Motiva’s Norco refinery awards automation contract to Emerson

By Control Engineering Staff July 17, 2002

Austin, TX – Emerson Process Management , an Emerson business, announced on July 16, 2002 that it has received a $1 million contract for front-end engineering and design and project execution services as the main automation contractor for a major automation program at Motiva Enterprises’ Norco Refinery, located in Norco, Louisiana.

The oil refinery, which has a capacity of 240,000 barrels per day, makes gasoline, jet fuel and diesel fuels. Major refining processes/units include: fluid catalytic cracker, hydrotreating, catalytic reforming, hydrocracking,and coking. Motiva Enterprises is a joint venture of Shell Oil Company and Saudi Refining Inc.

The Norco refinery will be outfitted with digital plant architecture and FOUNDATION fieldbus technology. The plant automation program calls for the reinstrumentation of the two catalytic reformers, steam methane reformer, distillate hydrotreater, naptha hydrotreater, hydrocracker and coker. Engineering and design work will occur without interruption to operations during this year with construction scheduled to begin in summer of 2003.

Emerson, through its Automation and Asset Optimization services, also will help the Norco refinery consolidate its five remote control rooms into a single, state-of-the-art control room designed using the latest ergonomics and safety guidelines.

Control Engineering Daily News DeskDick Johnson, Senior Editor djohnson@reedbusiness.com