Mark R. Lambert
Mark joined Watson Millican in August 2010. He has over 27 years of engineering, operations, and commercial experience in the energy industry, including refining, chemicals and natural gas processing.
Mark has advised producers, midstream service providers and private equity firms in evaluating acquisitions and grass roots investments. He has analyzed royalty payments and associated deductions for oil and natural gas production and developed unbundling cost allocations for natural gas processing and transportation systems. Mark has assisted with startups, troubleshooting and incident investigations for domestic and international facilities.
Education
- B.S. Chemical Engineering – The University of Texas – 1990
- M.B.A. – Oklahoma City University – 2010
Example Engagements
- Transportation and Processing Unbundling – Unbundled the transportation and processing costs incurred by an exploration and production company for its natural gas production in the Permian Basin. Estimated capital costs and operating expenses for each function performed by the midstream services provider, including compression, treating and NGL extraction. Evaluated the operating conditions of each function and assessed their effect on the marketable condition of the natural gas as it pertains to determining allowable deductions from royalty payments.
- Midstream Due Diligence – Assisted private equity firm with due diligence and evaluation of potential investment in midstream assets in the Permian Basin. Reviewed financial model of proposed facilities. Evaluated long term agreements with producer and interim agreement with a third party to secure temporary midstream services. Reviewed cost estimates and capacity of proposed crude oil and natural gas gathering systems and natural gas processing facility versus volume forecasts.
- Midstream Unbundling Assistance – Assisted a midstream company with unbundling of several large transportation and processing systems in response to requests by federal and state governments. Reviewed equipment design and field operations with respect to placing the natural gas into marketable condition. Classified capital costs into appropriate unit operations, including transportation, treating, dehydration, compression and NGL extraction. Served as a resource for the midstream company during an audit by government personnel and organized data for submission to the ONRR.
- Gas Processing Plant Startup – Participated as operations representative for startup of an idle cryogenic gas processing facility. Evaluated the replacement of gas engines with electric motors on inlet compression and the resulting effect on utility costs and plant capacity. Coordinated replacement of molecular sieve beds, identified and replaced undersized safety valves, and made other operational safety and reliability improvements.
- Crude Oil Gathering Due Diligence – Prospected and coordinated development of proposals for crude oil gathering pipelines and terminals in the Eagle Ford Shale play for private equity backed midstream firm. Created production forecast and coordinated development of system design. Developed financial models to determine gathering rates and issued contract proposals to producers.
- Naphtha Reformer Performance Test – Led the execution of a naphtha reformer unit performance test at a large Gulf Coast refinery. Analyzed process data gathered during maximum feed conditions to identify equipment constraints and impact on product quality. Evaluated expandability of existing equipment to eliminate bottlenecks. Assessed capability of upstream units to provide incremental feed.
- Isomerization Plant Optimization – Optimized performance of Pentane/Hexane Isomerization unit for a large Gulf Coast refiner. Developed optimal processing conditions and identified targets for key control variables. Identified cause of poor debutanizer performance that was degrading product quality and implemented solution to improve operation.
- Refinery Amine System – Investigated the cause of hydrogen sulfide excursions in the fuel gas system at a major oil refinery. Assessed the capacity and acid gas removal efficiency of the fuel gas amine contactor. Quantified the acid gas loading of rich amine sources throughout the refinery. Identified the root cause of the excursions and developed recommendations to eliminate the problem and reduce energy consumption.
