Parkland Fuel wrapping up Burnaby refinery turnaround

Parkland Fuel Corp. subsidiary Parkland Refining (B.C.) Ltd. is nearing completion of work activities related to the 2020 turnaround that began in February at its 55,000-b/d refinery on Burrard Inlet in North Burnaby, near North Vancouver, BC.

With the refinery’s startup sequence now under way, Parkland Refining expects about a 2-week process for the site to return to full operational capability when accounting for additional coronavirus (COVID-19) safety measures, Parkland Fuel said on Apr. 6.

Measures related to COVID-19 control required the operator to change processes and procedures in response to guidance from provincial health authorities, resulting in a decrease in the number of staff on site as well as lower productivity, the company said.

Started in early February and initially scheduled to last 6-9 weeks, the $60-million (Can.) 2020 major turnaround was to include works focused on the refinery’s crude unit, fluid catalytic cracker, and sulfur recovery unit, as well as preventative work on several other unidentified units, Parkland Refining told refinery neighbors in late 2019.

The turnaround also was to involve “proactive upgrades” to refinery safety systems and unidentified preliminary works to advance the site’s “green refining” capabilities.

At peak turnaround activity, Parkland Refining said about 550 contractors were to be on site during each shift.

Parkland Fuels disclosed no further details regarding specific projects to be executed during the turnaround or specific impacts COVID-19 safety measures had on the maintenance event’s original scope.

The Burnaby refinery processes light and synthetic Canadian crudes such as Edmonton Par 80% and Syncrude 20% into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, asphalt, heating fuel, heavy fuel oil, butane, and propane for distribution throughout British Columbia.

Calgary-based Parkland Fuel purchased the Burnaby refinery and related downstream assets from Chevron Canada Ltd. in 2017 (OGJ Online, Apr. 20, 2017).