Refinery Staffing

Chemical and hazardous materials industry infrastructure includes substantial facility and equipment investment it is highly capital intensive. Most chemical industry facilities contain very specialized process equipment that would be difficult to replace quickly. A good example is an oil refinery plant, where if the cracking facilities were destroyed they could not be replaced anytime soon. It is interesting to note that some chemical industry facilities (e.g., oil refineries) require large amounts of land (have a large footprint) but are typically staffed with few employees relative to on-site land requirements. 

A mathematical procedure for the design of fractionating towers developed by Sorel (54) in 1893 had little acceptance by the petroleum industry because it was based on treatment of binary mixtures, such as alcohol and water the required vapor-liquid data on petroleum products were in general not available the calculations were laborious the original publication was in French and not widely available to American industry and the builders of refinery equipment were seldom staffed to use the procedure. 

The resolutions, which were filed by the AFL-CIO Reserve Fund, call on the board of directors at Marathon Oil, Valero, Tesoro, and ConocoPhillips to disclose the board s oversight of process safety management, staffing levels, and the inspection and maintenance of refineries and other equipment. A similar proposal was also filed at Sunoco but was withdrawn when company officials agreed to comply with the request. 

Crackers at refineries and petrochemical plants operate continuously for twenty-four hours and are typically staffed in three shifts. 

Gaoqiao, an affiliate of Sinopec, is one of the major petrochemical producers in China. The company owns 75 production units and affiliates staffed by 11 500 personnel and has the ability to produce over 200 products, including gasoline, jet fuel, diesel fuel, lube oil, paraffin wax, synthetic rubber, organic chemicals, synthetic plastics, as well as fine chemical products and so on. The principal production output comes mainly from a refinery of 11.3 millions tonnes per year crude oil processing capacity, and four petrochemical works. The company is one of the major synthetic rubber producers in China. The company s... 

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