Honeywell to modernize operations at Refining NZ

Honeywell Process Solutions (HPS) on Wednesday announced a five-year agreement to provide maintenance, support and project delivery to Refining NZ, New Zealand’s sole oil refinery, through the HPS Assurance 360 program.

Building on a relationship spanning more than 25 years, Refining NZ selected HPS to provide full lifecycle maintenance for the refinery’s control systems, as well as to migrate the refinery to the most recent process control technology, Honeywell’s Experion PKS (process knowledge system). 

“Through the Assurance 360 program, Refining NZ no longer has to worry about maintaining and supporting their Honeywell control systems or making sure they are using the latest technology,” said Neil Wold, Pacific sales director for HPS in Australia and New Zealand. “These services transform how plant assets are managed, focusing on system performance and outcomes while allowing operators like Refining NZ to focus on operations.”

Refining NZ is a leading supplier of refined petroleum products in New Zealand, producing high-quality transport fuels including gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel from its refinery north of Auckland. 

The company is the latest to implement the Assurance 360 program, which was launched in 2014. These multi-year service partnerships maintain, support and optimize Honeywell control systems at major facilities in South Africa, the North Sea, the United States, Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. Through the Assurance 360 program, Honeywell performance experts provide maintenance and support services on-site, while also optimizing system performance to help organizations achieve their long-term goals.

“Strategic alliances are at the core of Refining NZ’s developing business, as we move from a self-supported operation to establishing a broad network of expert partnerships,” said Sjoerd Post, CEO of Refining NZ. “We have partnered with Honeywell due to its significant expertise in control systems and have the upmost confidence that through this relationship, our operations will continue to meet global best practice standards.”   

In addition to the HPS technologies, Refining NZ has used processes from Honeywell's UOP, a leading licensor of refining process technology, for more than 50 years. These include a fixed-bed reforming unit and the UOP Bensat process to meet high-octane gasoline specifications. 

In 2005, the facility licensed UOP’s CCR Platforming process to convert low-quality naphtha to high-octane blending components for gasoline and the UOP Chlorsorb process to help meet stringent waste gas specifications.