Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco) has announced it is geared up for the annual maintenance shutdown that starts today (April 9).

As part of the programme, a number of process units such as hydrogen plant, visbreaker, fluidised catalytic cracker and crude distillation units will be shut down for planned maintenance work to be completed by May 17, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

Arrangements are already in place to ensure that these shutdowns will not impact any local or international commitments during these periods.

"Such planned shutdowns are necessary to maintain the integrity of the installed equipment and to ensure that the units perform reliably to their design capacity and at an improved performance," said Bapco general manager for maintenance Khalid Al Sabbagh.

"The activities will include refinery process and utility equipment inspection and repair of more than 100 major assets and 800 smaller assets.

"Detailed planning for the shutdowns started more than a year ago and at its peak, around 1,200 Bapco and contractor personnel will be engaged in the activity," he added.

He said safety remains the foremost consideration when planning such activities.

"Many detailed risk assessments have been carried out for high risk activities and a detailed environment, health, safety and medical plan have been prepared," Al Sabbagh said. - TradeArabia News Service