03-03-2014

Irving Oil refinery begins $60M turnaround

Over the next 6 weeks, 1,700 additional workers will perform scheduled maintenance on several processing units at the Saint John refinery. Work will be underway 24 hours a day, seven days a week, until the project is completed.

Known in the refining industry as a “turnaround”, the project represents a $60 million investment to ensure the safety, reliability and environmental performance of process units within the refinery. The work will involve maintenance and upgrading work on several units in the refinery’s Central, South and East Process areas.

In total, around 2,000 people will be directly involved with the turnaround, including 1,700 additional tradespeople in positions ranging from pipefitters to boilermakers. The experience and expertise of these workers are reasons why the refinery can successfully execute projects of this scope. The majority of workers are from New Brunswick with a handful from Nova Scotia.

“Turnarounds are critical to maintaining the safety and environmental performance of our refinery, and they also provide tremendous benefits to our province and the region” says Mark Sherman, General Manager of the Irving Oil Refinery. “The one million workforce hours are equivalent to 480 full time annualized jobs, which translates into significant provincial spending in areas like entertainment, transportation and recreation with a boost in accommodation rental throughout the turnaround.”

The refinery’s strong safety culture will be maintained throughout the project, as turnaround crew members will participate in extensive safety training orientation sessions prior to beginning work. As well, daily safety audits will be conducted and additional safety specialists will be on-site for the duration of the turnaround.