P47 Jamnagar DTA refinery

P  47

Jamanagar DTA Refinery

Though I have covered the MTF layout freezing for crude storage already, that was one of pre-project activity. We should closely look at the evolution of this refinery right from fundamentals!

Since Reliance did not have any back ground past experience in implementing a crude processing refinery, they picked up personnel with vast experience in refinery projects, technical services and operating experience. Stalwarts like S/Sh KKM, SR Setlur, P K Kapil, Maurice Banniyan,Dr Partho Maitra, N B Deshmukh, P Raghavendran, J Rajaraman  and others were roped in as core team to conceptualize the basic configuration and processing requirements. There used to be bitter struggle to choose between the downstream plant requirements to arrive at whether to opt for Coke generation or to stop with bitumen. Finally , with the vast experience &proficiency of SRS, the management did the cost benefit analysis and chose to opt for Coke generation.

Then came the tricky issue ! The main refinery plants were categorized under Reliance Petroleum,a newly formed company  and the Aromatics plant were categorized under RIL. As the marine area was more than 16 kms away from plant area, they were grouped under RPTL- Reliance Ports& Terminal Ltd.

When it came for employees, to avail the State Govt. bonus of maximizing the locals,especially people of Gujarat origin, all others in the project were transferred to a new company REAL -Reliance Engg. and Associates Ltd.  But the management ensured that no employee will lose his stature or seniority.

The complete detailed configuration and stream balance finalisation credit should go to Dr Partho Maitra and N B Deshmukh only.  Then came the selection of Technology for various streams. There we did not have any issue at all.  By nomination M/S UOP was chosen for all the refinery plants including Aromatics and Coker Technology was chosen from M/S Foster-Wheeler, Houston.

Then came the crucial  issue of PMC and DEC selection ! As no one in the group had prior experience of managing such a large complex project execution, Reliance wanted world leaders to get in as both PMC and DEC ( Project Management consultant & Detailed Engineering Consultant) . The core leadership team developed an enquiry document and floated internationally. Five reputed agencies submitted their offer- 3 from USA/Europe and 2 from Japan. Almost all parties indicated a time schedule of 65 months from start to finish. But considering the urgency and financial stake, Reliance wanted the plant completion much earlier. You know in Reliance we have a slogan- World Class Quality- on Yesterday Basis at Zero Cost. Applying that, MDA asked SRS to work out the best optimum schedule, since he had back ground experience of working in Shell, India  and as MD of Bongaigan  Refinery at Assam. He came out that if somebody can work optimally, this project can be commissioned in 46 months flat. So that became the bench mark  and the management deliberated with all parties. Three parties walked out and only two remained to consider.            Contd.....

Key Aspects :- Critical challenge, Incident analysis, Lack of experience/exposure, Team building, Transfer

P 46 Jamnagar refinery Ph1 DTA

P 46

Jamnagar Refinery Ph1 DTA

MDA chided him stating" Wnen AR, walking encyclopedia on CCE Rules is there, who asked you to go directly and meet the statutory officials at Nagpur?  Hand over all the data/drawings to him and it is his responsibility". MSR accusingly handed over all the documents to me. Rest is history.

When I went to Nagpur, I met Sh Ghoshal only, since I already knew that Indian Statutes do not permit any thing more than 1,00,000 M3  for floating roof tanks in a dyke, where as the drawing produced by MSR was showing 1,60,000M3! During discussions.Sh.  Ghoshal made it clear- you have only two choices- 1)If Reliance is particular to go ahead only with 1,60, 000 M3 tank sizing, it requires fundamental rule amendment that too to be cleared by parliament &it may take years that too may get cleared or not,  2)Revise the design to 1,00,000 M3 tank sizing and bring; will be cleared across the table on the same day. As I was the person , considering safety,who prescribed these limits in the preceding year, I took the decision then and there to go for the revised design.

On reaching Bombay, I got in touch with Mr Raghavan, that time MD of M/S VTV, who himself was a tank design specialist. When I explained to him the back ground and our requirement, he was too happy to get involved in these challenging tasks.  From fundamentals, he calculated and arrived at the tank sizing of 92MDia.X 20M high floating roof tanks for crude , which are still India's big in terms of a single tank for crude oil service. Then came the MTF layout arrangement issue !! But by that time. the scenario got shifted to Bechtel, London.

