Petroleum Refinery Operations and Catalyst Improvements and Safety Expert

Expertise

• Petroleum refinery operations: Process engineering, engineering and operations, management, and consulting, for refineries and catalyst manufacturers.
• Million man hour turnaround including Crude, FCC, HCU, and HF Alkylation.
• Entire refinery operations developing plans for continuous improvement of refinery and equipment reliability.
• Safety and environment operations.

Key Areas

• Refining
• Petrochemical
• Process Safety
• Petroleum
• Hazop
• Gas
• Downstream oil and gas
• Factory and commissioning
• Catalyst manufacturing

Experience

Undisclosed Company, Senior Engineering Advisor

• Oversee petrochemical refining operations with focus to safety, environmental issues, operating procedures and regulations.

Hovensa, L.L.C., St. Croix, USVI, 1994 - 2012

Operations Director

• Operations and oversite of all aspects of refining operation.
• Improving bottom line results in areas of cost reduction and revenue loss from unscheduled unit outages.
• Developing and motivating high performing professionals to constantly improve and exceed company goals and expectations.
• Processing units: 165 MBPD UOP FCCU, 58 MBPD Delayed Coker, Dimersol, Sulfuric Acid Alkylation and Regeneration, Sulfur Recovery, Beavon/Stretford Tail Gas Treating, LPG and C-5 Selective Hydrogenation. Crude distillation, MEA treating, visbreaking, hydrotreating, MSF and MED desalination, utility systems.

Executed Positions

Director, Deep Conversion, 2006 - 2012
FCC Complex Manager, 2002 - 2006
Technical Service Manager, 2000 - 2002
Supervisor, 1998 - 2000
Group Leader, 1996 - 1998Staff Engineer, 1994 - 1996

Operations

• Maintained safe and environmentally responsible operation through training, proper maintenance and adherence to operating procedures and regulations.
• Developed strategic plans to continuously improve operation of entire refinery.
• Developed equipment Reliability Improvement Program to reduce refinery "Lost Profit" from $83 million to $11 million in one year.
• Developed tactical plans including Preventive Maintenance programs to improve unit operation.
• Motivated and developed operating personnel skills within complex through example leadership; clearly transmitted job expectations and challenged direct reports to continuously improve.

Technical Services

• Managed process engineering function required to optimize refinery operation.
• Completed various field surveys of equipment and performed calculations to assure equipment was operating as designed.
• Completed troubleshooting of units that were not performing and recommended engineering design changes to optimize performance.
• Evaluated proposed process modifications insuring efficiency, technical soundness and compliance with Hovensa engineering standards, industry codes and regulations.
• Reviewed turnaround work lists and equipment repair history for required modifications for improve overall operations.
• Maintained long range capital expenditure plan and prepared yearly department budget.
• Developed capital investment plans insuring efficient and reliable refinery operation.
• Direct supervision of engineers and technical assistants responsible for process engineering coverage in various refinery process units and utility systems.
• Maintained complete and accurate information flow to department manager on units in assigned area, provided counseling and guidance to newly assigned engineers, assigned and prioritized projects based on refinery needs.
• Developed up-to-date work lists for all direct reports and reviewed all reports for completeness and accuracy before publication.
• Career Advisor to new engineers, coordinated Technical Services Department training Process engineers on various refinery units.
• Monitored unit operation and recommended changes to improve unit profitability, developed projects from concept to AFE, participated in unit Process Hazard Analysis, assisted in catalyst loadings and regenerations, provided assistance before and during unit outages.
• Conducted recruiting interviews, prepared and conducted performance appraisals.

Engelhard Corporation, Sr. Account Manager, 1982 - 1994

• Managed direct sales of company's FCC catalyst and technical service support for current and potential customers.
• Prepared and presented sales proposals, optimization studies, technical seminars, data reviews and prepared competitive product comparisons.

Senior Technical Service Engineer, 1982 - 1990

• Provided technical and sales support to users of petroleum refining catalysts in U.S. Mid-West, Rocky Mountain and Eastern two-thirds of Canada.

BP Oil Inc., Area Lead Engineer, 1975 - 1982

• Supervised process engineers and process responsibility for FCC and HF Alkylation unit.
• Developed process improvement studies, prepared process designs, cost estimates and formal requests for capital expenditures.
• Monitored unit operation to maintain high unit efficiency, identified unit bottlenecks and made recommendations to maximize unit profitability.

Unit Process Engineer, 1975 - 1978

• Monitored and recommended changes to unit operations as process engineer on various refinery processing units including: Gas recovery unit, atmospheric crude and vacuum distillation units, kerosene and diesel hydrotreating units and FCC unit.
• Coordinated repair after major fire on FCC unit, assisted in maintenance turnarounds and acted as operating supervisor during unit startups.
• Refinery coordinator for FCC unit revamp and liaison between refinery and design engineering firm.

Education

• B.S. Chemical Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