63% of major repairs plan achieved in southern oilfield

According to Energy Press, Omid Kiani stated about the missions of this management: The maintenance management is responsible for planning and implementing major repairs of machinery over 4,000 horsepower, emergency power generators and fixed process equipment, including tanks, converters, towers, valves and other equipment of exploitation units, desalination, oil pumping stations, power plants, gas pressure boosting stations, gas injection stations and gas and liquefied gas factories in the oil-rich areas of the south; a mission that is directly related to the sustainability of production and the country’s economy.
Stating that the major repairs plan has been developed since the previous year, he added: Based on the estimated workload, the number of factories, stations and machinery has been determined and an effort has been made to replace reactive and last-minute measures with a culture of prediction and foresight; an issue that yielded tangible results in 1404.
Preparation of process equipment for the cold season
The Director of Industrial Equipment and Process Machinery Repairs at the National Southern Oilfields Company, referring to the high volume of orders notified this year, said: In 1404, more than 1,600 orders were notified to the maintenance management, most of which could be cleared in the first 8 months of the year, and about 85 percent of the work that could be cleared was completed. According to statistics recorded in the Maintenance and Repair System (NET), major repairs in the southern oilfields have been unprecedented throughout history.
In response to a question about the role of localization in overcoming sanctions restrictions, Kiani stated: In recent years, in cooperation with domestic knowledge-based companies, a large part of the sensitive parts of turbines and large and strategic process machinery, especially in the hot parts of turbines, have been designed and manufactured domestically, so that today, for example, about 95 percent of the parts of some turbines over 4,000 horsepower, such as the Ruston TB-4000, have been localized and are in production. He pointed to the measures taken in the field of process equipment for exploitation and desalination units and said: Preheaters and processing tanks play an important role in the quality of produced oil. By timely forecasting and implementing major repairs before the cold season for oil and water preheaters, it was possible to maneuver operationally and maintain the quality of oil for domestic consumption and export in the cold season, which directly affects the sustainability of production and increased operational efficiency.
Reducing the repair time of gas plants
The repair manager of industrial equipment and process machinery of the National Southern Oilfields Company said about the measures taken to reduce gas burning and gas waste: This year, 22 gas plants that were able to be released for up to eight months of the year were completely overhauled by providing their product shortages by the repair management. In some cases, by adopting technical and management measures, the repair time was reduced from about 30 days to 12 to 14 days, which has played an effective role in reducing gas burning and preventing gas waste.
In response to a question about the challenge of manpower in the field of overhaul, Kiani said: “Now, despite the retirement of experienced personnel and restrictions on recruitment, training, transfer of experience and teamwork have been prioritized. Fortunately, this unprecedented heavy volume of overhaul work was carried out in the heat of more than 60 degrees in the summer of Khuzestan, in compliance with safety requirements and without any accidents or even near-accidents, which indicates the maturity of safety in overhaul operations.”
He stated: “Continuing this path requires long-term planning, timely supply of goods, support for domestic manufacturing, and motivation of operational forces. The experience of recent years has shown that by relying on domestic capacity, production sustainability can be maintained and dependence on foreign countries can be minimized.”
The challenge of human resources and the necessity of transferring experience
In response to a question about outsourcing major repairs, the manager of industrial equipment and process machinery at the National Southern Oilfields Company said: “Due to the retirement of experienced personnel, in addition to direct implementation of repairs by company personnel, we also used outsourcing capacity. Of course, outsourcing in rotating machinery is not comparable to fixed equipment; due to the technical sensitivity and high price of parts, major repairs of a gas turbine sometimes cost up to 10 times that of a tank and require careful engineering and technical supervision.”
Kiani stated that despite the severe shortage of specialized manpower, monitoring contracts, technical supervision, and resolving implementation challenges are the responsibility of our colleagues, adding: “In addition to this, the Technical Inspection Department of Repair Management has a say today at the level of the National Oil Company and even the Ministry of Oil, and specialized forces have been trained who are responsible for engineering management and technical inspection of major repairs of rotating machinery.” He continued: “In some outsourcing projects, major repairs of machinery and equipment were carried out for the first time for which there was not even a spare part list. An example of this was an American brand compressor, whose parts were manufactured domestically through reverse engineering and full supervision by internal repair management forces, and it was recently successfully put into operation.”