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Luis
BARRENO
Venezuelian citizen
Total Venezuela - Production Engineer Senior-
Jusepin, Venezuela
Degree of Chemical Engineering - Simon Bolivar
University of Caracas
Group Seniority: 3 years - From Production
Engineer Junior to Senior
Before joining Total, I worked for one year
for Schlumberger and then I applied for
a job at Total in Caracas. The way I went
about submitting my job application was
atypical since usually people are recruited
by headhunters’ or by “word-of
mouth”. A friend of mind told me that
I could go to Total’s headquarters’
in Caracas and take a look at their job
offers on a walk-in basis.
To assure the performance of a plant.
Once in the office, I filled-out an application
form and submitted my C.V., for their review.
After a couple of weeks, I was called and
did a telephone interview since I didn’t
live in Caracas. This preliminary interview
was followed by two other ones; in Caracas
and in Jusepin—where the plant is
located. The process took around two months.
I was well accepted at Total as a Production
Engineer Junior when I joined the Group
in 2002. In January 2005, I was promoted
as a Production Engineer Senior. In this
position, I report directly to the Field
Operation Manager.
My main responsibility is to assure the
good performance of the plant in efficiency
and capacity terms. The Jusepin site is
an extremely well performing one since the
reservoir pressure is naturally high.
From 10 000 to
18 000 feet !
Back in 1997, the National Company, PDVSA,
had drilled Jusepin up to 10 000 feet. Since
they didn’t find the oil at this depth,
they sold the exploitation concession to
Total who went ahead and continued drilling
up to 18 000 feet. By 2002, the site had
nine operating production wells which are
the ones that I overhead as the Production
Engineer Junior. The area concerning Jusepin
field is of about 218 Km2 and nowadays we
deliver approximately 38 000 barrels per
day.
The oil production gets distributed within
“blocks” and each block (3 out
of 4) is connected to gas or water injection
wells. These are crucial to the performance
of the wells since they maintain the reservoir
pressure. I have then to supervise all of
the technical aspects of the plant: Are
the vessels clean of sediments in order
to ensure proper separation? Is the equipment
working according to the specifications?
Are all the safety measures in place? And,
so forth…
I also have to be careful and alert the
management when exceeding the daily flared
gas rate, as we have to comply with the
National environmental laws. Once I have
a project to issue, I submit it for review
to the different teams involved in the decision-making
and once all the needs have been assessed
together with the Field Manager we make
the final decision on the implementation
of the approved project.
I am very happy in my job because it gives
me the opportunity to meet other people
and to have connections with the production,
reservoir, drilling and construction departments,
as I previously explained. From August to
September 2002, I attended a training course
on HSE issues: work permits and confined
space. Since then, I also have had the opportunity
to attend French courses, which enables
me to attended seminars at Total in Paris.
Possibilities within
Total.
For the moment, I do no plan to take a job
in another country and I plan to stay in
my present position for about 3 years, but
in the future if there is an opportunity
I would like to work offshore, in Venezuela
or maybe in another country. I would certainly
recommend the Company to young people wanting
to pursue a career since I can say that
Total really cares about its employees.
People can attend training courses in various
disciplines in order to improve their own
skills and thus progress in their jobs.
With Total, one has also many possibilities
to travel abroad and to undertake new experiences
if one is willing to do so. Total is a very
important international company in its field,
it is a vast and experienced company and
it is certainly a company where young people
willing to work hard will have the possibility
to meet new challenges and to pursue an
interesting career.
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