With extensive experience in heavy lifting and rigging work and a sensitivity to the downtime costs of a unit, Wyatt Field Service Company has built a reputation as a leader in providing FCCU work and major equipment revamps to the petrochemical industry. Today, Wyatt is building on that tradition of excellence, taking that same skill set and level of expertise and applying it to its work on coker units.

Founded in 1913, Wyatt was one of the first companies to fabricate all welded — rather than riveted — storage tanks. The company was also a pioneer fabricator and field erection contractor for process vessels.

As a wholly owned subsidiary of Nooter Corporation, Wyatt is still paving the way in industrial services, offering exceptional field service capabilities from routine welding repairs to major process unit revamps and turnaround projects.

The company’s long list of special construction capabilities and services includes:
• Innovative planning of turnarounds, large and small.
• Emergency repairs and shutdowns.
• Field repair, maintenance, erection and modification of process vessels, including vessel sections and other vessel components.
• Field tray services, including replacements, installation, repairs, maintenance and modification of trays and tower internals.
• Boiler, furnace and heater repairs and modifications.

With each project completed, Wyatt builds upon its distinguished reputation in turnarounds and revamps, including associated piping and structural work.

Maya I and Maya II cokers — Shell Oil Co.

When Shell Oil Co.’s Deer Park, Texas, refinery needed to perform some modifications on its Maya I and Maya II coker units, the facility turned to Wyatt because of the company’s previous coker experience at facilities such as Lyondell-CITGO Refining, Shell Oil Co., CITGO, Valero and ConocoPhillips.

The first phase of the two-part project required Wyatt to replace four 12-year-old coke drums in the Maya I unit with new vessels that had been shipped in from Japan.

“In order to do that, we had to remove the top deck and derricks, remove the old coke drums and then install the new coke drums,” said Mike Norton, P.E., Wyatt’s chief rigging engineer.

After reinforcing and modifying the existing derrick towers and the cutting deck, Wyatt used a Deep South TC-36000 crane with a 2,500-ton capacity to remove the entire derrick structure for the Maya I in a single lift, which added more than 800 tons of lifted weight. According to Norton, the process of removing a four-drum derrick structure in a single lift is unique to Wyatt and its parent company, Nooter Corporation.

“Without taking the derrick structure off, you would have to remove the drums from the side of the structure versus through the top, which would have taken much longer,” Kim Henry, who served as manager for the project, said. “You would also not be able to come out with the entire drum in a single lift. We would have had to take each drum out in sections, and that would require extensive welding and post-weld heat treating in the field.

“This process reduces the downtime of the unit, and that’s something that we’re always striving for here at Wyatt — keeping a unit down for as short amount of time as possible.”

Once the derrick and drill towers were removed, Wyatt removed the drums in a single lift and installed the four new drums — which each had a lifted weight of 526 tons — in reverse order. Once the drums were installed, Wyatt reinstalled the existing derrick towers and cutting deck.

“We were very impressed with the lifting engineer’s skill set, which was very thorough,” said Darryl Churchwell, manager of construction refinery capital projects at Shell. “He made sure he accounted for all of the lift weights and crane counterweights that were required to lift the derrick structure.”

“Wyatt’s planning around a heavy lift was excellent,” said Matt Sanders, Shell’s senior staff project engineer for major projects. “This was a very high-risk job and a very challenging process, but it was well planned and well executed.”

On the second phase of the project — the Maya II unit, where the two drums had started to experience cracking — Wyatt replaced 30 feet of shell section on both of the unit’s drums with new sections that were also imported straight to Shell’s docks from Japan.

To perform the replacement, Wyatt attached a braced steel structure just below the intended cutline during the preturnaround phase. The steel structure provided the “runway” by which Wyatt could remove the older sections and install the newer pre-assembled sections.

