"It is like the plant is having an 'open heart surgery'" 

Recently I had a site visit to the Celanese Clear Lake Texas Methanol plant Turnaround Catalyst Change Out (CCO) works. This Turnaround is concerning a major project concerning all the required statutory inspections and scheduled maintenance. A joint Mourik Inc. and Mourik Industry Catalyst team is replacing the catalyst in the Pre-Reformer, Primary Reformer, Secondary Reformer, HDS, and 2 Methanol Synthesis Reactors. The site is congested with over 500 craftsman and many pieces of mobile equipment, including cranes, forklifts, etc. Most all operating equipment is opened for inspections, and required maintenance, it is like the plant is having an “open heart surgery”.

I spoke with both day and night shift teams which are very motivated to realize a safe and quality catalyst handling service for our Celanese Clear Lake customer “well done guys!!”. I made a site tour with supervisor Marcel Noorlander and got a good impression of HSE performance and controls. We paid special attention to confined space entry, the application of PPE’s and falling objects.

Furthermore, I participated in a Celanese daily HSE meeting which is well structured, open for dialogue, and sharing best practices. I also spoke with the Celanese HSE Team lead John Mill who mentioned that the HSE performance of the Mourik Inc. team was observed well above average!

I wish the Mourik Inc. team success with the completion of the Celanese Clear Lake 2020 Turnaround project in the course of this month!