Oracle South Africa has provided a remote network management service for National Petroleum Refiners of South Africa (Natref), in a move to streamline the maintenance of the refinery`s computer systems and reduce the costs associated with specialist staff.
Natref, jointly owned by Sasol Mining and Total SA, refines crude oil into liquid fuels and other hydrocarbon-based products - mainly automotive petrol and diesel, jet fuel, furnace fuels and bitumen - for the highveld market.
The company, which has a 15% share of the petroleum market, is currently implementing a R770 million project to increase its refining capacity by 22%.
Via its remote management service, Oracle manages the existing Oracle environment at Natref`s Sasolburg plant. It performs all Oracle database administration (DBA) services remotely through an Oracle diagnostic server installed at the refinery.
According to Shane Turner, Premium Services manager at Oracle SA, Oracle is currently monitoring and managing seven Oracle 8i databases remotely. Natref has large Unix/NT-based networks in Sasolburg and at Natcos, its crude oil storage facility near Durban.
"We have implemented advanced replication between Sasolburg and Durban," explains Turner. "The replication system running on the databases controls the level of petrol and movement of fuel between various depots - such as those at Natcos and Natref. The service also manages Natref`s laboratory system and management information systems."
More than 500 people - a combination of administration and management staff - use the service.
Oracle SA uses a secure virtual private network (VPN) supplied by Natref, through which Oracle database administrators daily connect into the diagnostic server.
"If a problem occurs on one database, it informs the diagnostic server which, in turn, sends an SMS or paged message to Oracle SA. Oracle database administrators then access the network and resolve any issues remotely," says Turner, who points out that an additional benefit for Natref is reduced maintenance risk.
"The demand for Oracle database administrator skills is high, and without access to the best Oracle expertise, a company`s IT systems may not achieve full performance or uptime.
"This is a serious problem, which Natref has now overcome by having remote access to highly trained Oracle experts who tackle database management issues quickly and effectively on a 24x7 basis."
Another benefit, Turner adds, is that Natref need not be concerned about keeping abreast of technology, since Oracle`s services team always has access to the latest Oracle product updates.
Who is Natref?
Natref has established itself as a pacesetter refinery in SA and its white product yield from crude oil ranks among the best in the world.
Natref has been certified in terms of the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System for the past four years. The refinery`s high standard of environmental performance is being supplemented with state of the art technology to ensure it conforms to current and future environmental regulations.
Its current expansion, worth R770 million, will increase Natref`s refining capacity from 86 000 to 107 000 barrels per day. The focus of the expansion is on meeting the growth in the market demand for fuels in the inland area. The expansion will enable Natref to convert more than 90% of its crude oil intake to petrol, diesel and jet fuel.
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