Vepica leads Texas crude fractionation project

Multinational engineering firm Vepica was selected by Basic Equipment of Houston to lead the feed and detail design, construction and start up support of a new crude fractionation facility in Channelview, Texas. 

 

“We’re honored to have been selected and proud of the performance by everyone involved in the project,” said Carlos Espiga, country manager of Vepica USA, who noted that the Houston-led project featured concurrent engineering from Vepica teams in three countries.

“Early multidisciplinary reviews, our internal processes and unified communications infrastructure were key in delivering quality and value for the client which is our top priority,” he added.

 

The design concept was focused on maximizing the pre-fabrication and modularization of the complete facility in order to achieve a very-aggressive fast track schedule, from feed to mechanical completion, of 13 months.

 

This new facility consists of an atmospheric distillation unit (ADU) designed to process 25,000 BSPD and to provide run products to storage facilities, as well as the utilities required to support the proper and safe operation of the processing systems. 

The facility features crude inlet facilities, a crude fractionation unit, product fractionation, LPG storage and dispatch, LACT and metering, extensive utilities and several buildings in a limited footprint.

 

Basic engineering was completed in nine weeks, and LLI specification and datasheets were released early allowing expedited procurement. Meanwhile, detailed engineering commenced two months after basic engineering and was executed in 10 months, in parallel to early fabrication and construction activities.

Fabrication began ahead of schedule; optimizing the required plot area allowed teams to minimize interconnecting equipment piping; and early design reviews with client and other efficiencies allowed for minimum changes and revisions, the company said.