1. Derek McWhirter
Advisory Engineer
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Career Summary
 Proficient in designing control systems, panel layout and wiring, end device configuration, PLC
and HMI programming, testing, and commissioning.
 Proficient with a wide variety of PLCs, HMIs, OITs, flow computers, fluid analyzers and sensors;
plus the software to configure them.
 Experienced in control of most upstream and many midstream oil and gas production processes;
including wells, separators, scrubbers, liquid and gas flow meters, LACT units, pumps (PD, axial,
centrifugal), compressors (PD, centrifugal), pipelines, amine systems, glycol systems, gas lift,
water flood, heat exchangers, and waste heat recovery.
 Experienced in subsea well control, particularly interfacing well owner’s MCS to platform control
system, and control of associated topsides equipment; including HPU, boarding valves,
separators, and custody transfer meter runs.
 Experienced in control of low and medium voltage electrical power delivery and distribution
systems; including generators, MCC switchgear, smart relays, motors, and VFDs.
 Experienced in control of mechanical prime movers; such as many types of reciprocating internal
combustion engines, gas turbines, and steam turbines, including their auxiliary and support
systems. Experienced in control of cyclical and continuous-combustion equipment; such as
engines, heaters, burners, and incinerators, including their auxiliary and support systems.
 Experienced in control of common and alternative fuel sources; including heating oil, diesel,
gasoline, natural gas, and landfill gas (methane).
Representative assignments include:
 Chevron: Provide support for existing PLC/HMI systems (i.e. many GOM platform & equipment
upgrades) and new equipment addition projects (i.e. add single or dual well satellite platforms). Also
provide functional SAFEchart testing to prove BSEE compliance. EI341A: Total ESS upgrade
replaced Modicon PLC hardware with ControlLogix5000. VR245E: 3 Compressor train re-stage and
re-pipe project led to many changes in controls of compressor PLC’s and platform ESS.
 Dow Chemical: Provide support for existing PLC/HMI system at their Weeks Island plant (i.e.
cascade & tune scrubber pH loops) and implement new controls project (i.e. surge pipe addition,
SCADA package for rental generators). Their controls include redundant hot standby GE 9070 racks,
a DeltaV DCS for SIS functions on several ovens, and InfoLink HMI.
 HESS: Integrate new subsea well control panel with existing platform PLC/HMI system. GB260:
Replaced platform ESS existing SLC-500 hardware with ControlLogix. GB260: Add 2 new subsea
wells concurrently with the ESS replacement. GB260: Add another subsea well with production
separator. Upgrade HPU, and relocate/upgrade entire platform’s custody transfer metering system to
include Fisher ROC flow computer.
 Frito Lay: Many boiler controls upgrade projects at their plants across North America. Several plant
energy savings projects that included waste heat recovery additions and efficiency improvements to
pumps and blowers by adding VFDs. Madison, WIS: Heat from stacks in baking line fed to fryer via
direct ducting and blower fan. Arlington, TX: Co-gen project added two Solar turbine generators with
waste heat recovery.
 Solae: Major controls upgrade. Retrofit 3 existing boilers at their Memphis plant with alternative fuel
trains fed by methane collected from nearby landfill. We designed and built the compressor site on
the landfill and subcontracted the 14 mile pipeline construction. We then became a gas company,
buying gas from the landfill and selling it to the customer by the BTU. We designed, installed, and
operated it all, including the custody transfer metering, gas quality analyzer, and monthly billing
reports.
 NASA: Retrofit 3 existing boilers at their Goddard SFC (Washington DC) with alternative fuel trains

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fed by methane collected from a nearby landfill. Similar to Solae job above. The boilers already had
fuel trains for natural gas and fuel oil. Ongoing tuning and maintenance of the multi-fuel boilers as
needed.
 Marathon: Full service partner with client from initial kickoff meeting, P&ID and SAFEchart
development, master and slave panels design, programming PLCs, OITs, and HMI/SCADA, testing
in-house and at the shipyard, commissioning offshore, and later support for problems and
upgrades/additions. At the end, I was the single point of contact for this client. SP86C: New facility
with GE PLC, Nematron OIT, and Wonderware SP87D: ESS upgrade from pneumatic to GE PLC,
Nematron OIT, and Wonderware. EW873: New facility with GE PLC, Nematron OIT, and
Wonderware. EW873: Addition of 2 subsea wells whose MCS required interfacing with platform ESS.
 Unocal: Provide support for existing PLC/HMI systems (i.e. many GOM platform & equipment
upgrades) and new equipment addition projects. Also provided and installed stand-alone compressor
anti-surge controllers, suction pressure/speed controllers, and compressor yard valve skids for their
equipment packages. Several CAT diesel-driven and Solar turbine-driven equipment skid PLC
control retrofits (see Solar below).
 Solar Turbines: Before Solar offered PLC controls on their skid packages, their Lafayette and New
Orleans offices would often refer us to clients (mainly Unocal) interested in retrofitting PLC controls to
their turbine-driven generators and compressors. We replaced several Solar Mk I & II relay-based
turbine-driven equipment package controls with PLC-based panels.
Education
 B. S. – Mechanical Engineering, University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Certifications
 T2
 Safe Gulf
 TWIC
 HUET
 BOSIET
Special Fields of Knowledge
 Microsoft Office Suite (Outlook, Projects, Excel, Word)
 Allen Bradley hardware / Rockwell software
o ControlLogix, GuardLogix, MircoLogix, SLC-500, PLC-5
o ControlNet, DeviceNet proprietary control data networks
o RSView and FactoryTalk for PanelView+ HMI
 GE FANUC hardware / software
o VersaMax, 9030, 9070, PAC Systems RX7i PLC’s
o LM90 ladder logic programming software (DOS)
o VersaPro ladder logic programming software (Windows)
o Cimplicity combined PLC/HMI project programming software
o Proficy ME IEC 61131-compliant programming software, combined PLC/HMI project
 Modicon hardware / software
o 984 PLC with FastTracks ladder logic programming software
o Quantum PLC with FastTracks ladder logic programming software
 Siemens hardware / software
o 505 (old TI) PLC with FastTracks ladder logic programming software
o Step7(new) IEC 61131-compliant programming software, combined PLC/HMI project
 SquareD PLC with SFW472 ladder logic programming software (DOS)
 QuickPanel OIT universal Operator Interface on small touchscreen
 Nematron OIT universal Operator Interface on small touchscreen

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 WonderWare InTouch universal Operator Interface on PC
 InSQL Industrial Sequel Server
 Flow Computers
o ScadaPack32, ABB TotalFlow, Bristol Babcock, Fisher ROC
Employment History
UniversalPegasus International, Inc. 2008 – Present
Advisory Engineer
LEI Systems Inc. / CPL Systems 2002 – 2008
Project Engineer
Lankford Engineering, Inc. 1991 – 2002
Staff Engineer, later Manager of Field Services division