MOSCOW (MRC) -- MOL Group and ABB embark on a three-year collaborative project to transform Asset Integrity Management (AIM) across four key chemical and refinery sites in Europe, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.
ABB has been awarded the contract to improve asset integrity across MOL’s downstream assets, through changing mindset, standardizing processes and software and ensuring integrity management is focused on the right equipment. The project spanning MOL DS Production plants in Hungary, Slovakia, and Croatia, will implement standardized asset integrity procedures in a move to drive production efficiency, improve safety and reduce risk.
Leveraging technology and process data, ABB together with Metegrity Visions, will integrate a common digital platform at the Danube, Slovnaft, MOL Petrochemicals plants and INA chemical unit. The new solution, with the adoption of improved integrity management processes being rolled out by ABB will provide advanced risk analysis of assets with a key aim of reducing unplanned outages and lowering maintenance costs.
It is estimated that by controlling all its static equipment through the Asset Integrity Management (AIM) procedures, processes and systems, MOL will increase availability and reduce turnaround duration (TAR) leading to savings and production improvements of approximately 10 million euros a year across MOL’s downstream assets.
The new project builds on a longstanding collaboration between MOL Group and ABB. The ABB team has worked closely with the MOL team over the past two years to develop a business case and ensure it could deliver the right solution. The company will provide a bespoke team to deliver the project across three distinct phases with a key objective of transferring knowledge, upskilling MOL’s employees to use the software with a view to self-sufficiency by 2023.
As MRC informed earlier, MOL Petrochemicals Company (formerly TVK, part of the MOL Group), the only Hungarian producer of olefins and polyolefins, plans to close the maleic anhydride plant in Szazhalombatta (Hungary) in October in order to carry out repair work to eliminate technical problems. prevented the company from increasing the capacity utilization at this production in September. It is expected that repair work at this 22,000 tonnes of maleic anhydride per year facility will continue for several days, but the exact timing of maintenance has not been told.
Plasticizers are substances introduced into a polymer material to make it elastic and plastic during processing and operation. In particular, plasticizers are used for the production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC). The share of plasticizers used for the production of PVC products is about 80%.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall PVC production totalled 718,500 tonnes in January-September 2020, down by 0.3% year on year. At the same time, only two producers managed to increase their PVC output.
MOL is the largest Hungarian oil, gas and petrochemical group, engaged in exploration and production, transportation of hydrocarbons, as well as the operation of a network of trunk gas pipelines. TVK is a 100% subsidiary of MOL. TVK manufactures HDPE, LDPE, and PP.
MRC