Honeywell has recently announced that it has been selected by Preem AB to modernize one of Europe’s largest refineries – Preemraf Lysekil – with Honeywell’s Enhanced High Performance Process Manager (EHPM) industrial process controllers.

The project should significantly extend the life of the existing control system at the refinery, located in southern Sweden. Preem AB, the country’s largest oil producer, will use the enhanced high performance process manager to as much as triple the capacity of the refinery’s existing controllers.

Preem AB has an annual refining capacity of more than 18 million metric tons, accounting for 75 percent of refining capacity in Sweden and about one-third of the entire Nordic region. Preem AB is the largest supplier of ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel in Sweden, with a sulfur content of less than 5 ppm (parts per million), significantly lower than the Euro 4 requirement of 50 ppm.

“Honeywell’s Enhanced High Performance Process Manager enables Preem to modernize their refinery and increase through-put while maximizing legacy investments and intellectual property,” said John Rudolph, vice president for Honeywell Process Solutions’ Lifecycle Solutions and Services business.

The upgrade will be completed during planned maintenance at the refinery and will not require any additional downtime. It is scheduled to be completed before the end of the year.

“This investment builds on Lysekil’s position as the region’s leading refinery and will deliver real benefits for decades,” said Lars Andersson, automation manager at Preem AB. “It also means we can maintain and improve on a safe, efficient operation, without the disruption and cost of ripping out and replacing the entire control system.”

With support for peer-to-peer communication planned for the future, EHPM will allow Preem to incorporate other technologies from Honeywell, to provide an integrated solution that can include continuous and batch processing controls such as Experion C300, safer operations with Safety Manager, and Honeywell’s fault tolerant ethernet FTE technology, that offers more robust, faster network diagnostics and improved security.

Tyco has announced the acquisition of Westfire, Inc., a leader in special-applications fire protection services with operations in the United States, Chile and Peru. Westfire provides critical special-hazard suppression and detection applications in mining, telecommunications and other vertical markets. Their full range of fire protection services includes hazard analysis, as well as system design, installation, maintenance and testing combined with customized system documentation.

Westfire's US operations are concentrated in the Western United States and will be combined with Tyco's North American Fire Services business. Westfire's highly skilled and experienced workforce will enhance Tyco's service differentiation with added project design and execution capabilities. In Latin America, this acquisition enhances Tyco's service capabilities in the mining industry in Chile and provides an entry into the Peruvian market, both of which are important growth markets for Tyco. While already an established customer of Tyco's Fire Protection Products business, Westfire has the opportunity to further leverage this relationship to meet the requirements of Westfire's customers in mining and telecommunications.

"Westfire is a powerful addition to Tyco's capabilities. It expands our service footprint and recurring revenue base along with adding a highly-skilled and experienced team of engineers and technicians. In addition, we are adding vertical market expertise in special hazard detection and suppression applications," said Brian McDonald, Tyco's Chief Operating Officer for Installations & Services.

"This acquisition confirms Tyco's commitment to its Growth Markets," said Juan Mogollon, Tyco's President for Growth Markets. "Westfire's engineering capabilities and service footprint in Latin America combined with Tyco's comprehensive product portfolio focused on the specific needs of Growth Markets creates an exceptional combination of solutions to help our customers not just in Chile and Peru but throughout Latin America."

The transaction closed on November 8, 2013 and Westfire is expected to generate approximately $80 million in annualized revenues in fiscal year 2014.

ABOUT TYCO

Tyco (NYSE: TYC) is the world's largest pure-play fire protection and security company. Tyco provides more than three million customers around the globe with the latest fire protection and security products and services. A company with $10+ billion in revenue, Tyco has over 70,000 employees in more than 1,000 locations across 50 countries serving various end markets, including commercial, institutional, governmental, retail, industrial, energy, residential and small business. For more information, visit the new www.tyco.com.

ABB, the leading power and automation technology group, has signed a long-term service agreement (LTSA) with QGC, a wholly owned subsidiary of BG Group, to provide planned and unplanned maintenance for the up- and mid-stream facilities at Queensland Curtis Liquefied Natural Gas (QCLNG). The project, located in Queensland, Australia, is the world's first to convert gas from coal-seam into liquefied natural gas.

Coal-seam gas is natural gas extracted from coal beds. It provides the same amount of energy as coal, but carbon dioxide emissions are 40 percent lower. QCLNG is a priority project for QGC because it involves expanding exploration and development in southern and central Queensland. The upstream facilities stretch across the Surat Basin, where the coal-seam gas is gathered and transported along a 540-kilometer underground pipeline, to the LNG plant on Curtis Island near Gladstone.

The contract value is $33 million over four years, booked in the third and fourth quarter, with potential for extending the service term up to a period of 10 years. ABB is to provide comprehensive services including an on-site team to maintain ABB’s Extended Automation System 800xA Integrated Control and Safety Systems (ICSS). The contract also covers spare parts management for QCLNG’s upstream collection and transportation facility as well as for the midstream liquefaction and export facility.

“This important contract affirms our strong and long-standing relationship with QGC, which is one of our key customers,” said Veli-Matti Reinikkala, Head of ABB’s Process Automation division. “We are proud to continue working for this important oil and gas project, and one of our key priorities will be to help our customer reach its production targets in a flawless way.”

In 2011, ABB was awarded a $58 million order from QGC to provide, as main automation contractor (MAC), integrated automation, safety and telecommunications systems and related equipment for the upstream coal-seam gas project.

Rotork has expanded into new office, workshop and production storage facilities at its worldwide headquarters in Bath. The new building will home Rotork PLC, as well as the southern office for Rotork UK, which was set up in 2012 to rationalise all of Rotork’s home market electric, fluid power and manual valve actuation activities under a single banner. Rotork UK’s northern office, actuator and gearbox factory will be moving into larger new premises in Leeds early in 2014.

The new Bath offices also house Rotork’s systems sales department, reflecting the increased demand for Rotork’s digital control network solutions including the advanced wireless Pakscan system. Enlarged office and workshop space is also provided for Rotork Site Services, the company’s specialist retrofit, maintenance, repair and asset management organisation. Under the same roof, 872 square metres of new warehouse space has been created to give additional support to burgeoning production at the main electric actuator manufacturing plant, where IQ3, IQT and CVA actuators are built.

The new facilities have freed up space in Rotork’s original head office building, facilitating expansion of international sales, marketing, engineering, research & development and business development departments, positioning Rotork for continued growth in Bath for the foreseeable future.