The Future of Downstream: Raising the Bar on Turnarounds

The Future of Downstream: Raising the Bar on Turnarounds

In 2022 Sodexo Energy & Resources held our Turnaround Think Tank at the Reuters Downstream Conference. This meeting brought together industry leaders from companies such as Phillips66, CPChem, PEMEX, and more to discuss solutions and innovations in making turnarounds and outages more efficient.

According to Industrial Info Resources (IIR), 2023 was set to be the “biggest season for maintenance spending in the U.S. and Canadian petroleum refining industry since 2019,” and our workshop attendees had plenty to share. Now heading into Q2 2024, we reflect on some of the insights shared.  

Top challenges facing the turnaround industry today

While over 1,500 projects were planned for 2023 and only 32% were considered successful, there is still significant room for improvement in the turnaround industry (Source: IIR). However, if we’ve learned anything from the Downstream conference, it’s that success remains an uphill battle in the face of a still volatile market. Here are the top challenges discussed amongst the turnaround industry leaders:

• Failure to construct a robust blueprint. The lack of scope control and a lax schedule discipline continues to put entire projects at risk of being behind.
• Not expecting the unexpected. Supply chain issues have persisted, causing some supplies to be ordered even up to a year in advance of a given project’s schedule.
• Labor has more options. In this tight labor market, contractors have more worth, and the most skilled among them have higher rates, resulting in a more inexperienced segment to fill market needs.

Top ways to make turnarounds more efficient

• Early alignment by management on cost and resources that does not change. Although difficult, synchronizing expectations on objectives and cost insulate projects from financial cost of time waste down the road.
• Engage skilled contractors and partners early with a multi-year view. Don’t ignore the efforts of skilled contractors. Give them encouragement, treat them with respect and secure their commitment for future work.
• Define smart ways that technology and automation can increase efficiency in operations and on cost. Smart innovation depends on need, alignment, preparation, and continual assessment of outcomes.

Innovative ideas to improve turnarounds

• Consolidate software for all turnaround planning and scheduling. Projects already have dozens of moving parts. Don’t make where you coordinate them another one.
• Increase communication among units to find supplies needed. While your unit and local vendor may not have the supplies you need on-hand, try contacting other units to see what they have – or at least get connected with their suppliers.
• Do away with turnarounds and instead plan smaller outages. One innovative new approach is to do away with large, extensive turnarounds and instead plan smaller, rolling outages when operations are slower than normal.  

Sodexo Energy & Resources is a leading provider of food, facilities management and operational support services, powering the millions of people who work every day in energy, chemicals and mining. Sodexo Energy & Resources offers a comprehensive package of turnaround support services designed to meet the demands of today’s turnaround. We do the heavy lifting of organizing and deploying the turnaround support services you need onsite, from catering to cleaning and maintenance. We believe that good is no longer good enough. So, we are raising the bar on what a strategic partner should be. With 30,000 employees across 600 sites, Sodexo is driving up service standards by empowering our people to excel at ongoing service and support, problem solving and creating a better tomorrow for all. 

We’re raising the bar. Ask us. 

About the Author 

With over 25 years in the oil and gas industry, Tracy Gray is the Global Sr. Director of Strategy & Retention for Sodexo’s Energy & Resources division. Prior to joining Sodexo, Gray was the Global Manager for Strategic Initiatives & Marketing for Halliburton’s Consulting & Project Management service line. Prior to joining Halliburton, Gray worked for seven years at Shell, where she was the Global Process and Quality Lead for Shell Information Technology International. She is also the co-founder and past president-elect for Halliburton’s Women Sharing Excellence diversity group and is Sodexo’s SoTogether Diversity group’s Programs Chair.