Candidates About

 

Vernon Hughes

 

OBJECTIVE

TECHNICAL leadership position applying a broad professional background concentrating in industrial automation, process instrumentation and control, with continuing opportunities for advancement.

 

 

 

·         Over (10) years of Controls Engineering experience in optimizing industrial alarms focused on the oil and gas industry.  It is well known that ineffective alarm systems pose a serious risk to safety, the environment and plant profitability.  With the advent of “cheap” computer processing capability, effective alarm management can help prevent alarm floods and “chatter” and reduce operator loading.  The result: reduced risk of process operators missing a critical alarm and better response to abnormal situations. Most DCS suppliers today offer effective alarm packages and with the support of the plant stakeholders you can develop an effective alarm strategy to improve safety, availability and profitability.

·         BS degree in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science with over 30 years of Controls Engineering experience

·         Over (10) years of experience in design, FAT, SAT, Installation, Startup and Support of power plants associated with Oil & Gas facilities primarily using gas and steam turbines

·         Over (10) years of SCADA Technology (coordinate SCADA project activities which include conceptual planning, design, development, installation, testing, and commissioning of SCADA related hardware and software systems; parties involved include vendors as well as internal customers, define requirements between operations applications and other real-time, on-line, and batch application processes throughout the company

·         Over (20) years of experience a an Instrument Engineer

·         Over (15) years specifying, installing, startup and support of analyzers and gas chromatographs

·         Over (8) years specifying, installing, startup and supporting Citect products

·         Over (2) years experience with Fisher Provox/CHIP computer interface.

·         Over (5) years experience with Emerson DeltaV(specifying, detailed engineering, purchasing, FAT & SAT.

·         Over (20) years of Commissioning hardware and software systems (participate and assist in the execution of equipment start-up, pre-functional testing, functional testing, and commissioning completion phases of a project, participate in the drafting of commissioning plans, pre-functional test checklists, functional test procedures, final commissioning reports and systems manuals, assist the Project Manager in creating project schedules, specification & system descriptions, problem solving, and conducting commissioning meetings,
assist the Project Manager in coordination with the Owner, Architect, Other Consultants, Owner's Representative, Construction Manager, General Contractor, and other subcontractors.

·         Over (20) years of applications on Honeywell TDC3000 including CL, LCN database creation, graphics building, logic configuration, equipment lists, equipment arbitration, virtual/alias names, PHD & Safety Manager.  Over (5) years of experience Honeywell Experion PKS

·         Over (20) years of experience in applying PLCs with a strong background in Allen-Bradley & Triconex

·         Over (30) years of experience in process control specializing in batch applications

·         Working knowledge of Six Sigma having worked under the direction of a Master Black Belt

·         Extensive experience in system validation with emphasis on batch processes under S88, ISA standards in regulated FDA and CGMP compliance environments

·         Over (10) years of Project Management for complete project lifecycle including budget justification, conceptual and detailed design, instrumentation specification/selection, programming of PLC/DCS/MMI, integrated system testing, startup/commissioning & final system acceptance

·         Over (12) years of experience of applying Plant Data Historians with emphasis on AspenTech IP21/WEB21, Honeywell PHD & OSISoft PI (SDK, Server, Datalink, It Monitor, DB Management, Data Interface, Client Displays, VB, VB.Net, Sigmafine)

·         Over (5) years of working with Matrikon in developing OPC interfaces and have issued over

$500,000 in purchase orders for developing custom software using their development tools.

·         Working knowledge of Smart Signal Modeling for predictive failure in equipment.  Package is very similar to those being supplied by Honeywell, ABB, Emerson, etc.

·         Extensive experience in using Microsoft products including the Windows operating systems, Excel, Access, Project, Visio and SQL

·         Experienced in programming in Visual Basic, VB.Net, Visual C & C++ and Pascal

·         Strong background in TCPIP, OLE, OPC, ODBC & DDE technologies

·         Thorough understanding of Oracle & other relational databases

·         Extensive project engineering experience

·         Construction management

·         Working knowledge of ladder logic/function block

·         Working knowledge of Boolean & analog control

·         HMI & graphic development

·         INTOOLS instrument data management

·         Industrial Training:

