Swedish £4.6m shutdown contract is delivered by DTEC

Refinery and petrochemical turnaround specialist DTEC Site Services has completed a £4.6million contract at the Preemraff oil refinery in Sweden.

DTEC on the Airfield Industrial Estate at Hixon, near Stafford, where it employs 14 is part of the Engenda Group, which was set up in 2009 by engineering entrepreneur Les O'Hare to provide a complete mechanical, electrical and instrumentation service.

DTEC operations director Steve Colclough said the 12-week project involved more than 150 men carrying out highly skilled shutdown service and included the inspection and repair of more than 200 distillation columns responsible for processing crude oil.

Preem is the largest oil company in Sweden and both of its refineries in Lysekil and Gothenburg are organised and operated as one joint refinery – Preemraff.

"This major European contract was 10 months in the planning phase before the execution team flew to Sweden to actually do the job. It was a complex multi-column project and one of the largest DTEC has ever carried out. The work was completed during a planned shutdown of the refinery. The distillation columns were isolated by DTEC and cleaned with high pressure water jetting equipment. DTEC workers then entered the columns for routine maintenance and inspections.

"Once inside we had to address a challenging number of repairs and revamp work. This included the application of automated weld overlay and the cutting out and replacement of heavy duty reactor vessel components.

"Importantly we performed the work on time and to budget, which is imperative for industrial operations of this scale," said Mr Colclough. DTEC's extended service covers installation of all types of distillation equipment through to specialist welding services.

Mr Colclough added that the latest project also demonstrated the group's strength in planning, logistics and safety standards.

"We take great pride in the flexibility, speed and reliability of our service. The scale of our business enables us to move swiftly. We sent out a large team of UK engineers and recruited top-level contractors from the continent. We also shipped heavy duty fabrication materials out to complete the job.

"Customer service and communication is also of paramount importance. We ensure we are clear and concise about our actions every step of the way. The Preem project also highlights our exemplary record in safety standards marking tens of thousands more labour hours completed without incident," he explained.

DTEC Site Services was incorporated in May 2005 by Mr Colclough. Progressive penetration of the UK refining sector was achieved in the first few years and the company reached turnover figure of £2m by 2007. This became a sustainable figure for the following two to three years but with further growth hindered by the credit crunch it was clear that the company needed capital investment to achieve further growth.

In 2010, Steve Colclough entered into negotiations with Mr O'Hare of the Engenda Group and a deal was concluded in February 2011 for Engenda to purchase DTEC from Steve. With the cashflow constraints removed, DTEC has achieved rapid growth and in 2014 will be at £7m-plus turnover. It employs 14 at its Hixon base.