ANCAP hosted the ARPEL Workshop "Sharing best practices and lessons learned from the operation and maintenance of auxiliary plants,” which was held September 5-7 in Montevideo, Uruguay.

This is a group of auxiliary plants in refineries, namely treatment systems of liquid and gaseous effluents, amines, sour waters and sulfur plants.

The event was attended by 85 professionals from different Latin American countries. Its aim was to raise awareness of the importance of resource allocation to these units, and also to attract the attention of professionals and organizations on the critical position of these units at the global level in terms of environmental requirements, as they allow compliance with laws governing effluent quality.

"In these two days, the best practices in the operation of the units were exchanged, both through the improvement of work processes and through the implementation of new technologies to meet current legislation, reduce the impact on the community and secure the social license to operate, " Ricardo Buyatti, Downstream Manager of ARPEL, stated. He then added, "The reality is that most of the refineries are currently surrounded by cities so their activity has an impact on local inhabitants."

Some of the topics addressed during the workshop were: The legal liability of operators for the management of plants; Relations with the community management process; Best practices in the operation of biological system; and How we prepare the refinery to deal with climate change.