Shutdowns postponing

It is at this stage that, having the information above, a decision can be made on which planned maintenance tasks are to be carried out and which may be postponed or cancelled. This may be due either to insufficient resources (e.g. man-hours or a forthcoming planned shutdown) or planned maintenance that need not be carried out for another reason. 

Consideration is given to the impact of the shutdown on the operation caused by the repair vs. how immediate is the need for repair. If it is judged that the worn component will probably continue to operate until a future repair can be scheduled, major repairs are postponed until they can be planned and scheduled. 

It may become necessary to postpone the plaimed shutdown of the plant... 

In such situations, the plant shutdown for annual overhaul may be postponed by a reasonable period provided it will not violate any statutory regulation (e.g. inspections of boiler/pressure vessel/electrical installation). 

The Global Barrel sources spoke of constant postponement and cancellatiorts of scheduled shutdowns for regular maintenance was reported to be a fact of life at the Amuay Refinery. This article was published just 5 days after the incident. The following two paragraphs provide some sense of how Amuay s maintenance was viewed by the Global Barrel. 

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