Rafael Rodriguez Simons

Asociación; De 1.001 a 5.000 empleados; Sector de Petróleo y energía

2012 – 2012 (menos de un año)

Empresa pública; Más de 10.001 empleados; Sector de Petróleo y energía

enero de 2007 – diciembre de 2011 (5 años)

Worked as the team leader of ten linemen responsible for the maintenance and operation of seven major substations and ten minor reclosing points in the oil & gas field of PDVSA in Barinas and Apure.
Responsable for the constant communication with power plant supervisors to review and set parameters to feed through the substations the energy we need on each oil well.
My main duties/ responsibilities were:
Carrying out preventative and corrective maintenance and operations on substations up to 20 MVA up to 34,5 kV.
Reviewing and preparing technical specifications to purchase materials.
Participating in the implementation of new electrical equipments to innovate and prove the substations in order to minimize the effects under fault conditions.
Analysing protection schemes, setting reviews and improvements.
Controlling and monitoring of contractors for specialist areas of work.
Participating in the commissioning of new equipments owned by PDVSA and others related contracting companies.
Reviewing and approving work journey including the time, materials, directions and type of work and specific safety rules.
The most relevant achievements I have reached are:
Minimized the amount of direct faults inside the substations in the last two years. This achievement was due to the installation of an electrical fence for wildlife animal.
Increased the reliability of the substation by changing the type of insulation, the connection of power transformers in parallel and the continuous reviewed of the scada systems with the interrupting equipments.

Empresa pública; Más de 10.001 empleados; Sector de Petróleo y energía

marzo de 2004 – diciembre de 2006 (2 años 10 meses)

As a Distribution Supervisor I was responsible for about four hundred miles of overhead distribution lines on 13,8 to 34,5 kV. I worked on projects including the construction of new overheads lines. In many cases I was part of team discussion to determine the correct location and route of distribution lines. The responsibilities were:
Carry out preventative and corrective maintenance and operations on distribution overheads lines on 13,8 to 34,5 kV. Including hands on work for some special occasions.
Coordinate emergency backup operations in field to recover energy as soon as possible.
Supervise and run electrical test equipments for a specific reason or for maintenance routines.
Assist technical specifications for variable speed drives. There is a considerable amount of vsd installed in our oil field, so the renewable contracts push us to keep the final loads under our needs.
Discuss and assess with production engineers, oil losses production against electrical faults.
Guide, analyze and provide written support and reports for changes or new implementations.
Reviewing and approving work journey including the time, materials, directions and type of work and specific safety rules.

During my time as a distribution supervisor I had the next achievements:

Minimize the impact of internal and external faults over distribution lines. I was directly involved with the installation of ABB single phase reclosers on 13,8 kV, its settings and constant reviewing and benefits.
Strengthen the commitment of teamwork to reorganize tasks and optimize their development over time.

Empresa pública; Más de 10.001 empleados; Sector de Petróleo y energía

octubre de 2002 – febrero de 2004 (1 año 5 meses)

My first role as a formal Electrical Engineer was in the Planning Department. This position gave me the change to understood and reinforced all electrical conditions under normal and abnormal operations using simulation software's such ETAP and ATP. Some of my duties were:

Modeling of generators, transformers, loads, switching, protection, study of power flow and short circuits on single/three phase lines.
I also had the opportunity to make some transient studies related with the evaluating of single phase reclosers implementation in oil fields by comparing wave behavior against motor development in a short specific period of time.
Monitor and write fault statistics for the General Electrical Manager.
Recommend and implement ways to improve the reliability in electrical power systems.
Search for new technology equipments and better practices for electrical works
Prepare some Engineering Projects.