Russell Spradling

Experience

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  PCI Engineers

  Aug 1997 - Aug 1998

  Process Engineer

  Refinery Pressure Relief System Revamp and Flare Study• Developed a low-cost revamp design of the flare system. Assisted with P&ID development and piping design.Refinery FCC Gas Plant Expansion Project• Modeled relief system hydraulics using Visual Flare software. • Identified relief system inadequacies for general refinery emergencies and recommended changes to client.

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  Paragon Engineering Services

  Aug 1998 - Apr 2001

  Upstream Process Engineer

  • Lead Process Engineer for a 500 MMSCFD offshore gas production facility with methanol regeneration. • Facilities Engineer for a 55 kBPD heavy oil production facility with produced water treating. • Developed specifications for skidded equipment packages and evaluated vendor proposals.• Performed an extensive safety audit of six heavy oil production facilities.• Facilities Engineer for a turnkey 250 MMSCFD gas gathering network in Nigeria’s Southern Delta region. Responsibilities included equipment selection, lines sizing, and pressure relief system hydraulic analysis. Performed process API-14C hazards analysis and reviewed vent system hydraulics using Visual Flare software. Show less

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  Kerr Mcgee Ecuador

  Apr 2001 - Nov 2003

  Lead Process/Facilities Engineer

  • Key member of a multi-national project team based in Quito, Ecuador. The block 21 project included a 30 kBPD oil central processing facility & an 80 kBPD oil pipeline pump station and associated oil storage terminals. • Led process & facilities design with support of engineering team comprised of Ecuadorian nationals. - Transferred technical knowledge and expertise to local engineers• Presented management with various process conceptual designs and associated economic analysis.• Modeled oil and water treating processes using HYSIM software. Generated heat and material balances.• Led development of key process deliverables: PFD and P&ID drawings, mechanical equipment specifications• Oversaw mechanical detail design of a 12 MW crude burning power plant with waste heat recovery.• Responsible for technical and commercial analysis of mechanical equipment bids from suppliers.• Led facility HAZOP and PHA analysis with operations group. Developed facility cause/effect diagrams.• Significant involvement in project scheduling and procurement cycle planning. Show less

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  AMEC Paragon

  Apr 2004 - Aug 2005

  Lead Upstream Process Engineer

  • Lead Process/ Facilities Engineer for the expansion of the Eocene heavy oil plant. • Designed process upgrades for enhancement of sour crude quality and plant capacity expansion.• Led development of engineering deliverables: PFD, P&ID, equipment specifications, and relief system studies.• Developed total installed cost estimate for project.

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  ExxonMobil

  Aug 2005 - Jan 2009

  New Operations Advisor

  East Area Projects (Offshore/Onshore), Nigeria - Advisor to the Operations Superintendent. • Developed the New Operations work scope and operability deliverables required to establish operations of new gas compression, NGL extraction, & NGL fractionation facilities.- Deliverable development required heavy interface with affiliate (Mobil Production Nigeria) functions,- Stewarded deliverables to completion and reported progress versus plan to management.• Developed annual Planning & Budgeting packages for the EAP business unit - Forecasted staffing, pre-startup, and post-startup costs,- Reconciled production volumes (gas injection, flare, & shutdown impacts) against project plan metrics.• Forecasted offshore personnel on-board with Production and Development Companies per agreed priorities.• Developed management presentation packages for quarterly project stewardship reviews. Show less

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  BHP

  Feb 2009 - Sept 2022

  • Technical assurance for process engineering and flow assurance as part of project milestone gate reviews. • Process safety and Asset integrity assurance for offshore operationsManaging, coaching, and developing a team of ten engineers that support two deep water Gulf of Mexico oil production facilities.- Responsible for facility process, integrity, and rotating equipment engineering disciplines.• Responsible team lead and coordinator for the Gulf of Mexico Management of Change process.• Technical leadership in the following areas:- Deepwater field topsides pressure reduction (developed concept and initial strategy),- Water injection system improvement project (uptime increased from <70% to >90%),- Produced water system expansion and upgrades,- Hydrate prevention (developed deep water field hydrate management plan),- Flowline pigging plan (developed risk assessments, mitigations, and forward plans).• Influenced Operated by Other (OBO) partner on produced water system upgrades and flowback strategies with positive results.• Root cause lead for higher impact failure events. Show less • Developed a unique flowline hydration remediation technique using gas lift. - Successfully remediated a deepwater flowline hydrate. - Cost savings of ~$15M versus an intervention.• Water Injection System Startup- Provided class-room training to operations personnel on topsides process & O&M best practice,- Developed operating procedures with operations team,- Developed a topsides plan to deliver xylene to soak wells with asphaltene deposition.- Developed a unique well flowback strategy that eliminated process upsets due to completion fluids.• Process Monitoring and Surveillance- Developed and maintained topsides operations standing instructions for reliable operations- Developed key process metrics and health check tool using DCS data - Led weekly meeting to discuss process performance against metrics – achieved >95% uptime Show less

  • Offshore Facilities Engineering Manager & Technical Assurance

    Apr 2014 - Sept 2022

  • Staff Process Engineer - Gulf of Mexico Production Unit

    Feb 2009 - Mar 2014
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  Woodside Energy

  Sept 2022 - now

  New Energy Head of Systems Integration and Operations

  Team based development of simulation and optimization tools for green and blue hydrogen and ammonia production