Newsline

PIGs in the pipeline at FEP

This is not your usual PIG – this is a Pipeline Inspection Gauge, a specialist robot that checks and cleans oil and gas pipelines from the inside to keep them running safely, using a process known as ‘pigging’. As part of the £140m plant investment programme now underway at our Fife Ethylene Plant, we are pigging the 7km of pipes that link the plant to our Braefoot Bay Marine Terminal on the Forth.

The PIGs are sent on their way by a launcher that uses water pressure to push them along the pipeline. The launcher is believed to be the first of its kind to be used in the UK.

Readings from the sensors identify with pinpoint accuracy any part of the pipeline needing remedial work, enabling servicing work to be carried out without having to dig up large sections of land. Carlo Lummi, FEP Project Construction Lead, says, “This project has involved teams of talented engineers from across the globe, including the UK, Netherlands, Italy, USA and India. “It has involved many hours of design and fabrication of bespoke valves, pipework and pressure vessels and the very latest in pipeline inspection technology to identify servicing needs not visible to the naked eye.

“Pigging will help minimise disruption to local people and avoid impact to the local environment, while ensuring our equipment is inspected and maintained to the very highest standard in order to keep our supply feed flowing uninterrupted to customers.”

See FEP investment in safe hands from the April issue of Newsline.

Also in this issue

Travis takes the helm as RRT Coordinator

Travis Hansen, regional EP&R adviser has been appointed to lead the Regional Response Team (RRT) following the retirement of Mark Wentworth (see Newsline April 2021). “I’ve been involved with the RRT since 2013 and when Mark retired, I felt I could do something to build on the amazing job he’s done and bring my own energies to the role,” he says.

Fawley helps in COVID-19 fight

As the battle against COVID-19 continues, ExxonMobil Fawley has become a key player in the global vaccine supply chain. The site’s Chemicals units are responsible for supplying a range of products including halobutyl rubber, a component of the vaccine vials.

Helping Hampshire’s Search & Rescue Heroes

Hampshire Search and Rescue is one of the latest voluntary organisations to receive a donation from the ExxonMobil VIP scheme. £500 was awarded to the charity, which works alongside Hampshire police in searching for vulnerable high risk missing persons in the county. The team has been called out 30 times so far this year and the donation will go towards new lifejackets for river bank searching.

Remediation works are set to begin at Bowling

Preparation and construction works are due to start this month (May) at a significant former industrial site in Bowling near Glasgow after a year-long delay due to COVID-19. As part of the land sale agreement, ExxonMobil will remediate the site, which was previously home to an Esso oil terminal. The land is now part of the Glasgow City Region Deal project and will be transformed by the buyer into a major industrial and commercial development and bypass.

FAST – preserving the future

Although Fawley’s FAST project has been temporarily postponed, work continues at pace to ensure the project is well placed upon restart. Newsline has spoken to Yuri Cordy, project manager to discover what’s been happening to store and preserve the equipment already procured.

Fawley prepares for 70th anniversary celebrations

Preparations are underway to mark the 70th anniversary of the ‘new’ refinery at Fawley in September. Newsline spoke to Alison Jones, Fawley community manager, who is helping to co-ordinate the celebrations with Fawley’s Behaviours and Culture team.

“Everything at Fawley has 70th anniversary branding this year,” says Alison. “The 10 large information boards displayed in Fawley’s conference centre are being upgraded to mark the anniversary and digital signage is being used across the site. New photographs have been commissioned to hang throughout the administration building too.