As part of a major investment initiative, BP International has announced that it is to replace the ageing automation systems on its three largest US refineries.

The contract covers 18 units at company refineries located at Whiting in Indiana, Texas City in Texas, and Carson in California.

The Whiting refinery is located near Chicago. Operational since 1890, it has more than 400000 barrels a day of processing capacity. It is the fourth largest refinery in the US and produces enough petroleum to fill more than a half a million cars daily.

The Carson refinery, located near Los Angeles, has been operating since 1923 and processes 270000 barrels of oil per day into petroleum, diesel, jet fuel and petroleum coke. The refinery supplies about 25percent of the Los Angeles petroleum market.

Located south of Houston, the Texas City refinery began operation in 1934, and is BP’s largest refinery worldwide, and the

third-largest refinery in the US. It has a crude capacity of about 450000 barrels per day and is capable of producing about 10million gallons per day of premium and unleaded regular fuel, 100000 barrels a day of diesel fuel, and 40000 barrels a day of jet fuel.

Combined, these facilities refine about onemillion barrels of crude per day, or about sevenpercent of the country’s total refining capacity.

The upgrades are part of BP’s ongoing commitment to improving facilities in North America.

Under the contract, new DeltaV digital automation and control systems will be installed in 18 different production units at these refineries, resulting in improved efficiency and reliability in the refining process. Critical units to be upgraded include fluid catalytic cracker units, cokers, ultracrackers and alkylation units.

As the main automation contractor, Emerson will be responsible for the front-end engineering design, detailed design, and implementation of the new digital systems.

In addition to process automation, networking the systems with intelligent measurement instruments and digital valves will enable Emerson’s PlantWeb digital automation architecture, providing a platform that also supports asset management applications to help the refineries optimise performance.

PlantWeb is digital automation approach that networks operations, maintenance, and management stations with computers, and intelligent instruments, valves and equipment throughout facilities. According to Emerson, communications between these components, and with personnel, enable facilities that provide high throughput and reliability. The built-in intelligence continuously monitors processes and the equipment itself, providing predictive reports and alerts that enable personnel to operate at highest capacity, and resolve maintenance issues before they impact production

Emerson will work with BP to set the standards, processes and implementation procedures for the upgrade projects. Other control system elements such as field measurement devices and control valves will be replaced as needed.

“Following an extensive evaluation of the supply market and available technologies, BP has taken a strategic decision to introduce Emerson digital control systems into its refining base,” said Patrick E Gower, refining vice president for BP in the US.

Emerson Process Management president John Berra is also delighted to land this major contract: “This contract highlights the combining of our main automation contracting expertise and digital technology to help BP upgrade the three sites to smart refineries, and gain the maximum value from our automation systems and asset management software.”

PlantWeb is also at the heart of another major new automation contract, this time for Suncor Energy, an integrated energy company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta.

Suncor’s oil sands business located near Fort McMurray, Alberta, extracts and upgrades oil sands and markets refinery feedstock and diesel fuel, while operations throughout Western Canada produce natural gas. Suncor operates a refining and marketing business in Ontario with retail distribution under the Sunoco brand.

Suncor is strategically focused on developing Canada’s Athabasca oil sands, with a target production capacity of 500 000 to 550000barrels per day in 2010 to 2012 (Fig.1). To help enable this, the company plans to deploy extensively Emerson's PlantWeb digital automation technology to build ‘smart’ world-class facilities. The agreement also provides opportunities for Emerson to work in collaboration with Suncor, and engineering procurement construction (EPC) contractors to support application engineering, project management, commissioning, and ongoing maintenance and operations.