Petrochemical Plants Research Articles

INTELLIGENT PRODUCTION PLANNING AND OPTIMISATION TOOL FOR GAS PROCESSING COMPLEX

Structured production planning is very important to achieve good financial performance in the oil and gas industry. This is especially crucial in an integrated oil and gas supply chain which encompasses feed gas supply, gas processing plants, and petrochemical plants. In the current offshore production climate, the nature of feed gas qualities has evolved. Gas from offshore fields has progressed from having minimal to much higher CO2 content, exceeding the CO2 limits of existing gas processing plants. It is generally impossible to curtail productions from high CO2 gas fields, leading to a loss of revenue. Optimised blending of the feed gas sources is therefore vital to adjust to this changing environment. An intelligent production planning tool was designed to meet the multiple objectives of a gas plant and optimise production. The sales gas demand must first be met based on available feed gas supply and individual plant availability and reliability. Economic factors such as maximising profit from by-products were also factored in by ranking the loading of each processing plant and prioritising plants with higher recovery. Planning strategies were also tailored to each plant’s unique operational limits and turndowns, modes, and challenges. Combining these complex objectives and constraints into a powerful optimisation tool allows a new level of connected intelligence in the production planning of the gas processing complex. The innovative optimisation tool was officially released in 2019 and is currently utilised by production planners in different modes: long-term (5-year duration), medium-term (90 days), and daily operational planning. The planning tool was also designed to be digital-ready and equipped with much improved automation and robustness to embrace the digital transformation agenda. These optimised workflows would improve efficiency and ultimately result in better production planning and decision-making by plant personnel.
 Keywords: Production planning

APPLICATION OF WOBBE INDEX ANALYSER FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY OPTIMISATION OF COMBUSTION PROCESS CONTROL

The increasing needs to optimise the cost of operation for the oil and gas industry has put more significant demand for Engineers to seek innovative technology and enhanced process design application to save energy. One of the key areas to improve energy efficiency is combustion equipment which consumes a significant amount of fuel gas. The conventional method of air-fuel ratio control using excess oxygen at the exhaust stack is the most common mean of combustion control. This method is effective if the fuel gas composition is stable with minimum fluctuation in Gross heating value. In practice, most modern refineries, gas processing plants, and petrochemical plants have multiple fuel gas sources from flash gas or residue off-gas generated by the intermediate process. The composition can vary widely, making it challenging for conventional air-fuel ratio control via access oxygen. A sudden change of the fuel gas composition can potentially result in unpredictability combustion, leading to equipment inefficiency and the possibility of causing damage to the equipment & product quality, thus leading to economic loss.
 Wobbe index analyser can determine the exact heating value of fuel gas used for combustion and thus eliminate unstable fuel gas composition issues. The Wobbe index analyser provides compensated value to fuel gas control system to enhance the air-fuel ratio control, leading to more efficient energy management of combustion control equipment.

Divergent patterns of heavy metal accumulation in paddy fields affect the dietary safety of rice: a case study in Maoming City, China.

The objective of this work was to study the impact of large petrochemical plants and mining operations on the accumulation of heavy metals in farmland and rice, as well as assess their potential risks on human health. The contents of seven heavy metals, Cd, Pb, Cr, Ni, Co, Cu, and Mn, were monitored in a typical polluted paddy soil-rice system near a petrochemical plant and mining area in Maoming, China. The results showed that the content of Cd in the soil exceeds the standard rate by 100%, and the single factor pollution index of Cd was 5.12, which is considered heavy pollution. Excessive heavy metals can inhibit and poison the growth of rice plants. Rice plants can maintain a certain level of heavy metal content by reducing the absorption or interception in the root cells, leading to great differences in the distribution of different heavy metals in plant tissues. Cadmium, Cu, Co, and Mn are easily absorbed from the soil by rice roots, while other heavy metals are relatively difficult to absorb by rice roots. Cuprum, Cd, Co, Pb, and Cr were mainly accumulated in the root of rice, but Mn and Ni migrate to the above ground plant tissues quickly. The brown rice produced in the paddy fields in the study area was seriously polluted. The concentration of Cd, Pb, and Ni in brown rice exceeded the standard by 100%, and Cr in brown rice also exceeded the standard by 80%. If residents consume rice from the study area, their daily intake of Cr and Cd will be 1.02 and 3.24 times higher, respectively, than the standard limit recommended by the FAO/WHO. The irrigation streams were polluted due to the discharge of petrochemical plants and mining wastewater, causing the serious pollution of heavy metals in the surrounding paddy fields. The rice produced in this area poses a serious risk to consumers, and so this problem of pollution should be addressed.

