The Beginning

I graduated with a masters degree in mechanical engineering and was uncertain as to which process industry to work in. For a number of years, I worked for a company as a mechanical engineer on plant resolving day-to-day issues and running small projects. The business I worked in was confined to polyester production. Although I enjoyed doing this work, I felt that the engineering challenges were limited. My appetite for new challenges led me to seek opportunities within the oil and gas industry. Having researched ConocoPhillips as a future employer, I felt happy that the experiences and opportunities would be sufficient to satisfy my ambition. I joined ConocoPhillips as a chartered mechanical engineer in 2006.

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My work at ConocoPhillips

My current job is based at the Humber refinery on the crude units. My role is spilt into two parts. Firstly I am involved with day-to-day trouble shooting at the refinery, ensuring any mechanical-based issues are resolved effectively and efficiently. This has included elements such as analysing historic equipment failures leading to re-design work, specifying and ordering new equipment, managing new installations and optimising equipment performance. My other role at the refinery is the "reliability champion". This mandate includes managing the development and implementation of the new refinery reliability initiative on my division. This involved the development of a new plant variance identifying and resolving system, which was well received by the operations teams. I am currently writing my MBA thesis based on this new management system. 

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Career Development

I have been on a whole host of training courses, from an appreciation of refining principles course to a number of targeted mechanical engineering-based courses. I particularly enjoy the diversity associated with my job at the Humber refinery. Each day tends to involve a variety of new refreshing challenges.

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The Future

 I feel the future here at ConocoPhillips holds a lot in the way of job satisfaction and opportunities.

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