  

o    Honeywell HPM Points & CL

o    Honeywell GUS/LCN/UCN

o    Honeywell Process History Database

o    Honeywell Desktop Tools & Visual PHD

o    Honeywell PHD Options/Advanced Tag Loading

o    Allen-Bradley Programming PLC-5 Programmable Controllers

o    Advanced Programming for PLC-5 Systems

o    Accessing PI as a Relational Database or an OPC Server

o    Batch & Event Framing for Process Analysis

o    PI Advanced Computing Engine (ACE)

o    PI ProcessBook, PI DataLink & RtWebParts

o    PI System Manager I: Essential Skills

o    PI System Manager II: Advanced Topics

o    PI Tag Building

o    RtReports Administration

 

 

 

EXPERIENCE

 

Valerus                                                                                                                      Houston, Texas

Responsibility: Project Engineer

Jan 2014 – Current

Contract

 

Valerus expertise lies in their compressor knowledge.  They are currently have a contract in the country of Venezuela to build a gas processing plant.  The receive gas from offshore platforms, “clean it up“ and then use it within their country and sell it to outside sources.

 

One of my responsibilities was the commissioning of two (2) gas compressors using Rockwell control equipment along with their safety system.

 

Another assignment was to attend HAZOP meetings and the development of the Cause and Effect charts to be used primarily for their safety system.

 

PetroLogistics                                                                                                                      Houston, Texas

Responsibility: Project Engineer

Sept 2013 – Jan 2014

Contract

 

Work involved supporting a “turnaround” that occurs every (3) years.  My work responsibility was the upgrade of (3) lube oil systems on their (3) Propolene compressors.

 

Lion Oil                                                                                                                                    El Dorado, AK

Responsibility: Project Manager

March 2013 – May 2013

Contract

 

Work involved developing, issuing, purchasing  (2) upgrades to existing systems SIS and a Compressor Controls.

 

Intech                                                                                                                                    Houston, Texas

Responsibility: Control Engineer

February 2013 – March 2013

Contract

 

The project was a gas plant modernization for the Tioga Gas Plant in North Dakota.  The modernization included the upgrade of the existing Honeywell DCS to Honeywell Experion.  The primary goal of the modernization is to separate the Ethane from the natural gas.  The Ethane is being shipped to Canada and the Natural gas being sold in the US.

 

My responsibility has been to review the current design and make recommendations for improvement.  It also has included developing a project schedule.

 

Marathon Oil Upstream (InsightGlobal)                                                                             Houston, Texas

Responsibility: System Administrator

November 2012 – February 2013

Contract

 

This work entailed supporting their OSISoft PI Historians for their Onshore and Offshore wells.

 

Included:

o    All Onshore/Offshore wells, North America, Africa and European.

o    Communication/Data Handling primarily OPC (HDA).

o    OSISoft PI Historians with approximately 75000 tags.

o    Support of all Stakeholders.

o    Production reports.

o    HMI (RTWebParts).

o    SQL and Oracle DBs

o    ACE VisualBasic applications.

o    For the wells, tag data retrieved primarily from SCADA systems.

 

Another application is a Marathon proprietary advanced control application for drilling the wells to minimize the time it takes to complete.  The first phase will be on (40) rigs.

 

Support the SCADA/DCS systems.  For offshore, the SCADA is broken into (2) parts, above water and below water.

 

 

Honeywell Germany/SpiraTec (QAPCO)                                                                             Qatar, Middle East

Responsibility: Instrumentation/Controls Commissioning Engineer

February 2012 – May 2012

Contract

 

This Polyethylene plant located in Qatar is ion a billion dollar expansion slated for startup in June 2012.  The engineering contractor is Uhde.

 

My responsibility was for all OSBL work.  The DCS was a Honeywell Experion with interfaces to existing TDC3000 systems.  It included Triconex for SIS, Omni for metering, Bentley Nevada for vibration, Siemens for boiler control and compressor control and several other PLC suppliers.

 

Aerotek (Rockwell Automation)                                                                                               Austin, Texas

Responsibility: Controls/System Engineer

May 2011 – January 2012

Contract

 

My contract involves supporting Rockell in their environmental compliance CEMS systems. I developed CEMS applications using PI to gather all environmental compliance information. The reason that they needed my expertise is because the system was not collecting the correct data in an appropriate time frame.

 

Logica (Shell Facility)                                                                                           Deer Park, Texas

 Responsibility: Controls/PI System Engineer

Mar 2011 –May 2011  

Contract

 

Shell has over 1000 gas wells in Wyoming extending into Canada and a lnumber in Louisiana extending into the Gulf.  They were all integrated into a large SCADA network.  The network was responsible for the accounting of production/billing clients via multiple OSISoft PI historian.  My primary responsibility was to correct the lost production data in PI when the inventory was "closed" at midnight.  I rebuilt and redeveloped the PI application in order to ensure that the inventory would close out at midnight correctly. The network was not reliable and I was hired to resolve this particular issue.