With some back ground calculations, Reliance logistic team  (led by Sh J Rajaraman) arrived at the total crude inventory of  12,00,000 M3 for sustained operations of the refinery. It is to be noted that the refining capacity was envisaged to be only 9 MMPTA at that stage and no leverage was thought off for the crude mixing/blending/ balancing tank provisions etc.! So Bechtel and the project team led by me, concluded to make provisions for 14 crude tanks in MTF.  Then came the challenge in layout meeting all statutory obligations-CCE, TAC, Factory Inspectorate. My dear friend Mr Praful Sanghrajka was present in London during that stage and he came out with a brilliant idea. His suggestion was to stagger each tank forming Z shape layout, so that the tank to tank inter-distance meet the 1D stipulation of TAC and create inter-dyke service roads for emergency fire engine access. Though each tank dyke called for 270X195 M dyke space to meet the 1,10,000M3 spill volume for a tank break down, this zig zag arrangement ensured complete safety and even the statutory authorities got stunned during review. As promised Sh Ghoshal cleared &approved that drawing on the same day.
That cautionary layout came as blessing in disguise in future!That is a different story, which shall be addressed while talking about JERP-Jamnagar Ph2.                                           Contd.......

Key Aspects :- Communication, Conviction, Innovative, Planning, Proactive approach, Responsible 

P 45 Transition to Jamnagar Refinery 1995

P 45

Transition to Jamnagar Refinery Project -1995

As the federal govt. eased the condition for Pvt. sector entrepreneurs to launch petroleum refining in India, Reliance was the first player to take that call. Sh.Dhirubhai being a dreamer who always thought BIG, commissioned a team to ensure the central Govt. approval is sought for putting a refinery at Motikavadi, near Padana! It took nearly three years for that team to succeed in overcoming all obstructions and legal tangle etc. DHA 's preference to locate the plant there, has some back ground implied reasons. The village Padana being Mrs Kokila Behen's (Mrs.DHA)native village, he wanted this factory to be Industrial Taj Mahal of India!! Of course, on date, it has beaten his expectations and it is the world Largest Refining&PetroChemical complex , processing 66MMT/Annum Crude processing and proving the term in Hydrocarbon Industry parlour -Bottom of Barrel processing!

Let us see what was my role &responsibility in fulfilling that dream ! In  Jan.'95, though I was still looking after the finishing requirements of Hazira Ph2 OSBL,  I have been dragged as one of the first few. On Jan.30th, a chartered aircraft was arranged to visit Jamnagar plant site (Group of 14 members) to go around the thorny bush area and get an idea of the acquired land for putting a refinery. That was a different experience walking around in thorny bushes. To take possession of the land area, M/S  SC Malhotra, Umesh Bhandari &Lakshminarayan  were the first to be stationed there.
In March itself, I was asked to hand over the remnants of Hazira task to Sh Sekhar Kale and transferred to Jamnagar Refinery project , shifted the office from Vakola to Ballard estate.

Here I have to bring out one important incident what I came across right in the beginning.. Company hired Mr M Subramaniam of ex L&T general manager , as construction manager for Jamnagar project execution. He, out of his enthusiasm and pro-active thinking wanted to seek the Marine tank farm Crude tanks layout clearance from CCE department. He picked up some design drawings of M/S CBI(Chicago Bridge& Iron), that time world famous tank contractors for 1,60, 000 M3 floating roof tanks for crude storage and went directly to Nagpur. As written earlier, by that time Dr H Mukherjee retired and Sh Ghoshal was in-charge of the department. On reaching Nagpur, MSR met 4 officers ( M/S Bhandopadhyay, MA, Bharadwaj &Ghoshal himself). As he was not known to the department, every one queried him- "What happened to AR and this department recognizes him only as Reliance representative. Ask him  to meet us for discussions/approval." MSR got really wounded and on reaching Bombay , he phoned me next morning. He , being a Tamilian  used all Tamil slangs and gave me gally. He questioned me asking "what Jadu you have done to that department and every one is only talking about you; even though I am GM&above your rank in company, how come they have refused? I am going to complain to Sh MDA about you". I responded politely, you should have hinted me before going to Nagpur, but now it is too late. You know, he did complain to MDA. Can anyone guess, what was the reaction/response&instructions to him on that?                            Contd.....