Using a hydrocutting method, Wyatt made a cut on the top of the vessel and jacked the drums up 6 inches. Wyatt then cut the bottom vessel, jacked the can section up and installed rollers on the unit. Using a trolley system, Wyatt used steel rollers that were supported by the braced support structure to move the older can section out, removing it with a 1,000-ton capacity, Deep South TC-12000 crane.

“This was a very innovative process,” Sanders said. “I’ve seen pictures of this being done before at other facilities, but this is the first time that I’ve actually been involved myself, and it was pretty impressive.”

Wyatt also installed four new DeltaValves on the Maya I unit and two on the Maya II unit. Since DeltaValves are automatic, they offer a safer operation for the operator and are more efficient. Because of this, they are becoming more and more popular at facilities throughout the nation, Norton said.

“DeltaValves allow remote opening and closing of the bottom head on the coke drums, which eliminates the operator exposure on the unheading deck,” Henry added. “The Hydraulic Power Unit is now located at grade and away from the unheading deck on the second floor. All six new valves can be operated from this single location.”

While working on the project, which was completed in early 2007, Wyatt had to perform several of the heavy lifts at night due to weather constraints and project deadlines, Glenn Skiles, vice president of operations for Wyatt, said. To reduce the risks associated with lifting at night, Wyatt used an extensive lighting system to provide adequate visibility.

Even with the risks associated with some of the heavy lifting being done at night, Wyatt was able to work the turnaround phase of the project with zero recordable injuries.

“The safety performance on the project was very good, and there was some very high-risk work involved,” Sanders said.

“One of the things that impressed me the most was that they were very team oriented and looked out for other contractors besides Wyatt,” said Allison McCurdy, Shell’s safety supervisor. “They also did a lot of detailed planning for critical lifts to put our coke drums into place. These were significant, high-risk lifts, and all of the prework and planning that was done to ensure they went safely and smoothly was quite impressive.”

According to Wyatt’s corporate safety manager, Danny Vara, Wyatt’s safety performance on the job was achieved through the training programs Wyatt has in place, employee participation and recognizing people for their safe work practices.

“Based on the congestion of the work and the dynamics of the job scope, the overall safety performance on the project was excellent,” he said. “I think that training and a comprehensive safety plan definitely contributed to the success of this job.”

Overall, Shell was pleased with Wyatt’s performance and the success of the project.

“They did a remarkable job under the circumstances that we had to deal with,” Walter Brumley, the facility’s crane and rigging supervisor, said. “It was a large magnitude of work, and to complete that in the time frame that we did was just short of amazing.”

According to Brumley, one of the biggest things that stood out to him was the coordination that took place and the knowledge of Wyatt’s personnel. Brumley was also impressed with the professionalism and due diligence Wyatt demonstrated during the job.

“It took a lot of professionalism to comply with the crane and rigging order that we have within our facility,” he said. “They also had to comply with the associated safety rules that we have. It was amazing for them to accomplish what they did.

“Wyatt was very detailed in what they had to do, and I believe they understood the task they had at hand. Their overall attitude was good, they took pride in what they did, and they were sensitive to the schedule and the timeline that we were trying to abide by.”

“The people at Wyatt were very dedicated and experienced,” Churchwell added. “I would definitely give them an above average rating in performance and experience.”

Wyatt was also pleased with the success of the 275,000 man-hour project and the performance of its people.

“The crew did a very good job,” Norton said. “This was a very high-pressure, high-profile project, and we did it safely and successfully.”

CITGO Lake Charles, La., Coker II project

The replacement of four drums during the Coker II project at CITGO’s Lake Charles, La., facility in 2004 was anything but routine. Fortunately, Wyatt Field Service had the expertise and experience to do the job.

In order to replace the four coker drums, the derricks that sat above them also needed to be removed.

Henry served as Wyatt’s manager for the Coker II project, in which the company put in about 84,000 man-hours.

“Many cokers have only two drums, but some are designed in a four-derrick structure,” Henry said. “This four-derrick unit was configured symmetrically — allowing us to do what we did.”

