***To learn more about each individual session, please click on each tab above. When you register, you are automatically registered for each event in the series.***

The Project, Facilities and Construction Study Group is pleased to announce our Fall Lecture Series for 2015. This event shall focus on “The Role of the Facilities Engineer in Upstream".

The role of the Facilities Engineer is crucial to effective project development and project execution. Recent evolution to a state that does not formally recognize this important role has resulted in complex projects being plagued by cost overruns and operational issue that could have been averted.

As Engineering Companies and Operators thrive to develop and define the Project Engineering Role, they may be unwittingly dismissing the Facilities Engineer. This role is being replaced with a combination of Project, Package and other specialists Engineers resulting in increasing the complexity, challenges and overall risks to upstream projects. This series will highlight and define the role of the Facilities Engineer and their critical contribution to successful project execution.

Session I - The Value of Facility Engineers – October 6

Session II - Setting Up Controls and Safety Systems from an Overall View – October 13

Session III - Design with a View of Operations and Maintainability – October 20

Session IV - The Facilities Engineer of Tomorrow: Faster, Stronger, Smarter – and More Successful Too! – October 27

***To learn more about each individual session, please click on each tab above. When you register, you are automatically registered for each event in the series.***

Each session is scheduled as a 1-hour presentation followed by a 30-minute Q&A session.

These sessions will be presented by industry recognized experts from the oil and gas communities. These are perfect opportunities for either an introduction to Facility Engineering for the engineer just starting in the industry, a refresher for the more seasoned individual, or just a great networking opportunity for those involved in this arena.

To learn more about the in-person event, please click here.

This webinar is categorized under the Projects, Facilities, and Construction discipline.

SPE Webinars are FREE to members courtesy of the

PF&C Fall Lecture Series: Session I - The Value of Facility Engineers

Engineering projects in Oil and Gas Facilities are becoming increasingly complicated with more specialized discipline silos. While many of the business and project management evaluations say that all designs should be holistic, most are in fact optimized to a discipline or even component basis.

Project performance is getting worse, yet we have much better tools in every aspect. Simulation, modeling, design, scheduling, and document management are just a sampling of the tools we have at our disposal.

While the focus has been primarily on Project Management skills and approaches, a broad technical understanding of all engineering disciplines is just as important. This presentation will discuss developing Facility Engineers into an Engineering Management role to complement and support the Project Manager for a successful project.

PF&C Fall Lecture Series: Session II - Setting Up Controls and Safety Systems from an Overall View

With the advent of cheap computing power, computer-controlled safety and operating systems, in the form of Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), have moved to the forefront of upstream facility control systems. The technology is developing so quickly that dedicated specialists are required simply to stay abreast of the latest equipment and to implement the newest capabilities.

While these dedicated specialists are able to bring the latest enhancements to the project, their laser-like focus on technology often leads to including features "just because they're available". As a result, there has been somewhat of a role reversal from the traditional facility configuration responsibilities.

The facility engineer (the generalist) is now often tasked with finding a way to incorporate this newest technology into his facility design instead of making the technology supportive of the optimum process/production/layout configuration. A prime example of this when a dedicated air-conditioned "Process/Control" building is required in order to house the computer(s), multiple work stations, and redundant power supplies needed to support the state-of-the-art systems.

It is incumbent on the facility engineer (the generalist) to ensure that the optimum facility configuration remains the primary consideration, and that complex control and safety systems are included only to the extent necessary for safe and reliable operation.

This presentation will discuss the role of the facility engineer in leading the development of the control and safety systems, and will provide some examples of simple, safe and reliable systems that also communicate essential information to the operators and maintenance staff.

PF&C Fall Lecture Series: Session III - Design with a View of Operations and Maintainability

The design effort for an Oil & Gas facility project is a critical period in the Facility Operability process. Critical design activities will usually occur in three of the stages in the lifecycle of a major capital project: pre-FEED, FEED, and EPC. Having Operability and Maintainability as a design criteria is critical to the creation of a viable business asset.

The pre-FEED stage should see the development of an Operating Philosophy and a corresponding Basis of Design for the asset. There will likely not be 100% complete at the end of this stage. However a bulk of the effort will likely take place and these documents should be approximately 75% complete at the end of the pre-FEED stage.

The FEED stage is perhaps the most critical stage for Operability & Maintainability. This stage presents the designers of the facility and the designers of the operations organization to optimize the business value of the asset by ensuring the design truly meets the economic goals set by the company. This will enable the evaluation of trade-offs between capital expense and operating expense in the design.

During detail design, having Engineering and Operations work closely together will ensure that the facilities can be operated in a safe and efficient manner.

This presentation will discuss some of the various processes and activities to help ensure facilities that are both Operable and Maintainable.

Bill Capdevielle is an oil & gas consultant with 40 years experience. He has a BS in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Southwestern Louisiana in 1971, and a MS in Systems Management from University of Southern California in 1975.

Bill has diverse experience in the upstream Oil & Gas Industry. His experience includes various technical, management, and operations assignments. Bill served as an Offshore Installation Manager for Mobil North Sea and spent the last 10 years working in the Facility Operability area.

He retired from Mobil in 2000, and from Hess in 2014. Bill specializes in finding nanotechnologies used in other industries and applying them to the upstream oil & gas industry. Bill sits on the Board of Advisors for a start-up nanotechnology company, Magna Imperio Systems and offers consulting in field development planning, facility operability, and project support.

Bill is a Registered Professional Engineer in Texas and Louisiana. He is a member of the National Society of Professional Engineering, the Texas Professional Engineering Society, and the Society of Petroleum Engineers.

PF&C Fall Lecture Series: Session IV - The Facilities Engineer of Tomorrow: Faster, Stronger, Smarter – and More Successful Too!

The key success factors for the facilities engineer of today: multi-disciplined, effective leader, collaborative; are perfectly matched to the characteristics of the millennials who will be taking on the challenges of major projects in the years ahead.

Project performance, never good, has not improved over the past 30 years, in spite of huge investments in PM processes, tools and organizations. The Facilities Engineer of Tomorrow can change all that.

This interactive presentation will challenge the attendee to define this future as it applies to them, and to gain a vision of the skills they can develop to be prepared for the exciting challenges ahead.

Richard (Dick) Westney, PE, PMP, founded Westney Consulting Group in 1978, after having managed international exploration & production, refining & petrochemical projects for Exxon. A Houston-based international consulting firm, Westney Consulting Group works with owners and contractors on project risk management, strategic planning and improving organizational effectiveness.

Widely recognized as a thought leader in project- and risk-management, he is the author/co-author of five books, the most recent being Risk Navigation Strategies for Major Projects – Beyond the Myth of Predictability. He has served as visiting faculty for executive programs at the University of Texas, Texas A&M University, the University of Houston, Rice University, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and Moscow School of Management.

A popular speaker at major industry conferences, Dick currently serves on the Program Committee for the Global FPSO Conference, the Executive Advisory Board of the Engineering and Construction Contracting Association (ECC), the Program Committee for the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC), and on the Board of the Rice University Global Engineering & Construction Forum. A Fellow and Past-President of the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering (AACE International), he received AACE's highest honor, the Award of Merit.

A licensed professional engineer and certified project management professional, he is a graduate of the City College of New York (BS Engineering), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (MS Management Science), and Harvard Business School.