Key Aspects :- Incident analysis, Initiative, Motivation, Opportunity, Proactive approach, Recognition, Responsible Transfer 

P 44 CCE Committee Report

P  44

CCE Committee Final Report

Those two days at Peddar Road, myself and MA used to look into various sub committee monthly proceedings and chalk out the draft in series . Then used to have deliberations with Ghoshal and Dr Patel for their expert comments. Dr HM used to be an expert observer.  Once certain conclusions are arrived, we used to dictate the final  version to Ms Meena. Since she was the party who typed and compiled the monthly exchanges of all sub committees, she did not find difficult in taking notes.
 After those 2 day mind blogging efforts, Ms Meena did a wonderful compilation of all our dictation  and prepared floppy disks. She only took 4 days to prepare the final version.

By that time it was Oct. '94 end and Dr HM has to submit the final report to Ministry before his retirement in Dec.end.As MA was posted in Madras by that time, that being Deepavali approach time, he suggested that I should come over to Madras and he can organize to get them print compiled/ edited at Adyar Xerox, Madras. Madras being my home town I did not have any issue and celebrated Deepavali with my mother and brother family. Camping for 10 days, we could complete our task successfully, and the final Report prints were ready by Nov. end.

On 7th Dec.1994, in presence of the  Ind.Ministry Director Mrs Bharadwaj, Ghoshal, me, Dr HM presented the final Report to Mr Gupta, Secretary, Min. of Industries&Commerce.  After going through the findings and Recommendations by the Committee, the Govt. acknowledged the efforts of the committee members and appreciated. For info. substantial amount of this committee recommendations have already been incorporated in statutes.

Knowingly or unknowingly, this is one feather in my cap.

 Having narrated  about the overall committee proceedings, I have to cover one specific sub committee function and one notable incident.

During the course of the committee operations, Dr HM felt importance and necessity to visit a few marine ports and inspect the existing infrastructure , ship loading and unloading operation of hydrocarbon fluids. For that he formed a special task force- MA, AR, Sh Mishra of EIL, & Sh Muthu Manoharan of SPIC and assigned the responsibility. All these members went to Kandla and Tuticorin  ports.  In Tuticorin, our interest was to inspect and note unloading of VCM from the ship to spheres belonging to a company in Arumuganeri and in  Kandla, IOC operations of loading NGL in a ship.
In Tuticorin , the team did not find anything odd and ticked the operations.  But when it came to Kandla, everything was proceeding  towards unsafe condition! Though our official inspection was slated for next day morning, we wanted to make a surprise inspection in the late evening itself. When we reached there, we found that no loading arm was there; khalasi workers were shifting the loaded NGL hoses by crow bars so as not to get twisted! Opposite to that , there were instrument/ communication junction boxes without any cover- open state and  live. Typical of AR, I got alarmed and shouted loud calling for the Ship Captain and any engineer-in-charge present. The captain responded, stopped the operation and reported to local IOC management.  That night, the local Divisional manager Mr D'Souza called on us at guest house  and threatened that how can we stop IOC operations and he will complain to CCE and Ministry! Without any fear, I said 'Go ahead'.  This being a safety issue, when he complained, he was snubbed by his management itself.

Key Aspects :-  Critical challenge, Incident analysis, Surprise&shock, Team building

P 43 CCE Committee Contd.

P 43

CCE  Committee Contd...

After Sh MDA issuing concurrence and endorsement , I conveyed the same to Dr HM.  Immediately, we convened the first meeting of all 5 sub committee leaders and worked out the  strategy and working methodology for each sub committee. At  that stage since Sh M.Anbunathan  was there in Nagpur, he was roped in as an active member. Since he had the profile records of all members, he and me allocated various members in each sub committee and got the concurrence of sub committee heads. After that , it was concluded that all sub-committees shall meet at least once in a month and deliberate to furnish their final report by Aug./Sept'94 positively.

Question arose, who shall host the monthly meetings of each sub committee &who will bear the expenses for travel and boarding &lodging for the members to attend. As the constitution of the committee was for national cause, it was concluded that each member in a sub committee will host one day meeting at their premises by rotation and all that sub committee members will travel and attend at their own company's cost.  So there was no question of lodging arose. Beauty was that every member cooperated with full heart , participated and contributed effectively.

