Page 39 - Industrial Plants

developed in the USA in the sixties, but further
improved with significant new challenges:
• Original design of heavy residue hydrocracker
originated in the USA more than 50 years ago but
number of implemented units is limited
• Though seven units were running, the most
recent H-Oil™ was constructed more than 10
years before the award of the HRPC Project.
• Several process modifications were introduced by
the Licensor with respect to the previous
implementation.
• Burgas H-oil™ is the largest ever built and with a
significant scale up with respect to the latest
implementation

The operating conditions of the hydrocracker (160
barg, 430 DEGC), the feed characteristic (high
asphaltenes, high metals and high sulfur content) and
the environmental conditions (design temperature -20
DEGC) all required use of a wide range of exotic Figure 6 Typical Risk Sharing of Alternative Contracting schemes
materials, complex equipment and special plant
arrangement implying the sourcing from worldwide It is worth to note that the final strategy developed
supply chain. mainly during the execution of early engineering works
It was essential for HRPC to have access to the best related to Long Lead Items purchasing by LNB after
practices in design, manufacturing and construction for the FEED completion. It was in this phase that a full
such kind of unit. evaluation of the project execution risks was conducted
In addition to the technological complexity some risks and represented in a chart like the one in figure 6.
originating in the local context were present. Most of the risks have been assumed by TechnipFMC
For several reasons not fully under LNB control the in the EPC phase, with LNB being the leader in the
sanctioning of the project took more time than startup, assisted by TechnipFMC.
expected.
The risk of having committed huge amount of capital
for the basic engineering and the long lead equipment Project Achievements
procurement without getting the expected return of The project can be recorded as a common success for
investment was high. both TechnipFMC and LNB.
“Time to market” was considered to be an essential The following table displays the main achieved Key
outcome of the project. This requirement implies two Performances Indexes:
main aspects: The achievement was the result of an intense and
1. The efficiency in design, procurement and proactive team working by both parties that took some
construction, considering the local condition of time to build up.
Bulgaria for permitting, skilled resources availability
and construction safety and quality standards.
2. The smooth first time startup and assurance of Risk Risk owner
“time to market” of products. Cost TechnipFMC

Schedule TechnipFMC
EPC Contract arrangement Defects TechnipFMC until expires of war-
ranty terms
Considering the HRPC project risk profile, it was finally
negotiated and agreed by the Parties the Contract for Performance (yields) LNB (by Axens)
the EPC phase on a LSTK basis. This arrangement Performance (throughput, utili- TechnipFMC
was considered to be the most effective in order to ties consumption)
achieve the main targets of the projects, i.e. the Permit to build TechnipFMC/LNB
shortest possible completion time and the assurance Start-up LNB
of budget and quality. Permit to operate LNB
The Contract was negotiated based on the Open Book
Estimate developed during the FEED phase. Table 2 HRPC Risk Sharing between TechnipFMC and LNB

IndustrIal Plants - May 2017
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