This summer, I worked as an intern in the electrical group of the Baton Rouge Refinery for ExxonMobil. I was excited to get an experience in industry, and compare it to my other work experiences so far. I had three main projects this summer that I will be worked on, in addition to assisting contact engineers in my group as needed.
My primary electrical group project was specifying the requirements for a spare motor that was supposed to fit three compressor units with different dimensions. I sent these requirements to our vendors, and evaluated the bids and quotes they gave us. I learned how to read various electrical standards to ensure that the new motor would be up to code. I negotiated with our vendors to make sure their proposals met all of our specifications, and helped make plans for buying the motor.
Another electrical project I worked on was setting the protective relays in a substation that recently got upgraded. This was my first introduction to how protective relays work, and I think knowing about the limits for substations will help me in future work.
Finally, I researched cybersecurity events in the oil & gas industry over the last 10 years. I compiled these reports in order to give my managers ways to justify future investments in more cybersecurity. I evaluated the current cybersecurity practices of the instrumentation group for the refinery, and proposed action plans to improve secureity in a cost effective manner.