Maintenance and service teams on the ground: they ensure the smooth operation of the critical infrastructure for us

In the current situation, Petrol is in touch with its customers, not only through its point-of-sale personnel, but also through its maintenance and service teams from the Technology sector, and the Energy and environmental solutions in public and commercial sectors and in industry and apartment buildings. Their work is less visible and less known; however, in the Coronavirus circumstances, their dedication needs to be highlighted and appreciated even more. This goes for all the Petrol employees working on critical infrastructure who must - also under instructions of the Government - provide a continuous supply of energy products.

And who are the maintenance and service teams that work with all their dedication, despite the fear of getting ill themselves or spreading the virus at home, putting their families in danger, and thus deserving our respect?

There are three support services in the Petrol Technology sector. Maintenance of warehouses, road tankers, aeroservices and KOEL heating oil distribution; Metrology and the environment, and Technological equipment maintenance - service stations and charging stations. They are managed by Gregor Mihevc, Aleksander Letnar, and Aleš Modic. “The greatest danger to get exposed to the Coronavirus infection is at the Srmin Terminal installation, in the Port of Koper, where there are people from all over the world at the tanker terminal. So the most rigorous rules to avoid contact apply here. It is the same at the storage facility that foreign drivers have access to on a daily basis, especially from Italy,” Gregor Mihevc reports. Aleksander Letnar further underlines: “The most dedicated these days are the metrology and service station maintenance teams. In the first two weeks, they were working non-stop in impossible conditions to assemble and mount protection panels on counters at every point-of-sale. But their work is far from over, since they maintain the equipment and ensure its safe operation on a daily basis.” Aleš Modic continues: “Our colleagues keep up a high morale. They understand the supply must continue uninterrupted. We have limited our maintenance works on metering devices at service stations only to necessary interventions. So some of our colleagues have been put on furlough since April.”

There are several support services in the Energy Solutions sector. Peter Oter, Head of the service team for Energy Solutions in public and commercial sectors: “With hotels, recreational centres, public institutions, kindergartens, schools, etc. closed, we are facing fewer facilities under our management and consequently less work. On the other hand, we are operating the critical infrastructure, like health care centres and hospitals, district heating, and water treatment plants. So the service teams on the ground include fewer personnel. Work is performed in a way to limit personal contact as much as possible, so they work individually, or exceptionally in pairs, when two service engineers are needed. They only go in the field in case of emergency repairs, while regular maintenance checks are currently not being performed.” Jaša Žižek Fuis, Head of the Water treatment plant team explains: “Undisturbed operation of 6 major and 52 smaller water treatment plants - these are located at our service stations and fuel storages - is ensured by the entire team of personnel at the water treatment plants. They rotate, follow all protective measures, and perform only essential repairs.”

The sector of Energy solutions in industry and apartment buildings provides service support in the Štore economic zone, where road tankers from Italy come to the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) pumping station, and in Ravne na Koroškem, where receipt and issue takes place in the technical gas storage, and emergency repairs of the water treatment plant and with third customers. Simon Jernej Čanžek, Head of the Štore team: “The LPG supply is running smoothly, as well as the supply from Italy. We follow safety precautions that apply to storages, and perform only the essential maintenance works.” Iztok Pšeničnik, Head of the Ravne na Koroškem team: “The teams are working in shifts to ensure an uninterrupted supply to the industry in the Ravne economic zone and to the heating locations. We only perform essential maintenance work, with the exception of two water treatment plants that require regular checks, metering, and other works to ensure normal operation. We all follow all the safety instructions, and aim to perform our work without social contact.”