Honeywell Receives Contract for Advanced Control and Training at PETRON Corporation

Business Wire, July 7, 1997

PHOENIX--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 7, 1997--PETRON Corporation of the Philippines has awarded Honeywell Industrial Automation and Control a major contract for advanced control and training at its Bataan refinery. The project involves Honeywell's Robust Multivariable Predictive Control Technology (RMPCT), and TRAINER, its dynamic training simulator.

Petron Corporation is the largest refiner and marketer of petroleum products in the Philippines. Petron's refinery in Limay, Bataan is the largest in the Philippines with a crude distillation capacity of 165,000 barrels per day .

The project will be implemented by Honeywell Hi-Spec Solutions, a leading supplier of advanced software applications, process training, and consulting services to the hydrocarbon processing, chemical, and pulp and paper industries.

Advanced control strategies will be applied to a number of units, including atmospheric pipestill, thermofor catalytic cracking, and catalytic reformer. The operator training simulation will be implemented for the catalytic reformer and sulfur recovery units, along with generic simulations of vacuum distillation and crude distillation. The project will be implemented over two years, with the first phase scheduled for completion in June, 1998 and completion of the second phase in 1999.

Since its introduction over a year ago, RMPCT has gained wide market acceptance and has been implemented on more than 60 process units around the world, on a variety of refining and chemical processes. RMPCT provides significant benefits to users including increased plant throughput, less property give-away or greater quality consistency, and reduced energy consumption. In addition, RMPCT yields outstanding payback times -- normally less than one year and often only a few months.

The TRAINER System is a high-fidelity, dynamic process simulator for operator training and plant check-out which can be connected directly to the operator console of the plant control system. Instructors working at separate consoles can set training exercises which allow operators to practice how to start-up a plant, operate it under varying conditions, optimize production and shut it down. Instructors can also introduce malfunctions and process disturbances so operators can learn how to handle rare emergencies before they actually occur. The result is shorter start-up time, increased productivity, fewer accidents and fewer shutdowns.

For additional information, write to: Honeywell Inquiries, 2800 Wells Branch Parkway, Austin, TX 78728. Inquires also may be made by phone, 1-800-288-7491, or by fax, 512-244-9222. Additional information also can be ordered via Honeywell Industrial Automation and Control's Worldwide Web site, at http://www.iac.honeywell.com.

Honeywell is a global controls company providing products, systems and services that increase comfort, environmental protection, energy conservation, productivity and safety in homes and buildings, industry, and aviation and space. The company employs 53,000 people in 95 countries on six continents and had 1996 sales of $7.3 billion.

CONTACT: Anne McCarthy

Honeywell Inc.

Industrial Automation and Control

(602) 313-5586