Polycarbonate/copper oxide mixed matrix membrane for separation of lead and cadmium from industrial effluents

ABSTRACT In this study, PC/CuO ultrafiltration adsorptive mixed matrix membranes (AMMM) were synthesized using phase inversion method to remove lead (Pb (II)) and cadmium (Cd (II)) from a petrochemical plant synthetic effluent. The effects of CuO on pure water flux, hydrophilicity, porosity and membrane adsorption capacity were studied. FESEM and AFM tests were used to investigate the structure and surface roughness of the prepared membrane. The results showed that by increasing the loading of CuO in AMMM, the total porosity, average pore size, hydrophilicity, surface roughness and water flux increased. The heavy metal adsorption on PC/CuO-AMMMs were adequately interpreted by the Langmuir isotherm. Our findings showed that the membrane produced with the highest loading of CuO had the highest adsorption capacity and offers a maximum adsorption capacity of 22.9 and 21.6 g/m2 for lead and cadmium respectively. By placing the cation-saturated AMMMs in a regeneration solution, up to 95% and 94%, respectively, for lead and cadmium adsorption recovery was experienced. This indicates the reversibility of the fabricated membranes to remove lead and cadmium cations via a simple regeneration method in a multicycle process.

NEW SURVEYING TASKS IN AUTOMATED INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

In 2018, the Pavlodar petrochemical plant introduced a modern system of maintenance and repair, designed to modernize and improve the production process. A maintenance system consisting of subsystems allows: - organizing a system for managing the condition of the company fixed assets taking into account the current condition of the equipment; - receiving information about the performed maintenance, repair or replacement works, about reducing the risks of unplanned production downtime; - determining the feasibility of repairing or replacing equipment based on the total cost of maintenance; - establishing the validity of planning for the procurement of spare parts and materials for scheduled repairs; - reducing the risk of missing spare parts in case of emergency shutdown of equipment. The process of implementation and expansion of maintenance subsystems is ongoing. The Engineering Data Creation and Management (EDCM) system is being introducing using AVEVA solutions. The introducing and integration of EDCM is carried out with the IBM Maximo subsystem of the maintenance system based on a three-dimensional digital plant model, created in the AVEVA Everything 3D software. A brief description of the process of creating a three-dimensional model of an industrial enterprise, its connection with a maintenance system, as well as the transformation of surveying information through the lens of the development of digital transformation of surveying information when creating digital twins of industrial enterprises, using the example of creating a 3D model of PNHZ for an engineering data management system is given. As a result of the 3D modeling development in the framework of the widespread introduction of digitalization in manufacture, surveying works received a new launch for development. It should be noted that surveying measurements are the key to the success of a complex and multi-stage technological process for creating and operating a digital spatial twin or 3D plant model in a TOPO system.

СОКРАЩЕНИЕ ЭНЕРГОПОТРЕБЛЕНИЯ УСТАНОВКИ РЕКТИФИКАЦИИ БУТИЛОВЫХ СПИРТОВ ЗА СЧЕТ ИСКЛЮЧЕНИЯ ИЗ РАБОТЫ КОЛОННЫ

A large consumption of energy resources of petrochemical plant ANHK is account ed by the rectification of butyl alcohols (more than 65% industrial water and about 40% steam). In or der to reduce energy consumption, it was decided to exclude one of the columns from operation at the 
 stage of rectification butyl alcohols. As a result, the consumption of energy resources was reduced.

