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EPCOM - Division of Construction Engineering and Management

Tom Terris

Industry Consultant Purdue EPCOM

Professional Profile

Tom Terris

Tom has more than 37 years of experience in the oil and gas industry with a focus on capital project delivery for owners and contractors. He has held executive and director positions in project management and has experience in midstream, gas processing and NGL recovery, refining, and petrochemicals. He possesses a demonstrated track record of developing and leading project management and operations organizations, key projects and initiatives, optimizing processes and effectively applying resources to improve margins and create increased top line value. In addition, he has international and domestic project leadership experience from the conceptual design stage through project start-up and operation. Tom also has an extensive facilities operations and plant process background.

His past 25 years have been in Project Management leadership roles. Tom has significant mega project experience including four major refineries and the central processing facility for the world’s largest single crude increment by a leading global energy company. He is also experienced with small and medium size projects. Many of these experiences started in Front End Loading (FEL) where he gained and applied valuable experience using strong stage-gate methodology. He also followed two of the mega projects through the EPC phase, validating the value of robust FEL work processes and capital project systems.

Specializations and Key Skills

  • Capital Project Development using firm FEL Methodology, Benchmarking and Value Management
  • Capital Project EPC Planning and Execution
  • Project Team Alignment and Integration
  • Continuous Improvement of Capital Projects and Associated Work Processes
  • Implementation of Lean Principles for Capital Projects and Associated Work Processes

Representative Examples of Engagement Experience

  • Developed the Project Operation organizations for the startup of a major international EPC’s Houston-based operating center. Championed office readiness activities and established functional, cost effective work processes, procedures, automation tools, and software for the delivery of quality project solutions.
  • Established the project department for a Middle East National Oil Company (NOC) and initiated Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) for a 400MBD grassroots $9 billion refinery and terminal project. This included building and developing the integrated project management team organization to execute FEED activities, coordinating the bid tender and FEED contractor selection, and guiding the selection of the refinery process technology licensors.
  • Directed the development of a capital project performance improvement program that resulted in significantly better capital project metrics. Led a team of subject matter experts to improve the FEL stage- gate process and to develop a portfolio of value practices and then to facilitate the use of the practices by project teams. Over a three-year period, more than 150 projects valued at more than $8 billion benefitted from the program.
  • Coordinated the FEED execution of the central processing facility for a 1.2MMBCD crude development program. Directed the development of the FEED and bid packages for each of the prime contracts. Coordinated development of the appropriation cost estimates and managed the EPC phase materials procurement, project controls, open-book estimate development, and successful contract conversion from reimbursable to lump sum within the approved project budget.

Education and Certifications

  • Bachelor of Engineering, Chemical – 1979 – Stevens Institute of Technology (New Jersey)
  • Master of Engineering, Chemical (Plant Design & Operation) – 1982 – Stevens Institute of Technology (New Jersey)
  • Licensed Professional Engineer – NJ since 1983 and Texas since 1998