2010 Industry Forum - Refining and Petrochemicals

“Reduced Utilization Requires ‘New Course of Action’ to Control Costs”  

The global economic downturn which began in 2008 has reduced refiner utilization in some parts of the world, thus requiring a new focus on cost control and further scrutiny for investment projects.  In addition, energy optimization continues to be a focus because of the significant cost for a refiner.

We will convene a panel of refiners to discuss their solutions related to current refiner challenges: margin deterioration and reduced utilization, cost control and energy management, preparing for the upturn in demand, safety, health, and environment.

The discussion panel will discuss questions from the list of topics below: 

·         Energy management and efficiency

·         Greenhouse emission reporting

·         Reliability and asset management

·         Turnaround planning

·         New technology

·         Safety
 

Discussion Panel Members

Mark Isom (National Cooperative Refinery Association)

Mark J. Isom P.E. is a controls/instrument engineer with twenty-five years of experience. Mr. Isom's career began in 1983 with Litwin Engineers and he has held various positions in the control industry during this time. Currently he is in his 14th year as a Senior Process Engineer with the National Cooperative Refinery Association (N.C.R.A.) in McPherson, KS. Mr. Isom's responsibilities include the specification of a variety of field instrumentation.

Travis Capps (Valero)

Travis Capps is Vice President of Energy and Gases, Valero Energy Corporation. Travis began his career in the oil industry, joining Exxon in 1994 where he worked for six years in a variety of technical and operational assignments, beginning with an assignment as a process engineer for the Benicia Refinery in Benicia, California. Prior to the refinery’s acquisition by Valero Energy Corporation in 2000, Travis led its Coordination and Economics group.

Upon joining Valero in May 2000, Travis was promoted to Refinery Technology Director in the corporate offices in San Antonio, Texas. In 2003, he joined the corporate planning and economics group and ultimately became the Vice President of Planning and Economics for the West Coast and Northeast Region. In the summer of 2006, Travis moved to the position of Vice President of Strategic Development and was responsible for the economic modeling and development of Strategic Planning, the stewardship and analysis of current operations, and the Automation and Advanced Process Control efforts of the corporation. At the beginning of 2008, Travis was promoted to his current position as Vice President of Energy and Gases.

Gary Hawkins (Emerson)

Gary Hawkins joined Emerson Process Management as a global refining business consultant in 2007 after nearly 31 years with UOP LLC, a well known licensor of refining and petrochemical processing technology. Gary’s tenure at UOP began as a process control engineer starting up refining process units around the world. He then moved into roles of increasing responsibility in process control coordination, establishing guidelines and training for new engineers, single-point contact for trouble-shooting instrumentation and control systems issues at start-ups, developing the UOP Standard Specifications for process control, and managing the instrumentation and controls group in UOP’s Engineering Department.

Patrick Truesdale (Emerson)

Patrick Truesdale is a Senior Consultant in Emerson’s Industry Solutions Group for Refinery and Chemicals. Previously he held senior management and technical positions with Comcept Technology, Aspen Technology, Setpoint, and Bonner and Moore. In these positions he has been responsible for developing and implementing state-of-the-art advanced automation, optimization, and production management systems in refineries, petrochemical, and chemical plants around the world. He has also been involved studies and projects involving refining industry supply chain management, pipeline and logistics operations, and power plants and electrical distribution systems. He started his career with E.I. duPont with positions at Washington Works, Parkersburg, WV in the Control System Engineering Group.

Other (TBD)