Lance Schmidt Email & Phone Number

Pasadena, Texas, United States

Chevron acquired the Pasadena refinery in 2019. Located just outside Houston, TX, this refinery processes up to 110,000 barrels of crude oil per day. The Light Tight Oil (LTO) Project will increase the processing capacity by 15% to 125,000BPD. In addition, the project will allow lighter (Permian) Crudes to be processed. It will also add jet fuel to the facility’s portfolio, decommission certain units, reduce process safety risks, and lower the permitted emissions of the refinery.To accomplish this, the LTO project (>$500MM) involves the installation of ~70,000 linear feet of pipe, modifications to existing equipment, addition of new equipment, and installation of new foundations and structural steel to support the new piping and equipment. All of this work is being done within a highly-congested operating refinery, making this construction job highly complex with many safety hazards that must be mitigated.My role as a construction engineer involves taking engineering deliverables and ensuring the work is planned and executed safely, on schedule, and per company requirements. This includes:- Reviewing engineering deliverables to ensure constructability is incorporated into design.- Provide engineering support for field construction activities. This includes resolving Requests for Information (RFIs) from construction contractors and managing the RFI process. Closing RFIs often involves developing creative solutions to complex technical issues in the field, gaining alignment with a multi-functional group of stakeholders (operations, engineering, etc.), updating affected engineering documentation, and communicating changes to crews in the field.- Managing all off-site piping and structural steel fabrication activities, along with the procurement activities associated with all construction materials.- Developed fit-for-purpose AWP process for the project and used data visualization software to plan and track work fronts and systems completion status.

Houston, Texas, United States

The Tahiti platform is a floating production facility (supported by truss spar) capable of producing over 125,000 barrels of oil per day. The facility is located in the Gulf of Mexico approximately 190 miles south of New Orleans, at a water depth of 4200ft. The Tahiti Upper Sands Development (TUSD) project (>$500MM) was a subsea tie-back to greatly increase gas production on the facility. This project required several topsides modifications - a new ~300 ton separation module, additional equipment, new chemical injection skids, and ~7,000 ft of piping - to increase production capabilities on the facility. My responsibilities on this project as the lead mechanical discipline engineer included:- Responsible for all engineering deliverables/drawings and design associated with piping and valves. Worked closely with engineering contractor, subject matter experts (SMEs), operations, and QA/QC to ensure company specifications were followed and key stakeholder input was captured.- Managed several critical vendor packages ($10-20MM) including HP compact valves, piping/fittings, chemical injection skids, manual valves, and specialty items. Despite COVID-related supply chain delays and other technical issues, all items were received in time for offshore installation and first oil was achieved ahead of schedule.- Work Pack Development Lead - Developed a fit-for-purpose IWP development process using AWP principles and lessons learned from previous projects. Led the development of all project installation work packs and managed interfaces between engineering firm and construction contractors.- Provided engineering support during offshore installation.

Houston, Tx

The Jack/St. Malo (JSM) platform is a semi-submersible production facility capable of producing over 170,000 barrels of oil per day. The facility is located in the Gulf of Mexico approximately 280 miles south of New Orleans, at a water depth of 7000ft. JSM is a staged development project - each stage adding more subsea wells and tie-backs, which require topsides facility modifications to increase production.My involvement on JSM was as a topsides facility engineer during JSM Stage 3 and JSM Stage 4. JSM3 topsides scope involved the installation and commissioning of high pressure chemical injection skids & tubing for subsea equipment/pipeline integrity. JSM4, a much larger project (>$1bn) involved the design, engineering, and installation of a ~5000 ton seawater treatment and injection module, along with a new power generation module, to enhance oil recovery from the field.Key Responsibilities:- Led the engineering, design, planning, and offshore execution of early tie-in scope (piping, valves). These efforts greatly minimized installation scope and downtime when the modules were later set on the platform.- Project turnaround liaison: interfaced with turnaround team and ops engineers to plan and execute project scope during the base business outage. While offshore, led installation and systems completions activities for project turnaround tasks. - Management of Change (MOC) owner for project turnaround tasks. - Led package engineering efforts for API pumps and tie-in related piping/valves. This involved reviewing engineering deliverables (data sheets) from the engineering contractor and working with vendors to develop cost estimates.

University Of Michigan

As a mentor, my responsibility is to help my protege(s) gain access to resources needed to succeed in their first year at the University of Michigan. I provide weekly meetings to make sure that they were getting the assistance needed in classes, and that they were staying onto of work and getting involved on campus.

Motiva Refinery - Port Arthur, Tx

Collected and utilized pump performance data and failure history to identify "bad actors" in sulfur recovery unit. Improved instrumentation and documentation for pumps and mapped operating points on pump curves. These efforts involved working closely with unit operators, control board operators, and rotating equipment inspectors. Evaluated alternative solutions and presented recommendations on pump changes to management. Result: improved pump reliability and an estimated savings of $500,000 in maintenance costs over 5 years. Reduced the risk of downtime and production losses associated with pump failures.Gained hands-on experience by shadowing inspectors/engineers during rotating equipment repairs and learned about rotating machinery systems by examining best practices and common failure modes.

Monroe Power Plant - Monroe, Mi

Worked with Operations on my main project, which involved managing alarm frequency data in order to identify and predict possible equipment failure throughout the plant. This project also involved identifying chattering alarms and fixing faulty wiring, allowing the operators to be more productive and tend to more urgent matters. At the end of the summer, I developed training material for Supervising Operators and Power Plant Operators regarding the alarm management software.Along with my main project, I was given the opportunity to work with the engineering team during outages on leak testing and pluggage mapping of the boiler.

Detroit, Michigan, United States

Worked at headquarters with facility operations. Job duties included using databases (Maximo) to manage assets and preventative maintenance schedules, and tracking work orders. Also assisted facility managers with solving various problems at different locations.

Ann Arbor, Michigan

Worked in teams of four to take on a multitude of engineering tasks. This included designing a wooden bridge and programming a water balloon launch. The MSTEM Academy helps to develop essential engineering skills and ensure academic success as an engineer.