 

Maverick (Dow Facility)                                                                                                       Pasadena, Texas

 Responsibility: Controls Engineer

Jan 2011 – Mar 2011

Contract

 

My contract was necessitated by temporarily replacing a controls engineer.  While there I gave support to the facility 24/7 as Controls Engineer  For project work I had responsibility for commissioning (3) of their control rooms for an upgrade to Honeywell Experion.  Work included training (22) operators.

 

 

Wilson Mohr (LyondellBayport Facility)                                                                          Pasadena, Texas

Responsibility: OSI PI Systems Analyst

Aug 2010 - Jan 2011

Contract

 

My task involved replacing six ABB gas chromatographs with four Siemens for their Catalloy facility.  The controls reside on a Honeywell TDC 3000 DCS.  The control logic required modifying the existing CL procedures to support the new analyzers.

 

I was responsible for doing all of the design work and integration of ….OSISoft PI involvement included adding/modifying the existing historian for all of the new data points and their integration into the Advanced Control package.

 

 HEXION                                                                                                                              Louisville, Kentucky

 Responsibility: Controls Engineer

Jul 2010 – Aug 2010

Contract

            

As a controls/electrical/instrument engineer, I was sent to Albany, NY to participate in the startup of a formaldehyde plant that had been idled for two years.  Another task was at the Hexion facility in Louisville, KY to find out why a waste heat boiler kept tripping.  My role was to replace some failed instrumentation and remove from the controls the fuel oil portion.  It was a “duel fired” boiler and fuel oil was not being used.  The controls resided on a Controllogic PLC.,

 

            NER (Fina)                                                                                                                                 Cincinnati, Ohio

Responsibility: Controls Engineer

Jul 2010 – Jul 2010

Contract

 

This project involved upgrading a tank farm for a fish oil processing plant.  The DCS was a Honeywell TDC 3000 system and my responsibility entailed developing control programs using Honeywell’s CL language for valve alignment at the tank farm.  I also did an “as built” for the control system so the documentation would accurately reflect the installed system. 

 

             Amerapex (Wilbros/Columbia Gas)                                                                             Raleigh, North Carolina

Responsibility: Controls/Project Engineer

Apr 2010 – Jul 2010 - Contract

 

Responsible for the control philosophy for a project the required some pipelines to reverse their flow.  This was   necessitated due to a very high BTU (ethane) content of a new gas field.

 

             Arizona Public Service (Power Generation)                                                                         Phoenix, Arizona

Responsibility: Senior PI Technical Support Analyst

Oct 2009 – Dec 2009 - Contract

 

APS was receiving heavy fines for their over/under forecasted gas usage in their (8) gas fired power plants.  This project purpose was to minimize the fines.  The foundation was on a corporate OsiSoft PI system with inputs from local PI systems, EMS system, Gas Usage Modeling system and RTUs/DCS.

 

Tasks included:

 

-     Designed and wrote technical specifications the OSI PI system schedule and budget

-     Installation of large screen monitors for the Gas Traders to monitor performance of the power plants.

-     Developed reports on the over/under gas usage on an hourly/daily/monthly gas usage.

-     Installed gas metering/totalizers on the gas feeds of the power plants to reconcile gas usage from the suppliers.

-     Installed gas chromatographs on the gas feeds to the power plants to reconcile BTU content from the gas suppliers.

 

 

             KBR (Engineering & Construction)                                                                                         Houston, Texas

Responsibility: Project Manager

Mar 2008 - Oct 2009 

 

Projects were on “grass roots facilities and these historians were on compressors, gas 

Responsible for all OSI PI design, development and support in addition to start up and acceptance testing. This was done for all projects. All projects  included a historian, mostly OsiSoft PI interface.  These projects were on gas turbines such as GE Mark 4, 5, and 6, compressors, and plant-wide.  Most had over a million tags and interfaced with all IT-based applications.

 

The first project was a joint venture with Dow and Saudi Aramco for building the largest chemical plant in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia including gas turbines for power generation for the plant and the area grid:

Tasks included:

 

-       Performed a “study” comparing Foundation Fieldbus vs Profibus

-       Developed “ITB” specifications for Cabinets, Foundation Fieldbus, Asset Manager, Process Automation System and Basic Process Control System, FAT/SAT testing requirements

 

The project has been delayed due to financing issues.

