Industrial Automation Magazine India

The Refinery Expert

Published on : Thursday 02-04-2020

Industrial Automation profiles Pramod Kumar Srivastava, a successful professional from the refinery segment.

P K Srivastava joined Indian Oil Corporation as Graduate Engineering Trainee in 1980 and spent 28 years in the organisation, graduating first to the position of Senior Instrument Engineer and rising to become a Chief Manager when he decided to leave the organisation in 2008. He is now in the second phase of his long career in the refinery segment as Vice President, Nayara Energy, where he was instrumental in the commissioning of Berth B within the timeframe provided by Ports Authority and offsite facilities of Nayara Energy’s first expansion of Refinery. For those born in the 1950s in a newly independent nation trying to find its moorings in a post- World War II era, it was not an easy life even for the salaried class. So it was with Pramod Kumar Srivastava, born in Sauna village of Ghazipur district of Uttar Pradesh. The only child in a middle class family, his father was a Junior Engineer in Irrigation Department of Uttar Pradesh and mother, a homemaker. But the financial status of the family not with standing, life was not easy as the country as a whole then suffered from poor infrastructure. Srivastava remembers his early years vividly when he walked over 3 km one way each day to attend school in Gonda, and later, college. With job transfers of his father, the initial schooling was in Gonda up to Class III and then Allahabad for two years before returning to the village for high school. The intermediate years were again at Allahabad. “Education was of prime importance to me, even at that age. Academically I was always strong, scoring within the top 3 ranks each year. I truly valued education and firmly believe it was my commitment to learning that formed a solid foundation, which in turn has a huge influence on what I am today,” he says.

Science always intrigued the young Pramod, and he realised early on, during his intermediate years, the strong inclination towards technology and hence, engineering became an extension of his academic interests. “I appeared for IIT and the University of Roorkee (UOR) examinations in year 1974 and secured a seat at UOR (now IIT Roorkee) in Electrical Engineering. After graduating as a BE in Electrical Engineering in 1978, I secured admission in master’s degree in UOR itself, specialising in Measurement & Instrumentation,” says Srivastava about his education.

For a young lad from a village, living a sheltered life, how was the experience of life at the university, living independently away from family, in the hostel? “Living away from the family was tough initially. However, over the course of time I enjoyed every bit of my college and hostel life and made memories for life,” says Srivastava. With newly made friends at the university and with new found independence, he started going for treks in the nearby Himalayan region. “Along with my hostel mates, I climbed the 20,000 feet peak named Thelu which is beyond Gangotri and Gaumukh. I never thought, I had it in me to climb it – it was tough, but accomplishing it made me realise that’s how life is. When you achieve things, overcoming your own limitations, the joy is multi-fold. I also remember cycling with four of my friends all the way from Roorkee to Chandigarh, covering a distance of around 200 km in one day,” he adds with pride mixed with nostalgia.

The early years

The education over, it was time to look for a job. In July 1980, Srivastava joined Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) at their Gujarat Refinery as Graduate Engineering Trainee (GET) in the Electrical Division. After the 3 months of training, he got his first transfer to Mathura Refinery as GET (Instrumentation) and thereby got his first footing in Industrial Automation. “In the Mathura Refinery I grew to become a Senior Instrument Engineer in a span of eight-and-half years. My work routine was demanding, but I enjoyed working on challenges that my management entrusted me with. My first assignment was to commission the VBU unit. Thereafter my responsibilities only grew. During this period, I also had the chance to visit the Toshiba factory in Japan and work on a software application for the DCS, AVU and VBU units in the Mathura Refinery,” says Srivastava about those early years.

Those were the days when changing careers midstream was not in vogue so a person usually settled with a company and retired from there. But the 1990s decade ushered in the winds of liberalisation, and the corporate landscape changed rapidly with the opening of the economy and influx of FDI in many sectors and privatisation in several areas. But Srivastava continued with IOCL for almost 3 decades before making the next move. “IOCL is a great company,” says Srivastava when asked about the organisation. “Very caring of its employees with ample learning opportunities. It is a very professional organisation where talent is nurtured and recognised, and also rewarded within the framework of a government owned enterprise,” he adds.

