From April 18 to April 20, an expert group consisting of 9 experts from shareholders Sinopec, ExxonMobil and Saudi Aramco visited the Company to conduct field research for optimizing SC operation.

At the summary meeting on April 20, Vice President Suchart Phowatthanasathian thanked the experts for sharing their experience and practices in terms of low load operation, equipment management and turnaround of SC. He commented that the Company would benchmark with the advanced level in the industry, incorporate the improvement recommendations put forward by the expert group during this research into the list of quality and profitability improvement measures, and make continuous improvement to further enhance the unit’s operation.

Through research, the shareholders’ expert group believed that the Company has effectively overcame the impacts of heavy feedstocks and low load operation of SC by taking process optimization measures such as diesel hydrogenation and upgrading. The overall design and operation of the unit were good, with sufficient consideration given to energy efficiency and economics. In addition, multiple energy improvement projects implemented in recent years also created good profits.

In addition, the shareholders’ expert group put forward 16 recommendations for further improvement in three aspects: operational optimization, operation management and capital revamp projects.

This research lasted for more than three months. Before the field research, early-stage preparations have been completed through online discussions and review of PFD and process data. Field research mainly focused on interviews, exchanges and units inspections. A high-quality energy-saving report for SC was prepared through extensive research and analysis. (Pan Weijie)