Wyatt performed all of the reinforcement from the drill structure’s cutline and above.

With the new 500-ton drums being taller than the existing drums, the unit structure had to be increased in height by 11 feet to accommodate the taller drums. All the associated piping, electrical and instrumentation had to be extended as well.

Since the drum height was extended for more capacity, everything had to be lengthened — including elevator structure and stair towers. Wyatt also performed that work.

The lift of the approximate 600-ton structure was planned in detail on a theoretical basis with many months of advance planning and engineering. Consideration included the actual weights of the existing structural members, floor plate, piping and equipment, eccentricity of the center of gravity and effects of prevailing wind on the 48-foot-wide by 125-foot-long by 150-foot-high derrick structure.

Wyatt’s 2008 coker work

Building upon its successful completion of the above projects, Wyatt has scheduled five coker projects at various sites in 2008, including three with derrick-cutting deck removal to facilitate drum lifts.

Wyatt’s ‘greatest resource’

At Wyatt, the experienced personnel are the company’s greatest resources. Wyatt’s project managers, superintendents, planners, safety and quality assurance supervisors, foremen and craftsmen have a long history of accomplishment and are some of the most experienced in the business.

Ongoing training is provided for general and site-specific safety, quality and skill enhancement.

The company maintains qualified and highly experienced foremen and craftsmen. Wyatt Field Service routinely mans turnaround projects ranging from 20 to more than 500 craftsmen (boilermakers, pipe fitters, welders, structural erectors and riggers) per shift.

Wyatt’s exceptional employees work at sites across the Gulf Coast and beyond. Wyatt is currently working in or has worked in Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, California, Colorado, South Carolina, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

The company has maintained its corporate office in Houston with branch offices in Port Arthur, Texas, and Baton Rouge, La., for many years. In 2004, Wyatt opened three additional offices in Guayama, Puerto Rico; Torrance, Calif.; and Corpus Christi, Texas. A subsidiary, Wyatt VI Inc., is located on St. Croix and services HOVENSA’s turnaround and major maintenance needs.

Anywhere that skilled people are needed for a turnaround, Wyatt Field Service is there.

A safety record at the top of industry

Safety is integral to the overall quality of service Wyatt provides to its customers, and Wyatt’s outstanding safety record ranks at the top of the industry.

Management is committed to continuous improvement in safe execution and provides ongoing safety education and training throughout the organization from the executive level to the field crew.

This emphasis on safety has resulted in dramatic reductions in employee injuries. The company has received numerous safety awards for outstanding performance. In 2006, Wyatt received several NPRA Contractor Awards for Meritorious Safety Performance for work completed in:
• BP Carson Business Unit — 0.0 total recordable incident rate (TRIR) for 101,000 hours worked.
• Borger Refinery of ConocoPhillips Co. — 0.0 TRIR for 268,000 hours worked.
• Commerce City Refinery of Suncor Energy USA — 0.0 TRIR for 108,000 hours worked.
• Houston Refinery of Valero Refining Co. — 0.0 TRIR for 173,000 hours worked.
• Lake Charles Refinery of ConocoPhillips — 0.0 TRIR for 51,000 hours worked.
• Memphis Refinery of Valero Refining — 0.0 TRIR for 52,000 hours worked.
• HOVENSA LLC — 1.1 TRIR for 730,325 hours worked.

By focusing on safe practices in a risky business — 95 percent of Wyatt’s business is in turnarounds — Vara said the company continues to build on its reputation as one of the safest general mechanical contractors in the industry.

Building a tradition of excellence

Whether a major turnaround project or routine repair and maintenance, Wyatt Field Service continues to build upon its tradition of excellence and brings a level of commitment that is unmatched in the industry.

For more information on Wyatt Field Service, please call (800) 324-3000, e-mail sales@wyattfieldservice.com or visit www.wyattfieldservice.com.