How are Gorgon and Angola LNG running?
23 replies (most recent on top)
KBR is milking the cow, but I understand how frustrating it is to deal with Chevron incompetence. KBR is doing the hard work on start up but Watson takes credit. The real test for Chevron will be running 3 trains with only Chevron employees, When KBR, ExxonMobil and She'll leave next year, we will see what Chevron is made of. Wheatstone will be enlightening also, once Bechtel leaves in 2018. More downtime coming and more costs.
Why would KBR be fed up? They have made a killing on this boondoggle of a project. They should be thanking their lucky starts for Chevron's incompetence since they've basically been handed a blank check.
It took 5 months since first LNG in March, but Asia Endeavor has a cargo its way to Japan. A 20 million dollar cargo...20 more of these cargos (about 4 months if we can keep T1 running) and we will have paid for the propane compressor wreck. Then we can start paying for the $57 billion dollar Gorgon investment. Hopefully T2 selling cargos in December and T3 in 3Q17. Unless we screw up again. We need to factor in more schedule and costs for screw-ups, it is standard procedure here. PS KBR very fed up with Chevron management
Asia Excellence, Asia Endeavor and Marib Spirit, costing over $300,000 a day anchored off Barrow Island and waiting to load LNG. Every day of delay costs someone their job. Hopefully, CVX does not run the acid gas injection compressors at Tenghiz like we run propane compressors at Gorgon. Each laid off LNG process engineer delay LNG startup by 1 to 2 months. Expect more delays on train 2 & 3 because the people that learned lessons on train 1 were laid off and not able to apply lessons learned on t2, t3 and Wheatstone. Badly implemented lay offs have consequences. CVX Laid off too many of the wrong people. Expect more problems for Gorgon, Wheatstone, Angola and FGP
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-3esu, yes but some losers would rather just say that they are being asked to be "yes men" and "yes women" instead of simply being competent and doing their job, along with many other excuses., it's so much easier just to be an incompetent loser and make excuses. Those people should join the military and then complain to their superiors that they are not just "yes men" and "yes women". That would be priceless - LOL!
@3awb, I guess it's human nature for a manager to hire people that will follow his/her decisions without question. But, if you are referring to what I would do, I would want BOTH a person who is loyal but also capable. After all, I too would have a boss that would hold me accountable for the actions of my direct reports. I'd think you'd do the same too.
While a valid point, if you were Management, would you promote a bunch of dissenting, high maitenance "wankers" to be your reports?
@3itz, I totally agree. Management promotes only 'yes-men' and 'yes-women'.
With all of the focus on process safety, one would think that Chevron could wring out these problems. However, it still requires management commitment to doing things right and that is something that Chevron's management doesn't do very well. They tend to promote yes-men instead of the most competent people.
@ItOeJcw-3aze. I'm not even going to address the play on T & FLAs (3 and 4 letter acronyms) as I'm sure there will be plenty from other posters.
However, as a retired Process Engineer (and acknowledging not of the LNG type), Process and Process Safety Engineers add the greatest value in the front-end/detailed design. The primary engineering contractors are the lead culprit in design deficiencies. However, it is the client who needs to have the experience to call BS. If anything, that is where you should be focusing the lament!!!
I'm not aware of the details of Gorgon's latest problem with a valve stem related release, but the described situation of crap being left in the piping is clearly a statement of Construction and Commissioning being AWOL. AND, I guessing that Operations was around during both.
I hope you are wrong about future failures causing accidents!
Wait a minute... I'm sure Chevron has more than a few LGBT process engineers.
ExxonMobil and Shell have over 40 years of LNG plant construction and operating experience. Gorgon and Angola are Chevron's first attempts at building and operating LNG plants. Chevron has very few qualified LNG process engineers. I guess it will take Chevron 40 years to learn how to operate Gorgon, Angola and Wheatstone to the standards of ExxonMobil and Shell. My prediction is more serious operating incidents are coming, because of a lack of LNG process safety focus/experience. The unions are justified in asking safety regulator to intervene.
Well Gorgon doesn't seem to be going too well from this story: http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN1011DZ
I was reading a thread on the BBC site about workers making less the other day and I noticed that they said that the companies are cutting the "dead wood" , they said they always target the higher earning workers almost exclusively, regardless of age or experience, but that's usually the older workers and of course they were pointing out how counter-productive that is. They gave the same reasoning you guys do here- you are cutting out some of the best talent in many cases.
And for all this time I thought that you guys here on the Chevron forum made up the "deadwood" comment. And here they are using it over in the UK, along with "mate" and all their other terms - LOL!
Nothing would be through CPDEP Phase 5 without a deadwood and butthurt comment. Those really add value.
Damn right, bcw. I couldn't have phrased it better.
Over budget, behind schedule, totally off target. All we need now are some fatalities and an ignorant bigot to call them 'deadwood' and it will be the perfect 'Chevron Way' project.
@auz, you may not understand this, but Chevron's business depends on cash flow and when plants are not running they don't generate cash and so then the company cannot pay for its workers.
Really? It has everything to do with layoffs. Future layoffs will all be based on cash flow not efficiency. If Gorgon and Angola can start producing that will definitely take some pressure off.
Running right up your A$$. What's that got to do with Layoffs?
How much worse will Wheatstone be?
With a slight limp on the left leg.