On the tracks of King Midas

For instance, the Technical Documentation division of the Austrian company OMV Aktiengesellschaft, Central Europe’s leading oil and gas group, is registering more than 1,000 accesses a month on their various P&IDs. OMV is active in the refinery and marketing (R&M) sector in 13 Central European countries and in explo-ration and production (E&P) in 17 countries on five continents (2004 sales: 9.88 billion Euro).

Besides their other refineries and stakes in refineries, the Schwechat refinery near Vienna is the heart of the OMV group. This high-tech plant counts among Europe’s largest and most modern inland refineries, processing about nine million tons of crude oil to highest grade oil products and petrochemical base materials each year. Around 60 % of all oil-based products used in Austria come from Schwechat.

Although at first glance, the numerous tanks, distillation towers, crackers and other special equipment as well as the countless pipelines of the huge refinery appear to be static, in fact constant plant and construction modifications are day to day routine in Schwechat. Accordingly, the requirements on technical documentation are quite complex. The tasks of the division with a staff of 20 which is part of the business unit Refining & Petrochemicals include

Various individual projects have already, in the past, aimed at transforming the – historically established – paper drawings into an electronic archive and at the same time at making the documents more intelligent. Ing. Albert Meyer, Senior Expert in the Technical Documentation division considers P&IDs as „central key documents which must be provided in the best pos-sible format“.

Consequently, various CAD systems such as Autocad or Icem were used to prepare P&IDs early on. This resulted in some increase in efficiency, yet the position where up to date P&IDs were immediately available in the case of plant modifications was not achieved. This led to time consuming and sometimes nerve-racking searching for the last update of documents, just like one did in the old days when drawing boards, compasses and rulers were used. Only when they first used SmartPlant P&ID from Intergraph’s Process, Power & Marine division could Meyer and his staff see a paradigm shift.

SmartPlant P&ID is a data-driven, rule-based design tool which radically stands out from traditional graphic P&ID systems. SmartPlant P&ID is based on the underlying data rather than on single P&IDs. This data model exists only once and is used differently in the various phases of the process. The benefit: arising from the fact that all information on the P&ID pattern is saved in one single data model is that great flexibility either to set up reports or to filter elements for a specific system is achieved. What is more, problems involved with the maintenance of redundant data and the related need for retrieving detailed information from various sources belong to the past.

With its swift updating and modification function, SmartPlant P&ID helps to ensure that P&IDs are kept up to date to reflect the current plant status. Furthermore, design rules which are embedded into the system give high data precision. The software supports projects on operating plants as well as the execution of approved changes. By this means, various versions of P&IDs may be maintained so as to compare configurations or to restore previous versions. Another strength of SmartPlant P&ID is the automatic check based on defined rules so as to ensure that modifications will not infringe the design standards of the project.

In light of all these benefits, one can understand Meyer stating: „I have an interest in migrating all P&IDs to SmartPlant P&ID.“ This work is considered part of the MIDAS project (Modular Integrated Data Access System) that OMV have set up to centralise and network all their operations data and enhance its quality by 2010.

In this context, Meyer’s vision is that each member of staff should have easy access to P&IDs via the intranet and a widely installed electronic document management system. „Documentation should not be a secret but an available resource to each OMV employee“, explains Meyer.

The arrival of the MIDAS project takes a large step towards knowledge management. It is no coincidence that the project acronym has the same name as the mythical king of Phrygia Midas who, around 800 B.C., is said to have turned everything he touched into gold.

The potential increases in efficiency, which can be achieved using SmartPlant P&ID, can be seen when looking at current construction projects in Schwechat. Firstly, there is the expansion of the ethylene plant where OMV has invested 200 million Euro since 2003. This is the highest single investment since the late 1970s and its purpose is to strengthen the added value in the OMV petrochemical division and at the same time to increase capacity. When the plant is put into operation again in the third quarter 2005, 500 000 t of Ethylene and about 400 000 t of propylene per year can be produced in Schwechat for use as primary products for plastic production. The project for which Linde Engineering, Munich provide engineering support required the preparation and regular use of 161 piping and instrumentation diagrams (P&IDs), 45 process flow charts as well as one block flow chart. Also the new construction of a 50 million Euro desulphurisation reactor for the so-called HDS-2 plant for diesel production, which has now been completed, implied major planning work: the use of 35 P&IDs, ten process flow charts as well as two block flow charts demonstrates the workload. By handling the project in accordance with the latest project management principles, the expansion was carried out within a period of 19 months.

Furthermore, a new hydrogen plant was built to produce sulphur-free fuel. It was commissioned by OMV in 2003 and provides the hydrogen needed to remove the sulphur contained in the fuel. For this project, the engineers involved produced 45 P&IDs, seven process flow charts as well as one block flow chart.

The decision to use Intergraph’s SmartPlant P&ID not only enhances the efficiency of OMV’s internal handling arrangements but the co-operation with project contractors and engineering partners was optimised as they are also using Intergraph products.

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OMV Aktiengesellschaft

SmartPlant P&ID

A member of Intergraph’s SmartPlant family of prod-ucts, SmartPlant P&ID is an asset-centric, rule-driven engineering tool that offers value for all plant operations teams, such as engineering, technical services, research, environment, and inspection.

Creating a high-quality plant design is easier with access to accurate data. SmartPlant P&ID helps you create, access and manage your data. The software focuses on the plant data instead of on drafting, with all P&ID information stored in the data model. SmartPlant P&ID exercises rules and connectivity checks to speed the entire engineering process helping to save money without compromising design quality or integrity. SmartPlant P&ID ensures that the P&ID accurately reflects the as-built plant at all times through the fast update and modification features.

The software offers unique and powerful worksharing capabilities that enable the distribution of work among different subcontractors. With worksharing you can successfully manage and execute multi-site and remote site projects worldwide. Rules and reference data, such as components and reports, are synchronized between the main and satellite sites. SmartPlant P&ID ensures a seamless data merge at the project’s conclusion, eliminating many hours of manual checking and cleanup.