Our world is indisputably dependent on petroleum based products. As a result, refinery turnarounds are both critical and necessary to ensure the safe operation of refineries. The operators and service suppliers are obliged to temporarily halt all or most refinery operations for a prolonged duration. Depending on the scope of the maintenance or renovation project, a turnaround can last up to several months. During this time, the unexpected shutdown of a neighboring refinery can result in critical supply and demand restrictions.
Tesoro Corporation is an independent refiner and marketer of petroleum products, supported by thousands of suppliers every year across its refining, logistical, and marketing operations. Through its subsidiaries, Tesoro operates seven refineries in the western United States with a combined capacity of over 895,000 barrels per day.
Given that turnarounds present zero room for error and very little room for delays, Tesoro Corporation exercises extra discretion in choosing its partners. For that reason, Tesoro turned to WSI in October of 2015 to take on a particularly sensitive project: the rectification of significant corrosion uncovered during turnaround on the Wilmington Delayed Coker Unit (DCU) of Tesoro’s Los Angeles Refinery. Tesoro leadership described the situationas follows:
“Originally the process included a visual inspection of the tower in addition to replacing 28 trays. Inspection of the tower however revealed that significant weld repairs would be required to ensure continued reliable and safe operation of the tower. On short notice, WSI agreed to support this monumental effort, and without hesitation they began assisting in aggressive planning efforts with Tesoro personnel. They quickly mobilized the necessary resources, personnel and equipment effectively, consistent with the demands of the turnaround schedule. Additionally, WSI collaborated with the other contractors already onsite who were working on other jobs in the tower. Although WSI was given short notice and limited time available to plan, their coordination of all the activities was executed efficiently, without any safety or environmental issues, and ahead of schedule. The work done by WSI’s 2015 was invaluable to Tesoro.”
In fact, the work proved to be so instrumental to the success of reinstatement of the Los Angeles refinery, one year later, CEO Greg Goff personally presented WSI with an award for its Innovation and Value Delivery at the first annual Tesoro Supplier Recognition Awards in San Antonio, TX.
Nominated by the Tesoro Turnaround Planning and Execution group, WSI’s performance ultimately outranked thousands of suppliers, and hundreds of nominations submitted for review.
“We conduct our business in an intentional and proactive way to maximize the creation of value with our stakeholders,” said CJ Warner, Executive Vice President of Operations at Tesoro. “It is critical to our continued growth that we have reliable, highly capable, and trusted suppliers and contractors who share our core values and drive for superior execution.”
In that spirit, Tesoro honored twelve additional suppliers with awards across its categories of Safety, Innovation and Value Delivery, Shared Value; and Small, Disadvantaged, or Diverse Business—at the event attended by nearly two-hundred employees from eighty supplier firms.
WSI is a global provider of welding solutions and highly engineered services dedicated to building and enhancing the world’s infrastructure. We prioritize unmatched service and support from the team that so seamlessly embodied Tesoro’s shared ideals this past year.