Continuous Characterization of the Odour Emissions by Advanced Instrumental Odour Monitoring System in Oil Refinery and Petrochemical Plant

Oil refinery and petrochemical plants are of crucial importance to enhance world economy. Besides the related considerable economic impact of this industries, the population and governments pose towards a great attention which boosted the necessity of developing effective tools for the control of the associated environmental pressures, without hindering economy growth. Among the environmental aspects of key relevance in the refinery sector, air quality and atmospheric pollution in terms of odour emissions, especially in the last years, have become a priority concern in the management of the plants. The monitoring and control of the odour emissions are thus needed in order to prevent potential impact and avoid complaints from the exposed population. Nowadays, senso-instrumental methods by using Instrumental Odour Emissions Systems (IOMSs) represents the most attractive tool for the monitoring of environmental odours, allowing the possibility to obtain real-time and continuous information’s, to support the decision-making process and for the implementation of proactive approach. No universally accepted regulation or standardized procedure exist at present and limited data are available in the scientific and technical literature with reference to these systems for the odour monitoring control in the oil refinery plants. In the CEN/TC264 ‘Air Quality’ standardization committee, a specific working group (WG41) is currently working to produce a validation procedure for the IOMSs. The research presents and discusses an advanced instrumental odour monitoring system device useful for the continuous characterization of the odour emissions in complex oil refinery and petrochemical plants. The influence of the use of different feature extraction methods in the odour monitoring model elaboration, in terms of classification, is analysed. Results demonstrate the existence of considerable differences in terms of correct classification percentage, in the use of different feature extraction methods. The importance and usefulness of having a fully-developed flexible system that allows to select and compare automatically different settings options, as the different feature extraction methods, in order to guarantee the best training model, is highlighted. Results demonstrated the high reliability of the system in recognizing artificial gas samples, with characteristics similar to the emissions from refinery plants.

Lights and Shadows of the Voc Emission Quantification

Nowadays, Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) are a class of air pollutants increasingly studied in the scientific literature, due to the well-known impact on human health and the environment. They can be emitted from different sources, including various types of industrial plants, such as oil refinery and petrochemical plants. For these reasons, the attention of control agencies on VOC emissions has increased and with it the request to quantify the total amount of VOC emitted by a plant, to monitor and to reduce this emission. However, several critical aspects still exist related to the classification of VOCs and their quantification. Indeed, different definitions of VOC are reported in scientific and technical literature. These diversities result in multiple strategies for quantifying the VOCs emitted by an industrial plant. Therefore, this paper reviews the available regulation about the quantification of VOC emitted from industrial plants, focusing on refineries and petrochemical plants, to underline some formal inconsistencies in VOC estimation procedures. From this comparison, it appears clear that VOC quantification can be addressed in different manners, obtaining a substantial non-uniformity of the VOC emission data. The data difference can conduct to a misleading estimation of emission rate.

Effects of heavy metal contamination released by petrochemical plants on marine life and water quality of coastal areas.

The present study attempts to assess the threat of water contamination in Persian Gulf by heavy metals (Fe, Cr, Pb, Cu, Zn, Cd, Se, and Ni) and its subsequent effects on five fish species including Scomberomorus guttatus (S. guttatus), Lethrinus nebulosus (L. nebulosus), Brachirus orientalis (B. orientalis), Pomadasys kaakan (P. kaakan), and Scomberomorus commerson (S. commerson). Water and fish samples from fourteen monitoring stations were obtained to determine the concentrations of contaminants in water and fish. Heavy metal pollution index (HMPI) and non-carcinogenic hazard quotient (NHQI) were employed to evaluate contamination level in water and fish muscle. The Kriging geostatistical method was employed to determine the spatial distribution of different heavy metals around petrochemical plants. The highest NHQI values for P. kaakan and B. orientalis species were 1.036 and 1.046, respectively. In both cases, the NHQI values were higher than the maximum allowable value of 1, indicating that both fish species were on the verge of contamination by heavy metals, which in turn makes the consumption of these fish highly hazardous to human health. The lowest NHQI value was observed in S. commerson species at a value of 0.394, indicating its harmlessness to human health. Overall, fish species living within the top 5 m of the water column (S. commerson and S. guttatus) were found to be less contaminated by heavy metals compared to species dwelling near the seafloor (P. kaakan and B. orientalis). Results also indicated the pollution absorption rate in S. commerson and S. guttatus were 0.45 and 3.4 mg/kg-year, while the corresponding values for the B. orientalis and L. nebulosus species were 6 and 2 mg/kg-year, respectively. P. kaakan species showed a pollution absorption rate of 3.2 mg/kg-year. High heavy metal concentrations of 4.8, 10, 9.8, 5.2, 9.4, and 6.7 mg/L were obtained for Cr, Zn, Pb, Ni, Fe, Cu, and Cd, respectively, in water samples obtained from stations nearby petrochemical plants. The HMPI index for the most contaminated stations was ten times that of the maximum allowable limit. Given the intense activity of oil, gas, and petrochemical plants in the Persian Gulf, defining safe fishing areas by management practices similar to contamination zoning maps presented in this study can substantially protect the public health from heavy metal contamination.

