the case with Critical Equipment such as Double walled Tanks where the foundation design can be optimized with the usage of piling.

5. Piling based foundations enables cut off depths of the foundations to be restricted, thereby enabling the UG piping to be located at shallower depths.

6. Piling enables the footing sizes to be rationalized dramatically and therefore structures such as Pipe rack and the Tech Structures foundations are fairly optimized.

7. Restrict the size of the RCC columns to max 900 mm x 1000 mm. This opens up considerable space for piping.

8. Minimize variety of Reinforcement steel.

9. Avoid use of built up and plate girders, star columns. This minimizes welding in steel.

10. For all Low Pressure Units the SOR of the quantities computed in the initial stages may be moderated upwards by 25–30%.

11. For very heavily loaded and high rise structures consider composite construction of RCC +steel combination. This rationalizes the size of the Structural steel sections as well.

12. Consider only bolted design for structural steel based systems.

Overlap

Civil Engineering must be carefully overlapped with the Process Design work. Immediately upon finalization of the Equipment layouts the Civil Designs may commence. The idea must be to ensure that the Civil Engineering is completed well in advance, to provide maximum Gestation time to construction.

For Projects where EPC mode is adopted upfront clarity in design and conceptualization can be a very meaningful input to the FEED package. This will enable the EPC contractors to Plan Better and more accurately, the turnaround of the documentation will reduce tremendously vis-a-vis the EPCC. This should serve as a great win-win for the schedules, lower costs and higher accuracies.

Equipment Design

All the equipment Involved in the Plant can be divided into two categories

1. Static equipment: Comprising of Columns, Vessels, Reactors, filters and coalescers, Exchangers. Air Coolers, Furnaces

2. Others: Rotating and packages: Pumps , Compressors, packages, Refrigeration Systems, Cold Boxes etc

Immediately upon receipt of the Equipment data sheets from the Licensor a completeness check would be made on the same and comments, if any, reconciled with the licensor. All the static equipment could now be mechanically engineered such that, the same could be incorporated in the requisitions for initiating Purchase. In parallel, fronts on Civil, 3d Modeling can also be opened, besides the Electrical and Instrumentation works.

For the Rotating Primary selection of the Equipment can be made to assess that the equipment as specified are available in the vendors manufacturing range,. Change if any on the process parameters to enhance competition for availability from multiple sources can be examined in parallel. This enables formulation of Engineering Data Sheets for purchase or to be included in the EPC contractor’s scope. The Utility inputs from the Vendor designed equipment including the Flushing arrangement and setting arrangement can be firmed as critical input to update the P&IDs for completeness.

Electrical

Two or three Critical Documentation can lead to initiation of the Electrical Works. These amongst others would include the following

1. Equipment layout

2. Load List

3. Captive Power plant Configuration

4. Electrical Grid connect For part power Import for construction/ Permanent Operation

5. Electrical Design Basis Document

Upon Receipt of the BDEP the Power Load could be reconciled and could be updated to include the auxiliary loads. An assessment could also be made of the requirement of the Emergency power, electric Tracing Requirements if any. Also the drives which need to be reaccelerated upon dip in the Power frequency/voltage could also be identified. Another important and critical requirement is the identification of the variable speed drives. All these are important requirements which need to be identified clearly.

Besides the above, based on the configuration of the CPP the total Power produced in the plant, as well as, the power produced in the process plants if any, need to be assessed. For Instance the Power produced from the Power Expanders in FCC or the Power produced in the multiple drive compressor trains of PTA needs to be established for suitable incorporation in the design. Major drives where Soft Starters are required also need to be reconciled.

Some Key Decisions may thereupon be taken

1. The Level of the Power Distribution in the complex could be firmed up. In general 33 or 66 KV is preferred. However 33 KV has been the more acceptable level of power distribution

2. The Load List Across the complex may be finalized to identify the Power Centers and hence, the Number of Power Distribution Substation in the complex could be firmed up.

3. A decision with respect to the preference towards DOL start or soft start for large motors and up to what power rating of motors could be taken. This will help in fault level analysis of the electrical system.

4. A list of all the critical motors, variable speed drives, very large motors requiring dedicated substations can be compiled.

5. Upon Finalization of the same a Single Line diagram of the Power System may be developed to assess the Power flow system of the plant in detail. This is the mother document based on which the detailed design of the electrical system will be performed.

6. Since the equipment layouts for various are firmed up as part of the BDEP development, upon receipt of the Process package the composition of the various hazardous gases would be known. These could be utilized to develop the area classification drawings of the units to segregate them into IIA/IIB /IIC areas. This would be handy in drawing the specifications of the fittings that are required for the various zones and areas of the plant.