Coming to operation of each sub committee:  Though each sub committee had its identified leader. AR took full control of the situation and acted like an orchestra conductor! I made it a point to be present in all sub committee meetings every month i.e attend 5 sub committee meetings every month at different venues across India. While conducting the meetings at each place, we used to identify several aspects concerning that sub committee's assigned task and raise debatable questions. As assignment,  it was expected of each member present to address and issue their versions of response  to my Reliance office secretariat by that month end- in those days, since computers and e-mail exchanges were not prevalent, people used to transmit by Fax or Telex. My personal secretary  Ms Meena Punjabi used to collect/correlate the data  immediately  and send back to all members of that sub committee positively by 2nd/3rd of every month.  People used to read and come prepared for valuable discussions during the forth coming meeting of that sub committee. It was  a treat to watch those proceedings.

 Here I would like to highlight two  important points.
In one of the meetings where Dr HM was the leader of one sub committee, when I was differing with him on a technical aspect, one of that sub committee member present cautioned me  that you cannot differ with CCE!
I reacted saying, DR HM is present here as leader of sub committee and not as CCE and when it comes to technical argument, official position does not matter. Dr HM being an excellent technocrat in Bureaucratic position silenced that person saying AR is right  &he can openly express.

On another occasion, one of the sub committee member cautioned me stating'what you are prescribing here may affect your own installation and be careful'. I responded to him,' I am not here to defend any Reliance interest and even if comes to cut my throat, I cannot violate the Technical importance'. The whole team clapped and appreciated my stand. Rather at the close of the entire Committee Report submission, Dr HM personally phoned MDA and expressed his thanks in deputing me for this assignment.

Final report preparation and how it got edited and printed:-  That is a big story. Dr HM did not imagine  that the final report will be  that voluminous! He convened a meeting at IOC Chairman  guest house  bungalow  in Peddar road with identified limited team of personnel.    Dr HM, Ghoshal, MA, AR, Dr Patel of TCS and my secretary Ms Meena were only present for 2 days to finalize the final report.                                                                                                                   Contd........

Key Aspects :- Critical challenge, Incident analysis, Leadership,Recognition, Reputation, Responsible

P 42 Hazira Ph2 &CCE Committee Contd.

P  42

Hazira Ph2 &CCE Committee Contd.

Here I would like to touch the peculiar and unexpected experience what I have gained in my career life! In 1993, though I was working in Reliance, a leading Private sector enterprise, I was nominated as Member-Secretary for an Industry Ministry convened  National Committee for Reviewing the Existing Rules and Recommend Revisions, under the Chairmanship of Dr H Mukherjee, then CCE.

Let me narrate how this happened !
As the project manager for tank farm at Hazira, I undertook the responsibility of coordinating  & seeking the layout approval, clearance of all electrical items meeting the Area classification requirements for all Reliance manufacturing facilities from Dept.of Explosives. By that I established good rapport with the department officials.   For that ,once I went to Nagpur, CCE Dr H Mukherjee  specifically called me  and gave a form.  He specifically told me to give that to Sh KKM and ask him to nominate two experienced personnel from Reliance to join that committee.

The task &assignment for that committee was to thoroughly review that time existing Rules and country Codes and identify the short-comings/recommend the required amendments/corrections.  This committee formation itself arose due to a major explosion in IPCL, Nagothane C2 complex in Nov.'1991 and the country went into shock mode.

That being a request from country's highest statute official for Safety , KKM  responded immediately and returned that paper. When I was handing over that filled form, Dr HM  requested Reliance to host the first meeting at Mumbai Leela Hotels for the committee formation. He indicated that there shall be about 50 industry experts drawn from all facets of Hydrocarbon industry. On return, with the permission of the management, I organised that meet on the fixed date. Yes, there was full attendance and experts from Manufacturing, Engineering consultants, Fabrication Industry Designers , Inspection Agency experts, other Allied Statute Department Leaders from both Central and State attended that meeting. The quorum was full and Dr HM/ Sh K Ravichandra -ex-GM  Visag refinery and that time OISD Chief and Sh Ghoshal ,Dy.CCE occupied the stage and initiated the meeting on time.  As expected, there were heated deliberations on the involved tasks  and how to go about addressing the lacunae  in, that time existing Rules and how they vary with the International Standards and Codes etc. Finally , just before lunch break , it was concluded that there shall be 5 sub-committees led by  relevant industry Statute Heads and all other members will be nominated in the committees where their expertise is called for. It should be noted, until then I was only a spectator and the host for the day's proceedings! I  was at sidelines of the hall.