Corrosion of a chrome-moly pipe transporting sulfuric acid in a demineralization section: a failure analysis

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to carry out an analysis of the corrosion failure on a chrome-moly pipeline transporting highly concentrated sulfuric acid in a demineralization section at a petrochemical plant, along with the feasibility of using inhibitors to minimize the corrosive effects of sulfuric acid.Design/methodology/approachX-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, high-resolution optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and accelerated corrosion experiments (ACE) were performed.FindingsErosion-corrosion failure was confirmed by the significant reduction in thickness of the internal surface of the material exposed to sulfuric acid, as well as the formation of an oxide scale/layer. ACE accurately predicted high material loss from exposure to sulfuric acid. Moreover, adding ascorbic acid as a corrosion inhibitor (even at low concentrations) was found to reduce the oxidation by more than 50% in the presence of sulfuric acid.Originality/valueThe main idea/purpose of this work relies on the analysis of recurrent real-life corrosion-attributed failures that are common in industry but are not properly addressed for a variety of reasons, poor management and lack of corrosion preventive strategies being the main ones. This study once again highlights readily available solutions/implementations that are capable of not only addressing technically the issue investigated but also, and as important, economically. By using microscopic imaging, reliable well-tested and widely used characterization methods, all combined with basic experiments and tests, the nature of the repetitive failure investigated was clearly demonstrated as well as readily available alternatives to minimize it in the short term. Nevertheless, implementing material selection techniques appropriately as effective corrosion prevention/control and cost-saving strategies must be enforced in any process.

Establishing the root cause of a failure in a firewater pipeline

This paper investigates a microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC) in a buried firewater pipeline in a petrochemical plant. The failure in this case is in the form of large tubercles inside pipes. Tubercle blisters were made of colonies of microorganisms and corrosion products. The formation of tubercles is often an indication of MIC. MIC-induced blistering is usually associated with pitting and this in long-term operation can be devastating, when it comes to the integrity and reliability of a buried firewater pipeline. This paper investigates a MIC-related failure in a buried firewater pipeline. Microstructural, corrosion, and biofilm analyses were used to thoroughly evaluate the root cause of this failure. Failure in this case was analyzed using visual observations, X-Ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, optical, and electron microscopies. Results showed that the observed failure of the pipeline in this case is due to sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) corrosion. Some mitigation measures were proposed to minimize the risk of similar failures in firewater pipelines.

Discussion on the Economic Benefits Brought by Energy Saving Optimization of Control System of Large Compressor Unit in Petrochemical Plant

Discussion on the Economic Benefits Brought by Energy Saving Optimization of Control System of Large Compressor Unit in Petrochemical Plant

A Case Study of an Industrial Power Plant under Cyberattack: Simulation and Analysis

For critical infrastructures, technological developments regarding real-time data transmission and processing improve the system’s operability and reliability. However, vulnerabilities are introduced in the case of implementing new remote access methods or where redundancy is low. At the national level, most critical infrastructures are connected, and, therefore, achieving a level of security and resilience is based on identifying a multitude of risks. In this respect, the reduction of risk to acceptable levels directly affects the quality of citizens’ lives and decreases losses in the industry. This study starts from the threats to power systems, namely cyberattacks, which are much more dangerous, although less visible, to operators, and almost invisible to the public or the media. From this point of view, it was proved that the most vulnerable parts of the power system were human–machine interfaces, electrical equipment, Surveillance, Control, and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems. This paper’s main achievements include the simulation of cyberattacks on existing electrical equipment from a petrochemical plant (case study), which consists of modifying the remote data transmitted by the SCADA system. Two locations were submitted to simulated cyberattacks that were considered critical for the overall plant operation. Furthermore, the changes that occur following each fault resulting from the cyberattack and the influence of the electrical parameter changes upon the process flow were analyzed. Furthermore, by using Electrical Power System Analysis Software—ETAP—the changes that occur following each fault due to the cyberattack and the influence of the electrical parameter changes upon the process flow were analyzed. By considering the two malfunction events, the resilience assessment of the system was analyzed. In the second case, only partial resilience action, up to 40%, restored the operability of the industrial power plant.

