Galp runs the Sines refinery, the only operating refinery in Portugal, and this page is for the HSE, instrumentation and telecoms people deciding which explosion proof mobile phone may be carried into its process units. The IS-04Z1 is an intrinsically safe Android handset designed for Zone 1 and Zone 21, with certification in progress ahead of a Q4 2026 launch.
Launching Q4 2026 · certification programme in progress
The Sines refinery is a deep-conversion plant rated at around 220,000 barrels a day. Its crude and atmospheric distillation units feed a fluid catalytic cracker and a hydrocracker, which Galp has described as processing about 43,000 barrels a day of heavy vacuum gasoil. Around those sit hydrogen supply, sulphur recovery, storage tanks and the jetties on the port side. Naphtha, LPG and light ends give gas-group IIA and IIB atmospheres; the hydrogen systems are group IIC; hydrogen sulphide is present wherever sour streams are handled. Dust is a minor concern here, so the working picture is Zone 1 and Zone 2 gas areas spread across a very large footprint.
The classification decides whether a device may be carried at all. After that, the layout and the shutdown calendar decide whether it is useful.
A walking round at a refinery of this size covers kilometres between the distillation area, the cracker, the tank farm and the jetties. The 4,000 mAh battery is specified to last a shift, because a charging point inside a classified area is not something an operator can count on.
When the plant stops, contractor numbers rise sharply and each person needs an accepted device. A handset managed from the operator's existing console, with Android Enterprise policies pushed in advance, is easier to issue and to recover than a pile of personal phones.
Salt-laden wind, rain and wash-down are routine at the jetties and on the exposed structures. IP68 sealing is aimed at that environment, and the 50 MP camera records defects for the work order instead of relying on a description.
Refineries control cameras. The sensible answer is a camera that the operator's own console can disable by area or by user, which Android Enterprise management is designed to allow.
Operators record readings, photograph a leaking flange and call the control room from the same device. Four-constellation GNSS places the defect on the unit rather than in a verbal description.
Each shutdown brings contractors who must be enrolled, briefed and badged within days. A single intrinsically safe handset model simplifies that process, and the console can lock it to the permit and inspection applications Galp has approved.
Press reports describe a 100 MW electrolyser at the refinery due to enter operation in the second half of 2026. Hydrogen is group IIC, which is why IIC is the design target and not IIB.
The product requirement is the ATEX 2014/34/EU certificate and CE marking, with the marking string, temperature class and gas group stated so that the refinery's explosion protection document can record why the device suits each zone. Galp's own contractor and equipment onboarding is a separate step; we do not describe a programme name for it. Ask Galp's procurement and HSE teams what documents they need before a new device class is allowed through the gate.
Seveso upper-tier controls on a refinery usually add restrictions on ignition sources, photography and lone working. A handset that supports a managed camera policy and a lone-worker application helps with those, but the operator's rules remain the starting point. No certificate has been issued for the IS-04Z1, so no unit is supplied for use in a classified area until it exists.
Galp announced that refining would stop at Matosinhos and concentrate on Sines, and press reports date the halt to October 2020. The site now handles storage and distribution, which is a different classified-area profile from a process plant, and a different conversation about handsets.
It strengthens the case for group IIC equipment. Electrolyser halls and hydrogen compression are where an IIB-only device would be excluded. The IS-04Z1 is being certified to Ex ib IIC T4 as its marking target.
That is Galp's rule, not ours, and most refineries prohibit uncertified phones in classified areas. The usual solution is to issue an approved handset at the gate, which the operator's mobile device management enrols for the duration of the job.
Tell us the site, the zone and gas group, and roughly how many handsets. The SAMS team replies by email with the datasheet and the certification schedule for Portugal. The IS-04Z1 is pre-launch and certification is in progress, so there is no list price yet; indicative pricing is issued in writing against a stated quantity and site.
Tell us the zone, gas group and operator. We will send the datasheet and the certification schedule for your market.