At that juncture, Sh KR raised a general query, asking Dr., do you not feel  the necessity for an organizing secretary  for carrying out this mammoth task? Immediately Dr.&Ghoshal  realized its importance  and started looking at members present in the hall and they could not pin point anybody.
Since KR knew me and my background from my Visag days, he suggested 'Why not Ramanathan?"
Immediately Dr. jumped to that suggestion and asked me whether I can take up that challenge. I responded saying that I have to seek my management approval for that  and will revert shortly.
On return to office, I contacted Sh MDA directly and sought his concurrence. He jumped with joy and told me to take that as an assignment and enjoy. "Ensure to concentrate and bill all expenses to Reliance only."  That made me a task master !!                                          Contd........

Key Aspects :- Codes&Standards, Faith, Human relations, Initiative, Recognition, Team building

P41 Hazira Ph2 &CCE Committee

P  41

Hazira Ph2 &CCE Committee  Contd.

Though I did not have any material inspection experience, situation forced me to take the call. After seeing the limited stock at their Kalamboli yard  I devised my own QAC and moved forward.  Since the service was only discharge of effluent  that too in river bed, I decided to even clear the slightly pitted CS pipe.  As we were desperate to source requisite pipe quantity, after selecting some quantity from there, me and the party(Mr Shah) flew to Visag. where they had  a huge bulk quantity.  When inquired, we understood that these were excess stock after the steel plant completion and this party acquired them  in auction. That gave us confidence and identified enough quantity for our objective.
Typical of inspection group, Mr P Ethiraj criticized me  for clearing and accepting that second hand stock! But I did not heed to that , was confident and sure of my actions. The management appreciated my initiative and involvement. We could complete the erection in time to meet the ETP commissioning schedule.

Hazira Ph2 plants commissioning (except the cracker)
Since the C2 import terminal facilities were commissioned in 1991 itself,  the feed stock availability for MEG, HDPE and PP were assured. Though M/S Lummus was the principle contractor, Reliance management did not have full confidence  to line up the plants and utilities commissioning activity.
They hired out a task force team from M/S Fluor Daniel to check and inspect various plant B/L inter-connects and Utility packages box-up. As usual they played the consultant role only. Rather they used to listen to our presentation and learn  from  our experience . Typically, they used to wonder , how this Reliance project and Construction team  are able to meet these challenging demands of utility requirement fluctuations !

One thing I would like to place on record here. As Hazira was the launching pad for Reliance Petrochemicals growth, MDA used to add or enhance plant capacity  and introduce new plants  very frequently. As offsite project manager I used to have nightmares about the utility package sizing and capacity of pipeline transfers. Fortunately, since our fundamentals and design basis factors were strong, we could manage /face the fluctuating demands. M/S Fluor Daniel task force members were astonished  and looked at us with high regard.


 Extra jobs & Claim of the offsite consultant HGC
As there were continuous changes in offsite engineering, to suit to various ISBL design changes or new plant additions, the triangular project execution team had a work method understanding to record the variations and corresponding man hour efforts. As the changes were too many, the team thought that it is not right to amend the work order now and then for raising the invoice. So KSS took that responsibility and he used to share with me and PBMR periodically. As this was going on smoothly, a funny thing happened at H&GC end. They had some internal shuffle and some new senior executives joined their services.  As the new management wanted to show-off, they approached Reliance procurement head Sh BN and requested for project close out. When he discussed and inquired whether you have any outstanding claims to be addressed by Reliance, they said nothing outstanding.
As they were new and not knowing any back ground and not even consulting KSS they wanted the close out. Since BN was aware of every thing, he phoned me after their leaving and asked about my estimate. I told him that it will be about Rs 4 Crores; then I shared the situation with KSS. He was literally shaken and cried with  his MD Dr Dravid.. It is another matter that BN and Dr Dravid settled the matter mutually and H&G got paid for those extra jobs clocked.                     Contd.....

Key Aspects :-  Critical challenge, Faith, Incident analysis, Initiative, Reputation