Biomarkers of Low-Level Environmental Exposure to Benzene and Oxidative DNA Damage in Primary School Children in Sardinia, Italy.

Background: The main anthropic sources of exposure to airborne benzene include vehicular traffic, cigarette smoke, and industrial emissions. Methods: To detect early genotoxic effects of environmental exposure to benzene, we monitored environmental, personal, and indoor airborne benzene in children living in an urban area and an area near a petrochemical plant. We also used urinary benzene and S-phenylmercapturic acid (S-PMA) as biomarkers of benzene exposure and urinary 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) as a biomarker of early genotoxic effects. Results: Although always below the European Union limit of 5 μg/m3, airborne benzene levels were more elevated in the indoor, outdoor, and personal samples from the industrial surroundings compared to the urban area (p = 0.026, p = 0.005, and p = 0.001, respectively). Children living in the surroundings of the petrochemical plant had urinary benzene values significantly higher than those from the urban area in both the morning and evening samples (p = 0.01 and p = 0.02, respectively). Results of multiple regression modelling showed that age was a significant predictor of 8-OHdG excretion, independent of the sampling hour. Moreover, at the low exposure level experienced by the children participating in this study, neither personal or indoor airborne benzene level, nor personal monitoring data, affected 8-OHdG excretion. Conclusions: Our results suggest the importance of biological monitoring of low-level environmental exposure and its relation to risk of genotoxic effects among children.

Application of PCA and Classification for Fault Diagnosis of MAB Installed in Petrochemical Plant Process Facilities

In large systems, such as power plants or petrochemical plants, various equipment (e.g., compressors, pumps, turbines, etc.) are typically deployed. Each piece of equipment operates under generally harsh operating conditions, depending on its purpose, and operates with a probability of failure. Therefore, several sensors are attached to monitor the status of each piece of equipment to observe its conditions; however, there are many limitations in monitoring equipment using thresholds such as maximum and minimum values of data. Therefore, this study introduces a technology that can diagnose fault conditions by analyzing several sensor data obtained from plant operation information systems. The equipment for the case study was a main air blower (MAB), an important cooling equipment in the plant process. The driving sensor data were analyzed for approximately three years, measured at the plant. The fault history of the actual process was also analyzed. Due to the large number of sensors installed in the MAB system, a dimension reduction method was applied with the principal component analysis (PCA) method when analyzing collected sensor data. For application to PCA, the collected sensor data were analyzed according to the statistical analysis method and data features were extracted. Then, the features were labeled and classified according to normal and fault operating conditions. The analyzed features were converted with a diagnosis model, by dimensional reduction, applying the PCA method and a classification algorithm. Finally, to validate the diagnosis model, the actual failure signal that occurred in the plant was applied to the suggested method. As a result, the results from diagnosing signs of failure were confirmed even before the failure occurred. This paper explains the case study of fault diagnosis for MAB equipment with the suggested method and its results.

Effect of high temperature service on the complex through-wall microstructure of centrifugally cast HP40 reformer tube

Centrifugally cast reformer tubes are used in petrochemical plants for hydrogen production. Due to the conditions of hydrogen production, reformer tubes are exposed to high temperature which causes creep damage inside the microstructure. In this study, two different ex-service HP40 alloy reformer tubes which come from the same steam reformer unit have been compared by microstructural characterisation performed at a range of length scales from mm to μm. Analyses performed by EBSD (Electron Backscatter Diffraction), EDS (Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy) and PCA (Principal Component Analysis) show that both tubes have similar microstructural constituents, with the presence of an austenitic matrix and several phases (M23C6, G phase and M6C) at the grain boundaries. Even if both tubes have a similar microstructure, one tube due to its localisation inside the steam reformer unit presents a region with more micro cracks which may indicate that this tube has accumulated more creep damage than the other one.

