Neste Case Study

For a turnaround at the Rotterdam NEXBTL Refinery, Neste was looking for a software system to support them in cost management activities. Since Neste and Cleopatra Enterprise had previously joined forces during a maintenance stop at their Rotterdam plant, Cleopatra was selected as the Turnaround Management Software for the turnaround at the NEXBTL Refinery.

The integrated turnaround solution supported the turnaround from different angles. Cleopatra Cost Management was used to gain continuous insight into the cost status of the turnaround. At the same time, Cleopatra Cost Estimating provided a solid base for mechanical estimates and estimation of scope changes.

Time constraints in turnarounds

Downtime is very expensive for a refinery, so turnarounds are typical time-driven projects. Gathering all the information necessary for Neste’s cost reporting had to be done in a highly efficient manner. After all, proper decision-making can only happen if it is supported by timely, accurate, and complete information.

Lack of turnaround management structure

Another challenge for this project was the fact that this was the first major turnaround for the Rotterdam site. This meant that most of the turnaround cost management processes, like the level of control and cost estimation and the relevant procedures, needed to be developed.

Insufficient scope change management

There was no formal procedure in place to manage scope changes during the turnaround. As change management is an important and large part of turnarounds, this was something that had to be set up in an orderly manner.

Cleopatra Enterprise, as Neste’s shutdown and turnaround management software choice, resulted in several successes.

1. A structured turnaround cost estimation process was created.

The base scope of the mechanical work for both maintenance and project work was estimated in a structured way using Cleopatra Enterprise. In the preparation phase, Cleopatra was also used for tendering the contracts and preparing the bid evaluations among contractors. After selecting the two main mechanical contractors, cost estimates were prepared for the base scope of the turnaround work to set the control budget.

2. Effective scope management was ensured.

The pre-turnaround focused on scope deviations, the so-called emerging scope due to design developments. For the turnaround, a Field Change Order (FCO) process was developed to control all changes in the field due to discovery scope or engineering omissions.

The FCO process allowed for clear and structured management of changes in scope and budget. No less than 1400 FCOs, differing in size and impact, were managed this way. These changes were identified separately and reported against the Neste cost breakdown structure with Cleopatra’s advanced reporting features.

3. Clear status overview of the project with robust cost reports.

Cost reports provided 3 times a week during the turnaround, together with the flexible dashboard views of Cleopatra, helped the Neste management team get timely updates. Using import scripts greatly facilitated the entry of Neste financial data into the Cleopatra Cost Management system. This integrated system led to the successful execution of this time-driven turnaround project.