The Professional

So how was the feeling when it was time to bid farewell? “Yes, my 28 years of association with Indian Oil was like a lifetime of learning and growing. I progressed to the level of Chief Manager when I left the organisation. I worked across locations – be it the Maintenance and Project Departments at Mathura Refinery and Project Department in the Refinery HO in New Delhi and even the Panipat Refinery. I have fond memories in each of these job rotations. In fact, I learned technical as well as soft skills while in IOCL. To give credit to the organisation, it gave me a lot of freedom to take decisions on the job. Although the complexity of my role left me with little time for my family, but overall the accountability that I had with each of my projects was extremely satisfying,” he reminisces about those years.

What was the inspiration that led the move to Nayara Energy? “After my long span at IOCL, I was looking for a different challenge in my last leg as a working professional. I wanted to embark on a journey that I had never been on before. Meanwhile, Nayara Energy (erstwhile Essar Oil) was coming up with a petrochemical project. It took that opportunity and joined the Mumbai office in 2008. Unfortunately, the petrochemical project was put on hold in 2009 and I took on new responsibilities at the Vadinar refinery at the oil terminal. Understanding marine projects and its operations was a new challenge. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience in the ports business,” says Srivastava about the change.

In 2017 the company was acquired by Rosneft and an investment consortium led by Trafigura & UCP Investment Group. How did things change after the acquisition? “The acquisition has been very smooth for the employees, considering the size of the transaction that was. We also went through a corporate brand change in the last year and half. The brand Nayara Energy, I believe, is stronger than before. With the expertise and lineage from the three global partners, the company’s position and standing has solidified as a new-age Energy Company of international scale,” says Srivastava. The new shareholders are extremely positive for diversifying the energy basket in India. Their investments in developing the asset through expansion in petrochemicals is a great opportunity for me to get involved. “I have recently got transferred to Mumbai in the asset development team, and we are working on projects like FCC Revamp, PRU, MTBE & PP units. I am excited in this new phase for myself and welcome this new era,” he adds.

Friends, colleagues and subordinates – all have only praise for Srivastava. “PKS is known to me since 1993, when I joined IOCL, Mathura Refinery as GET. At that time he was working for Panipat refinery Project. Later he was transferred to Mathura in 2001 and I was directly working and reporting to him during 2001-2006. In 2006, both of us were transferred to Delhi, Refineries HQ, and again both were working for a very prestigious project called Panipat Naphtha Cracker Project. It was the first petrochemical foray by any PSU in such a large scale. I continued with IOCL on this Panipat Project and PKS left IOCL in 2008 and joined what was then Essar Oil, now known as Nayara Energy,” says Sanjay Thakker, Director – Refinery & Petrochemicals, Emerson Automation Solutions India.

“He is a very mature leader and like any other leader he has many distinct qualities, but the quality which I admire most about PKS is he is a great listener. Normally, as a person reaches in a leadership position, he likes to share his experiences, but PKS is very different, never brags of his past achievements,” continues Sanjay Thakker. “He has exceptional capability to identify the potential of each team member and utilise it in the best interests of the organisation. Never losing temper, he keeps his folks together, which are among his traits, which I admire most. Above all he is a leader on whom all team members used to rely upon, and trust.”

Highly respected, an achiever and adept at his job, is how Anupam Srivastava, Director – Chairman, Fieldcomm Group India Society (FCGIS), describes P K Srivastava, whom he has known for over 25 years professionally, and personally. “He is a soft spoken, calm and humble person who shares a very strong technical knowhow. He adopts to new technology thoughtfully keeping a long term vision,” says Anupam, and adds, “He is an individual who excels in his field and shares great acumen to solve the complex situation with ease. He shares excellent interpersonal relations and renders support to his subordinates.”