Industrial tomographic gamma scan for demister evaluation

The industrial tomographic 2-D gamma scan is an innovative non-destructive nuclear test designed to troubleshoot problems with process equipment, such as distillation columns and reactors. Due to physical restrictions, normally the gamma ray source and detector can only be positioned laterally to the equipment. The 2-D gamma scan is able to reconstruct the interior of the equipment even under this restriction, generating rectangular 2-D axial density profiles of equipment. To obtain clear reconstructions, it is necessary to collimate the detector, discarding the divergent incoming rays. It is not possible to use physical collimation in an industrial environment, as it is impossible to point the detector precisely in the direction of the gamma-ray emitter. In this article, we describe a technique we call “electronic collimation for gamma scan” that allows obtaining collimated data without physical collimation. We use 2-D gamma scan to evaluate a huge dilution steam drum in a large petrochemical plant to investigate possible problems with three demister pads. The low density of the demisters when compared to the vessel and surroundings makes it difficult to generate a reconstructed image where demisters are clearly visible. We describe how we overcome these difficulties using information known a priori about the equipment. We also ran simulations to show the superiority of 2-D gamma scan over conventional scan. These simulations also showed that, if there were defects in the demisters, we would observe them in the reconstructed images. We conclude that electronic collimation and prior information are essential for evaluating properly equipment with challenging layouts and low density parts.

Management of sanitary supervision of occupational health at oil refineries and petrochemical plants (analytical review)

Relevance. Occupational health (factory medicine) as applied medical science provides sanitary inspection practice with theoretical generalizations for rational holding and increase in efficiency of control (supervising) actions. Currently, oil processing and petrochemical plants showed scientific and technical progress with the implementation of new technologies and automation of production, toughening of requirements of industrial safety, and labor protection. But this industry still represents technically difficult huge complexes of the fire and explosion hazardous equipment with harmful intensive chemical and noise effects on the environment and in the first turn, on the workers. Among objects of sanitary inspection in any region of the enterprise, oil processing and petrochemistry represent various conglomerates of the main, the auxiliary and providing production of the demanding special receptions in the analysis and preventions of their harm and danger not only to workers, but also to the population. Aim of the study. To analyze existing hygienic characteristics and requirements to factors of the production environment and work, for the modem enterprises of oil processing and petrochemistry in control (supervising) actions for the increase in efficiency of the leading function of service for managing and supervision in ensuring sanitary and epidemiologic wellbeing of the population of the Russian Federation, consumer protection and rendering the methodical help to practical employees of service. Conclusions. The most relevant documents are selected and literature sources are listed to optimize the leading function of the Federal Service for Supervision in the Field of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Well-being for control and supervision in the field of ensuring the sanitary and epidemiological well-being of the population of the Russian Federation and consumer rights protection.

Microstructural investigation on the failure in APMT/KHR45A dissimilar weld interface after long-term service at high temperature

We report our findings of a detailed investigation into the frequent failures of ethylene furnace radiant tubes at a petrochemical plant. One of the failed samples having gas tungsten arc welded joint between Kanthal-APMT(Fe-based) and KHR45A(Ni-based) which had served for 2 years at 950 °C as an actual ethylene furnace tube was analyzed and turned out to have fracture occurred at the welding interface between the different metals. The detailed microstructural study revealed that the failure was induced by the massive formation of NiAl intermetallic phase and Cr23C6 carbide along the weld interface. To further discuss the failure mechanism, three additional specimens were made in as-welded and heat-treated (at 950 °C for 170 and 1000 h) conditions. Microstructural observation on the additional specimens revealed the enhanced diffusion of Al from APMT weld metal into KHR45A and, as a result, the early-stage precipitation of NiAl intermetallic phase in Al-enriched KHR45A side almost covering the weld interface was successfully detected, which plausibly explains the premature failures in the petrochemical plant.

A Review on the Reliability, Performance and Utilization of Nigerian Petrochemical Industry

Nigeria established three petrochemical plants in Warri, Kaduna, and Eleme respectively, between the year 1988 and 1995. They were designed to produce feedstocks for the country’s plastics, rubber and detergent industries. The poor performance of the three state-owned plants and the unsuccessful outcomes of other proposed petrochemical plans discouraged the government from establishing new ones. This situation led to both losses in revenue and low capacity utilization. The Eleme petrochemical complex was later sold to Indorama, a private concern, which surprisingly turned around the fortunes of the plant within three years. This paper gives an in-depth insight into the present condition of the Nigeria petrochemical sector and examines the causes of the suboptimal performance of the state-owned petrochemical companies based on previous reviews. Finally, the cause and effect tool (Ishikawa or Fishbone diagram) summed up all highlighted factors under the seven M’s (Material, Method, Measurement, Manpower, Management, Machine and Mother Nature) umbrella.