 

The next project was a joint venture with Total and PAZFLOR for a “offshore platform” FPSO for the country of Angola:

Tasks included:

 

-       Reviewing Supplier Detailed Design issues for correctness to design criteria.

-       Supported all field instrumentation being purchased from the suppliers.

 

KBR’s scope was the FEED+ with a Korean E&C for the Detailed Engineering.

 

 

The current project is for Escravos/Chevron in Nigeria for a new Gas to Liquids facility.  The facility included (6) gas turbines for power generation for the plant and the area power grid.  Backup to the gas turbines included several diesel generators:

 

Tasks included:

 

-       Reviewing Supplier Detailed Design issues using Intools for missing Instrument Data Sheets.  When found, new data sheets are created using Intools.

-       Site project/instrument/control engineer.

 

 

 

             HONEYWELL (ConocoPhillips Oil Refinery using Batch & Continuous Control)       Ferndale, Washington

Responsibility: Control System Engineer

 

Dec 2007- Mar 2008 – Contract

 

Work involved supporting the TDC installation moving to Experion.  It involved system support for the Aspen Tech historian.  It also required support for the cogen facility with the plant supplying gas and receiving electricity with a SCADA system “tying” them together.

            

             Jacobs (Engineering & Construction)                                                                                         Houston, Texas

Responsibility: Project Engineer located in Texas City, Texas at the BP refinery

 

Aug 2007 – Dec 2007 – Contract

 

Project Engineer with responsibility for the following projects using the BP CVP project management standards.

-       VRU controls upgrade.

-       Increase effluent system capacity.

-       J5/J6 screw pump replacement and load center upgrade for the screw pumps and separator.

-       Docks Instrument and Electrical upgrade

-       Dock 54A&E rebuild.

 

 

             The Automation Group (TAG) (Control System Integrator)                                                       Houston, Texas

Responsibility: Project Engineer located in Kuwait

 

Mar 2007 – Aug 2007 – Contract

 

The client is AlMeer/Fluor whose client is Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC). The project entails the modernization of KNPC’s refinery in AhMadi. KNPC enlisted TAG as the System Integrator.

 

DCS Control systems include Honeywell, Foxboro & Emerson.  Relays are being replaced by ESD/Fire & Gas systems.  A new control room is being built with many remote satellite houses being upgraded.  All new instruments are Hart compatible with an associated Asset Manager being purchased.  Alarms are being handled by an Alarm Management system being purchased.  The Data Historian is being supplied by Aspen Tech using IP21.  New MOV’s, Flow Computers, Analyzers and Local Control Panels (PLC-based) are being supplied.  The work included the feeds (oil) to the power plants and the associated with them.

 

My role as Project Engineer being stationed in Kuwait is to monitor the progress of project by all parties and report this back to TAG.  I am reviewing all deliverables with comments being made.  I am expediting work wherever possible to make sure the schedule is being adhered to.

 

             Fluor (Engineering & Construction)                                                                                            Sugarland, Texas

Responsibility: Control System Lead

 

Nov 2006 – Mar 2007 – Contract

 

The client was RASGAS who has the majority interest in a marine terminal being built in Qatar.

 

As a Control System Lead, I was responsible for the work associated with the FAT being performed in Singapore.

The DCS supplier was Invensys/Foxboro with associated Triconex SIS and Fire and Gas.  For compressor controls, CCC; machine monitoring, Bentley Nevada and for metering, Waverly.  It included and Invensys Asset Manager with Hart interface and an OSISoft PI data historian.  The FAT included the associated gas turbine(s) for power generation.

 

 

             KBR (Engineering & Construction)                                                                                            Houston, Texas

Responsibility: Control System Lead

 

Apr 2006 – Nov 2006 – Contract

 

Our client was REPSOL who has the majority interest in an LNG facility being built in Algeria.

 

As a Control System Lead, I was responsible for the work associated with the “FEED” portion of the project, selection of the DCS/SIS suppliers, fabrication of the systems, performance of the FAT/SAT and the installation and startup of the system at the site.  The FEED included the gas turbines for power generation for the facility along the associated local power grid.

 

             Chevron (Oil Refinery using Batch & Continuous Control)                                             Richmond, Cal