During his 40 years in the industry, Srivastava has handled several key projects:

• Commissioning of VBU in Mathura Refinery –2

• Replacement of Pneumatic Control to DCS in AVU of Mathura Refinery, the first DCS in Indian Oil, doing it in running condition was unique at that time

• Concept to commissioning of entire Instrumentation systems of Panipat Refinery including design, procurement, construction and commissioning – a personally fulfilling project

• P&ID finalisation of CRU, Hydrogen and Hydrocracker units of Panipat Refinery

• Restoration of Instrumentation system of Panipat FCC after a fire incident

• Implementation of TPM in Mathura Refinery – being legacy plant it involved lot of culture change, and

• Commissioning of Berth B within timeframe provided by Ports Authority and offsite facilities of Nayara Energy first expansion of Refinery. It was really challenging to commission the Berth within deadline given by Port Authority. Had it not got commissioned in time the Port have taken back the facility. It was the Team Work through which this task could be achieved. Innovative steps were taken to meet the commission the Berth within time.

“Over and above these, I have implemented several new concepts in Panipat Refinery such as smart transmitters, integrated single DCS for all process units and offsites, resulting in cost reduction, introduction of non-purged local panels with minimum instrumentation for controlling rotary machines, installation of prefab hook ups for Instruments was also implemented by me in Mathura Refinery DHDT plant. These have become standards adapted by EIL in their specifications,” says Srivastava.

The Person

“He is a great promoter of technology and will push team members to adopt the latest in technology. In a PSU environment, it’s very difficult adopt new technology without PTR in same industry. But he allowed us to approve many new technologies in upcoming projects,” says Sanjay Thakker about the accomplished technocrat. “As a professional, apart from being an exceptional technocrat, as a leader he acts as a shock absorber for his subordinates, will bear all the pressures of top management, yet still maintain his cool and motivate his team to deliver the best. I remember in DHDT project, he was the person who supported, rather, pushed to adopt pre-fabricated hook-ups for field transmitters, which later became established industry practice. He is a man who has risen to this position, with no godfather and no petty feelings. I found him always a straight forward man with complete absence of involvement in office intrigue,” adds Sanjay. Travelling, photography and listening music are my hobbies, they keep me going. A firm believer in God, Srivastava also believes in destiny. There is a quotation in Hindi which he lives by –“Hani labhh, jeevan, maran, yash, apyash, vidhi haath” – which means loss, profit, birth, death, success, setback all are in control of God.

On the family front, Srivastava mentions his wife Shashi whom he married in 1980. “She is very supportive and caring. When I had to work day and night on various projects, she never showed any resentment and was always understanding about the priorities, looking after the family, taking care of all their needs,” he says. Now a proud grandfather in a growing family, which apart from his wife, includes his father, two sons (born in 1981 and 1984 respectively) and their families. Both his sons – qualified professionals – live in Noida and the two grandchildren – a boy born in 2013 and a girl in 2017 – are the apples of his eyes. “I am the happiest watching them grow,” he says with pride and contentment.

So how do you view your career and what are the goals still left? “I am quite satisfied with my career span. I am not only thankful for the knowledge and skills that I gathered through the years but also for the opportunities I had with the teams that I built, and had the privilege of contributing to their learning and growth. I am not done yet; I desire to have my own consultancy firm, guiding organisations on various projects in our industry,” says Srivastava on a concluding note. You have not heard the last about this Refinery Expert. Watch this space!

Sanjay Thakker, Director – Refinery & Petrochemicals, Emerson Automation Solutions India has nearly three decades of rich domain experience in Oil & Gas, Refineries, Petrochemicals with strengths in Project Management, Reliability Maintenance, turnaround management, and maintenance strategy at asset intensive facilities. Experienced in leading Mega business pursuits of refining & petrochemical complexes, Sanjay has deep comprehensive Knowledge of Process Automation in India, trends, best engineering and maintenance practices, managing obsolescence and trends in cyber security in operational technologies.

Anupam Srivastava -Chairman, Fieldcomm Group India Society (FCGIS). has a BTech degree in Instrumentation Technology from the University of Mysore. 27+Years of experience in process industry.Technology Promotion and Product Marketing . Fieldcomm Group is a global standards-based non-profit member organization consisting of leading process and users manufacturers, universities and research organization that work together to direct the developement, incorporation & implementation of communication technologies for the process industries.