7. Based On the various drives envisaged in the plant detailed power distribution schemes could be developed Substation wise to identify the number of substation Equipment, for instance, the Transformers, Switchgears, PCC/MCC etc. These are critical inputs to finalize the building sizes, substation cut outs and the cable cellar arrangements. All these are extremely vital to ensure the purchase on the conventional basis or draw the specifications as part of the FEED document for the LSTK to engineer Further and procure.

8. The Number of MOV’s and Closure times to be reconciled.

9. All the substations these days are also equipped with HVAC systems. Depending upon the size of the substation and the electrical Heat Generated in the equipment the HVAC system could be specified

10. A battery and battery charger system to cater to the emergency loads and dry type transformers for the lighting loads a can be identified and be suitably located in the plant substations

11. Depending upon the cable laying philosophy of the Plant the cables could schedules and cable drum assessment could be made.

12. Electrical Routing system both Underground in Trenches and on cable trays on Racks and Sleepers can be assessed and drawings for the same prepared for construction or FEED input.

13. Similarly Lighting, earthing, interconnection, terminalling and glanding details can be specified for Implementation/FEED

14. Detailed MTO’s of all the electrical Items can be prepared based on the conceptual Engineering for enabling estimation or preparation of Tender Inputs as may be required

Instrumentation

The BDEP is the Central document to initiate Instrumentation Engineering. However since Instrumentation is actively involved in preparation of the BDEP a lot of information is actually available. For Instance the control Architecture to be followed in the complex is laid out in the project Design basis, which is disseminated to the licensors as an input for adherence

Somewhat similar to the electrical works the Instrumentation Front end inputs can be divided into two main categories. The critical one certainly is procurement which can be evolved and developed upon receipt of the BDEP. The other activities are the field activities. Several conceptual decisions can be firmed up in context of the same:

1. Instrumentation Connectivity from the master control room to the units can be firmed up on Sleepers and offsite racks.

2. Depending on the size of the Unit the SRR’s can be finalized. Upon Receipt of the Equipment layouts the locations of the SRR’s can also be firmed up. The Unit level Instrument Duct and cable layouts can be evolved.

3. Junction Box Location Drawings can be firmed up and also located in the 3 D model such that Piping can actually take care of the same.

4. The Chromatograph and Analyzer shelters can also be firmed up in parallel and located in the Equipment layout

5. Upon receipt of the BDEP the Instrumentation Type and numbers can be reconciled. The control valves and safety valves are anyway to be sized by the Licensor. These could be cordoned of as inputs such that all on line items are appropriately reconciled and informed to piping.

6. The Type of Instrumentation, MOC ‘s and end connections can also be reconciled for compatibility

7. The Instrument data sheets could be compiled for procurement or as Input to the FEED.

8. Critical Items such as, Control valves in High Pressure or cryogenic Service to be reconciled and job specifications to be prepared.

9. All The Installation Standards for the Instruments across the complex to be reconciled.

10. Cable schedules for Multi core and single core cables to be prepared

11. The DCS and PLC system to be configured and specified

12. Detailed Field installation and FAT specifications to be evolved.

13. FEED inputs as applicable to be reconciled.

Residual process Design

Residual process Design essentially Involves reconciliation of Utility summary and preparation of Utility Distribution P&IDS. The Other activities lined with the same include:

1. Preparation of Data Sheets for the ISBL Utility Equipment

2. Reconciliation of Flare Load and finalization of the ISBL Flare System

3. Preparation of Instrument data Sheets and line List for the Items pertaining to the ISBL utility Distribution

4. Updation of Process P&IDs as applicable

Piping

The Summation of all the front end activities culminate into inputs for piping. 3 D Modeling and the MTO for the key deliverables from Piping in the front end stages apart from finalizing the Nozzle Orientation, Piping Cleats and the Platform levels on the equipment. Layout updation without a conceptual change, for dimensional adjustments is a sustained process.

This article focuses on the Technical aspects of the front end . There is an equally important aspect associated with the considerations of Quality management, HSE, start up and hand over, supply chain management, commercial and contractual conditions and the procedural aspects which have not been touched here. Perhaps that is a subject of another post and Shall be dealt with separately !

Conclusion

Experience reveals that the Technical take off of the project is critically dependent on how well some of these activities are performed. Wisdom lies in following the Front Definition of the Project to take precedence over everything else for securing the Schedule, Cost and quality of the Projects.

Let this be a starting point for the Project Implementers to take upon themselves to initiate the Project Implementation of Mega initiatives in the right Earnest!

Article Source: Sanjay Gupta