This is part of a series of articles that appeared CETD championed issue of IEM's monthly publication - Jurutera, September 2013. The article is best viewed in its original published form, available from IEM in print or online.
An Interview with John Thurtell, PhD
John Thurtell, Engineering Global Support Office (EGSO) Manager of ExxonMobil Business Support Centre Malaysia Sdn Bhd, said demand growth in the chemical industry is anticipated to strengthen over time, linked to the growth of the broader economy.
“Most chemical demand growth is in
Asia, driven by manufacturing of consumer products for both worldwide export
and to serve the growing Asian middle class. These consumers are expected to
purchase more packaged goods, appliances, cars, tyres and clothing, many of
which are manufactured from chemical products,” he said. “Asia Pacific has
accounted for more than two-thirds of global demand growth since 2000, and this
trend is expected to continue,” said the Canadian who has just arrived in Malaysia
approximately half a year back.
In the next decade, global chemical
demand is expected to grow by 50%, driven by improving prosperity in developing
countries. Large scale investments are ongoing in the region, particularly in
Singapore and China where world-class facilities are being built in the
refining and chemical businesses. Thurtell feels this augurs well for the chemical
engineering profession as the industry boom will require more engineers with
strong professional capabilities in every aspect of the business.
Will the development of the oil
& gas sectors in Malaysia & Asia Pacific region affect the chemical
engineering profession? In Malaysia, ExxonMobil has been operating for over a
century. In fact this year marks the company’s 120 years in Malaysia, which is
a significant milestone. Thurtell said: “We are a major oil producer and
natural gas supplier in Peninsular Malaysia. We produce about a fifth of the
nation’s crude oil and condensate and supply about half of its natural gas
needs which is mainly used for power generation. Beyond upstream operations, our
Business Support Centre, which is the second largest within ExxonMobil, also
hosts ExxonMobil’s IT infrastructure and provides IT support across the globe
24/7.”
As an engineering-based company,
ExxonMobil hires a lot of engineers to meet the operating needs of its
business. “We also employ engineers in our EGSO in Kuala Lumpur. By virtue of
the EGSO functionally reporting to ExxonMobil Research and Engineering (EMRE),
our engineers are given the opportunity to provide technical, engineering and
application support for ExxonMobil’s manufacturing plants around the world,” he
explained, adding that about 95% of its total workforce is Malaysian which
“reflects the tremendous local talent we have in our organisation”.
PROFESSIONAL BODIES
Sadly, many chemical engineers are not registered
with the Board of Engineers Malaysia. We asked Thurtell what ExxonMobil is
doing to help develop young graduate engineers into professional engineers. He
said: “We recognise that engineers play many different roles, depending on
their specific job scope. ExxonMobil values the role of certification to ensure
compliance with regulatory and process requirements. At ExxonMobil, membership
in professional boards is not a prerequisite to employment or an on-the-job
requirement as much of our focus is on safe and reliable project management and
implementation, as well as operations of our existing facilities. Nevertheless,
we are fully supportive of employees who wish to pursue qualifications to
improve or maintain their skills and have over the years provided education
assistance and reimbursement of the full cost of studies upon successful
completion. We also provide internal training programme to strengthen the
technical skills of our engineers.”
Q: What is the
role of this new office? Why Malaysia?
Q: What are the different positions available to chemical
engineers in the Oil & Gas industry? What kind of positions would fresh
graduates normally hold and, apart from good academic results, what are the
main qualities that MNCs like ExxonMobil look for in fresh graduates?
Q: From technical specialists to project managers and
senior executives, what are the different career paths available to an
engineer? Is there a point where they need to make a hard decision to choose
between technical and management career paths?
Q: It is an accepted truth that upstream tends to generate
more revenue than the downstream. From a corporate point of view, will Oil
& Gas be focusing on just the upstream?
Q: When it comes to loyalty versus faster career growth
(i.e. by having shorter career stints in multiple companies), what’s the point
of view on this for MNCs like ExxonMobil?
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Chemical engineers can help to promote sustainable development
in the country. Thurtell said ExxonMobil’s commitment to operating in an
environmentally responsible manner is anchored in its Environment Policy, which
fosters appropriate operating practices and training, and requires its
facilities to be designed, operated and managed with the goal of preventing
environmental incidents.
He added: “Our ‘Protect Tomorrow.
Today.’ Initiative guides our management processes to continuously improve environmental
performance. Our business operations continue to drive enhancements in
environmental performance by incorporating Environmental Business Planning into
the annual business planning cycle. In Malaysia, one example where
environmental considerations are incorporated into the design basis of our facilities
is the use of a hybrid power-generation system on our unmanned satellite
platforms. Solar panels produce about half the electricity required, and
thermoelectric generators provide the other half. This combination ensures high
reliability and low operating costs. Within the global ExxonMobil group, we
also focus on various renewable energy initiatives, apart from doing energy
optimisation such as co-generation, etc.”
Thurtell shared with us more about
ExxonMobil’s new Engineering Global Support Office in Malaysia and the industry
as a whole.
Q: What is the
role of this new office? Why Malaysia?
