Modeling, Control, and Optimization of Natural Gas Processing Plants

William A. “Bill” Poe is a Senior Principal Technical Consultant at AVEVA, the United States. He has over 35 years of international business and industrial experience in design, operations and project management of gas processing plants with a special focus on automation, multivariable predictive control (MPC), advanced process control (APC), optimization design and implementation, and real-time performance monitoring. Bill started his career at Shell Oil Company, USA, in 1981, working over a decade in natural gas processing plants operations and engineering as well as management of multimillion-dollar projects. In 1993, he joined Continental Controls to lead the process engineering department in support of executing contracts with the Gas Research Institute, USA, where he developed new multivariable control applications in the natural gas industry. After joining GE as part of the Continental Controls acquisition, he became vice president of this division of GE where his responsibilities included direction of product development, projects, technical sales support, and customer service for multivariable control and optimization applications in the natural gas industry. In 2001, Bill joined Invensys Process Systems, USA, where he has developed APC and Optimization Master Plans for international companies such as Saudi Aramco, ADNOC, Statoil, and PDVSA, as well as automation and advanced process control feasibility studies for over 100 natural gas processing plants worldwide. After Schneider Electric acquired Invensys Process Systems in 2014 and merged its software division with AVEVA in 2018, he has continued to work with the top gas processing companies. Bill is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Natural Gas Science & Engineering, has authored or co-authored more than 60 technical papers, and made numerous technical presentations at prestigious international conferences. He received the GE Innovators Award in 1999 and attained the Invensys Circle of Excellence in 2011.

Senior Principal Technical Consultant, AVEVA, USA

Saeid Mokhatab is recognized globally as a process technology expert in the fields of natural gas processing and LNG. For over two decades, he has been actively involved in different aspects of several large-scale gas processing and LNG projects, from conceptual design through plant startup and operations support. He has contributed to the understanding of gas processing & LNG knowledge, practices, and technologies through 300 technical papers and 3 reference books (published by Elsevier in the US), which are widely read and highly respected. He founded the Elsevier peer-reviewed Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering and has served on the editorial/advisory boards of leading professional publications pertaining to gas processing and LNG. He has also been an active member of several professional societies, including the SPE and GPA Europe, and has served on the technical program/advisory committee of many acclaimed gas processing conferences worldwide. As a result of his outstanding work in the natural gas industry, he has received a number of international awards and medals and has been listed in highly prestigious biographical directories.

Gas Processing Consultant, Canada