Valero 2010 Annual Report Download - page 11

9OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE
to close any identied gaps.
While notable progress has been made, Valero aims
to reduce incidents even further – and maintain
rst-quartile performance across the board –
by focusing rst on the main causes of costly
unplanned shutdowns that can also lead to injury:
piping and equipment leaks, rotating equipment
and electrical failures. Together, those events
account for more than 75 percent of unscheduled
shutdowns.
As leaks tend to dominate outages, a “war on leaks”
was declared systemwide. Reneries have been
asked to sharpen their focus on even the seemingly
routine tasks – such as unit monitoring rounds and
basic inspection programs – in order to identify and
prevent potential leaks before they trigger an event.
These measures included a comprehensive program
of “Retro PMI,” or retrospective positive material
identication, which helps ensure that all pipes
and valves are the correct material for the service.
Under the Retro PMI program, piping and other
xed equipment are tested to identify their metal
composition. The primary focus is on crude, vacuum,
coker and hydroprocessing units most susceptible
to corrosion. Early detection has played a critical role
in reducing unplanned shutdowns.
Pumps and other rotating equipment that are not
properly lubricated or aligned can fail, leading to
process-unit outages and possible safety incidents.
Such issues traditionally have been the
second-leading cause of unscheduled renery
shutdowns, behind leaks. Still, stepped-up
inspections and other eorts at Valero reneries
have signicantly expanded the time between
needed pump repairs. Companywide, from 2008
through 2010, average mean time between repairs,
or MTBR, increased by more than 25 percent. Fixing
fewer pumps drives cost out of our business and
ensures our units are running reliably when market
conditions are favorable.
There has also been steady improvement in
electrical reliability at Valero reneries since 2007
under stringent Electrical Safety and Reliability
Network (ESARN) standards, ramping up preventive
maintenance of electrical equipment. The ESARN
assessment tool requires reneries to undertake
painstaking self-evaluations of all aspects of
electrical safety and reliability. ESARN has helped
reduce the number of unplanned shutdowns
caused by electrical events.
All programs are intended to improve Valero’s
renery operations and ensure rst-quartile
performance in all disciplines.