As a whole, Malaysia is a very attractive
place to do business because the country has a stable economic and political
climate, a talented workforce that is proficient in English, and good
infrastructure and connectivity. One of the strongest selling points for us is
the exceptional talent pool that is available locally for technical skills and
which we can grow and develop into world-class engineers. The government agencies
that we worked with were also very supportive of bringing in foreign
investment.
The goal of the Engineering Global
Support Organisation (EGSO) Office in Kuala Lumpur is to work with EMRE’s
Central Engineering (US) and Area Engineering Offices around the globe to
provide high quality engineering to our manufacturing operations around the
world. “However, the interesting part is that, EGSO actually has no projects in
Malaysia, since we have no downstream operations in this country. So it only
does work for the rest of the world!” Since its opening in July 2011, EGSO has
grown quickly and currently has over 50 engineers, predominantly chemical
engineers and some mechanical engineers, performing a wide range of technically
advanced work for sites in the US, Europe and Asia Pacific. We are trying to
create an environment where we enable talented engineers to do great work for
our internal customers. The population here that is culturally diverse also
helps our newly employed engineers to adapt to different working cultures very
easily.
“Personally I like this place too,
including its weather! Of course I miss the cold... but people here are
friendly, helpful
and easy to engage with. So I like this place!”
Q: What are the different positions available to chemical
engineers in the Oil & Gas industry? What kind of positions would fresh
graduates normally hold and, apart from good academic results, what are the
main qualities that MNCs like ExxonMobil look for in fresh graduates?
Like many companies, in addition
to excellent academic performance, we look for candidates with leadership and
communication skills, analytical capability, honesty and integrity. Other
qualities include drive, initiative, perseverance and adaptability.
For the EGSO, we hire engineers to
provide technical, engineering and application support for ExxonMobil’s
refineries around the world. Our new employees start as engineers performing a
wide range of work, ranging from equipment design to optimisation and controls
to development of applications. We develop their core technical competencies
and proficiencies (breadth and depth) with initial job assignments before broadening
into other technical areas.
Some will move on to more senior
positions at ExxonMobil’s refineries and chemical plants in Singapore,
Thailand, the U.S. or Europe with varied opportunities in engineering, plant manufacturing
and even management positions.
Q: From technical specialists to project managers and
senior executives, what are the different career paths available to an
engineer? Is there a point where they need to make a hard decision to choose
between technical and management career paths?
At ExxonMobil, we have a long-term oriented approach
to career development, in which we emphasise continuous learning and
professional development. We believe this long-term career-oriented approach
provides us with a competitive edge by meeting both business and employee
needs.
Generally, engineers in ExxonMobil
are developed for a technical or management career path, depending on their
interest and capability. Some choose to become senior technical professionals
by developing depth and breadth of skills within a given area. They are
recognised for their achievements and are also designated subject matter experts (SMEs)
in their fields providing an invaluable resource for their customers and peers
around the world. Others follow the supervisory or management career path where challenging assignments and projects, with
both a local and global scope help build their business judgment, leadership
and personal effectiveness skills.
It’s not a one-way street, however –
some people switch back and forth between these options as they develop their careers.
Personally, my career path has moved between technical leadership and
management leadership roles multiple times, all within ExxonMobil.
In short, many different career
paths are possible, depending on opportunities that arise versus one’s interest
and capabilities.
Q: It is an accepted truth that upstream tends to generate
more revenue than the downstream. From a corporate point of view, will Oil
& Gas be focusing on just the upstream?
Investment decisions in the energy industry are characterised
by time horizons measured in decades. At ExxonMobil, we test projects over a
wide range of scenarios to ensure that all relevant risks – including
financial, commercial, environmental, technical, and others – are properly
identified, thoroughly evaluated, and effectively managed.
Our disciplined approach to
investing focuses on the efficient use of capital. By combining rigorous
standards for project assessment with proven project development expertise, we
gain advantage in our investments over the long term. This discipline is
applied across our entire portfolio and includes identification of key growth
opportunities and divestment of assets that no longer meet our long-term objectives.
In addition, we derive significant value from our globally integrated business
model which spans upstream, downstream and chemical, which enables us to
maximise the value of every molecule that we produce, leverage the advantages
of our organisational structure, and optimise collocated manufacturing.
Q: When it comes to loyalty versus faster career growth
(i.e. by having shorter career stints in multiple companies), what’s the point
of view on this for MNCs like ExxonMobil?
At ExxonMobil, we believe in hiring people for long term
careers. We don’t think it’s desirable to achieve short term gains by switching
companies at the expense of long term career progressions. Senior leadership
positions in ExxonMobil, both technical and management, are typically filled by
people with a deep understanding of our operations, which is obtained through
long term careers with the company.
Switching companies limits the
ability to progress to the positions from which the senior leadership is
formed. Because ExxonMobil is an integrated oil and gas group of companies with
global operations in the upstream, downstream and chemical businesses,
employees are able to pursue a wide range of job opportunities across the
businesses and in various locations. They are also able to take advantage of
numerous resources and support, such as workplace flexibility programmes, to
help them achieve work life balance. Examples include modified work weeks and
part-time regular employment to accomodate pressing, family-related needs for a
temporary period of time.
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