Invensys portfolio Invensys Production Management recently signed an agreement with a unit of ChevronTexaco Corporation which provides Invensys with global marketing rights for the PETRO Linear Programming (LP) refinery planning system.

This marketing arrangement combines ChevronTexaco's refinery economic optimisation expertise with Invensys global marketing and engineering support capabilities.

The PETRO software was originally developed by ChevronTexaco in the 1970s. The company continued to pioneer LP system development with the introduction of Distributive Recursion, an LP approach that enables the construction of realistic refinery-wide models.

More recently, ChevronTexaco introduced a fullfeatured Microsoft Windows version of the software. The PETRO software is currently in use at ChevronTexaco and other refineries around the world. Attesting to the capability of the PETRO solution, Solomon Associates, a leading refining industry benchmarking organisation, ranked ChevronTexaco's USbased refineries in the top one per cent of all refineries in the use of economic tools support.

Under this agreement, ChevronTexaco will continue the company's ongoing development activities relative to PETRO, while Invensys says it will assume global marketing, implementation, and support responsibilities for new thirdparty customers.

''PETRO clearly represents the best in class for refinery LP planning systems,'' said Lanny Carr, vice president of the Invensys Process Solutions business unit.

''PETRO complements our current portfolio of advanced refinery economic optimisation applications from Simulation Sciences and other Invensys companies. PETRO's stateof theart features will result in higher productivity for refinery planners, while helping to increase refinery profitability through more accurate LP models.

''For example, PETRO enables detailed economic planning around shutdowns. When exploited correctly, this can save many millions of dollars by maintaining overall refinery profitability, even when individual units are shut down for planned maintenance.

''In addition, PETRO's structure allows users to exploit the synergies with process simulation models  such as provided by SimSci PRO/II software  to create highfidelity LP models which result in highaccuracy, LPbased refinery economic decisionsupport tools.''

Invensys plc says it is a global leader in production technology and energy management. The Group helps customers to improve their performance and profitability using innovative services and technologies and a deep understanding of their industries and applications.

Our Production Management businesses work closely with customers in order to drive up performance of their production assets, maximise their return on investments in production technologies and remove cost and cash from their whole supply chain.

The Division includes Foxboro, Wonderware, Triconex, APV, Eurotherm and Baan. These businesses address process and batch industries  including oil, gas and chemicals, food, beverage and personal healthcare  and the discrete and hybrid manufacturing sectors.

Invensys' Energy Management businesses works with clients involved in the supply, measurement and consumption of energy and water, to reduce costs and waste and improve the efficiency, reliability and security of power supply. The Division includes Energy Management Solutions, Appliance Controls, Climate Controls, Global Services, Metering Systems, Powerware and Home Control Systems. These businesses focus on markets connected with power and energy infrastructure for industrial, commercial and residential buildings.

Invensys operates in more than 80 countries, with its headquarters in the UK.