Slovakia’s oil refining company Slovnaft has started the planned maintenance of its production facilities to reduce the environmental burden, the impact of the energy intensity of production and increase the safety of complex technical equipment.
During the two months of intensive maintenance work, the company will shut down, clean, modernise and restart 21 production units in both the refining and petrochemical sections.
“The maintenance and modernisation include the refinery’s distillation and hydrocracking production units, as well as key petrochemical production units, including the LDPE4 plastics production unit, which is one of the most advanced in Europe,” said Lukáš Noskovič, Manager of Project Management and Planned Turnarounds at Slovnaft. “During the summer turnaround, we will also implement investment projects, such as replacement of the distillation furnace with a new, more efficient and reliable one, replacement of pumps at the circulation centres with lower electricity consumption or replacement of the distillation column with a new extension enabling a more efficient distillation process.”
The main supplier of the project is the single service company, Slovnaft Montáže a Opravy. Approximately 1,600 external workers will be involved in the turnarounds – mainly from engineering companies, but also electrical specialists and experts in measurement and regulation. Traditionally, Slovnaft will place great emphasis on occupational safety and health, including extensive fire safety measures.
Overall, Slovnaft is investing 52 million euros in the maintenance of nearly 40 of its production units and facilities this year.
