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As Storm Molave, the most powerful in 20 years, is fast approaching Vietnam, subsidiaries of the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam or PVN) which are located in areas vulnerable to the storm, have proactively taken measures to protect oil and gas projects and assist local communities when necessary.

BSR Director General Bui Minh Tien (second, left) discuss anti-storm measures with O&M experts (Photo: courtesy of PetroVietnam)

As Storm Molave, the most powerful in 20 years, is fast approaching Vietnam, subsidiaries of the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam or PVN) which are located in areas vulnerable to the storm, have proactively taken measures to protect oil and gas projects and assist local communities when necessary.

According to the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, since noon October 27, waters offshore Quang Ngai province have seen strong winds of up to 116km per hour (Beaufort 9-11), which are to intensify to Beaufort 12 (149km per hour) with gusts of up to 183km per hour, along with sea waves of 6-8m high. Torrential rain is expected with total precipitation of 250-450mm.

Located in Quang Ngai province, the Dung Quat refinery has paid special attention to preparations to cope with the storm, which is threatening its safety as the refinery is designed to stand gusts of up to 220km per hour.

Under instructions of the group’s leadership and in the spirit of being prepared for any situation, the refinery’s operator – the Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Joint Stock Company (BSR) has been urgently implementing measures to ensure safety for Dung Quat.

On October 26, the BSR issued an instruction on solutions to cope with Storm Molave, which are guided by the Four On-Spot motto: on-spot forces, on-spot leadership, on-spot materials and on-spot logistics.

The company’s Environment Safety Board has been on duty around the clock at the firefighting station and keep search-and-rescue forces and vehicles standby in order to timely respond to emergencies. The company also maintains close coordination with the local coast guard and police forces to ensure security and order at the refinery’s units during bad weather conditions.

The department in charge of operations and maintenance conducts regular inspections of equipment, machineries, lighting systems, sewerage and other infrastructure works and gets response plans ready for incidents, if any, to ensure the smooth and continuous operation of the refinery.

For the refinery’s port, the department has coordinated with the port management board and the Environment Safety Board to fasten machineries and equipment.

At the latest emergency meeting on storm preparations, the BSR management again reminded departments to review the safety of workshops, and instructed assigning more personnel to be on-duty at the department in charge of operations and maintenance.

The seaport management board was required to design plans to oversee and react to any emergencies at the Single Point Mooring (SPM) Buoy Mooring systems. The department in charge of storage tanks must ensure safety in accordance with stipulated process. In particular, the 66 non-standard storage facilities should be consolidated.

The company’s office has inspected the safety of offices and other facilities, pruned and reinforced trees, dredged drainage canals and prepared spare electricity generators.

The signboard at the BSR’s gate is dismounted ahead of the arrival of storm Molave (Photo: courtesy of PetroVietnam)

In the morning of October 27, the company’s managerial officials inspected anti-storm work at a number of facilities in Dung Quat refinery, such as the materials storage, technological workshops, pipelines and the port. The officials also instructed heads of functional departments to assign managerial staff to be on duty so as to timely respond to emergencies when the storm hits.

Meanwhile, at the Dung Quat Shipbuilding Industry Company (DQS), as of 3pm on October 27, preparations to cope with the storm had completed based on the Four On-spot principle. The company’s steering committee for prevention and control of flood, storm and natural disasters had examined offices, workshops, storage facilities and machineries to ensure their safety.

Workers dismantle scaffolding at Dung Quat shipyard ahead of storm Molave (Photo: courtesy of PetroVietnam)

Director of the project on renovating the Galilean 7 held a meeting with the ship’s owner and the shipyard to draft a plan to protect the ship against the storm.

Other PetroVietnam units located in areas to be affected by storm Molave have also quickly implemented measures to ensure absolute safety for oil and gas works.

In addition, the subsidiaries also worked out plans to provide support for the local communities when necessary./.