Configuration database: Korean refinery manages automation assets

By Control Engineering Staff November 1, 2006

SK Corporation, the energy and chemical affiliate of SK Group, Korea’s largest oil refiner, has now implemented Integrity configuration management software at its huge Ulsan facility. Integrity helps manage and optimize automation assets using its ability to document, visualize and track configuration changes of equipment and instrumentation for an entire processing complex.

PAS , developer of Integrity, says that the software provides a representation of the entire plant, documenting the configuration of each automation asset and how it relates to the larger process scheme. As a result, operators can analyze how a change of one element or a problem can affect the other assets nearby or potentially the whole process. Such information can generally be extracted from the larger control system, however that effort can be very complex and time consuming. Integrity reportedly makes the process much easier and ensures a more complete picture of the relationships.

SK has experienced many benefits from Integrity at Ulsan, according to Y.K. Lee, senior general manager, CIM development team. “Integrity has brought a new level of visibility to our automation assets,” he says, “allowing us to visualize, manage, and document the intellectual property contained within them. This has helped SK increase profitability and reliability.”

The SK Ulsan complex refines 850,000 barrels of crude oil per day and produces 4.3 million tons of petrochemical products annually.

— Daily News Desk, Peter Welander ,process industries editor , Control Engineering