Project: Crude Oil Refinery Expansion
Client: Lyondell Citgo Refining Company, Ltd.
Location: Houston, TX
Construction Period: 1994 to 1996

In 1994 Lyondell Citgo Refining Company, Ltd., a major U.S. crude oil refinery, awarded Zachry the total construction contract for the expansion of its refinery. The project was the largest of its kind in the United States until 1996. Today, the completed project processes 265,000 barrels of crude oil daily.

The expansion involved construction of a sulfur recovery unit, a crude vacuum unit, a cat-feed hydrotreater unit and a general off-sites and utilities area. In addition to total construction, Zachry’s scope included constructability with the engineers—Bechtel, Kellogg and Prichard—demolition of existing structures, and preparation for new construction.

The project was marked by significant challenges, including the complexity and congestion associated with building inside an operating refinery, and an extremely vertical design that required working platforms more than 220 feet high. Zachry’s detailed materials management systems tracked structural steel, piping spools, valves and equipment in laydown areas spread over the refinery’s 1,250 acres, including remote locations more than three miles away.

At the peak of the project, Zachry employed a direct labor force of 3,000 workers, necessary to mitigate delays in the delivery of structural and piping spools from the owner’s suppliers and to keep the project on schedule. Remote employee parking required detailed planning and marshaling 90 buses to transport employees to the job site.

Zachry’s rigorous safety programs enabled workers, who contended with working near live lines, leaks, fires, gas releases and other hazards, to achieve a total recordable incident rate of less than 0.76 for 6 million direct work hours and 900,000 subcontracted work hours.