Elizabeth Corner speaks to the two winners of the PPIM 2024 YPI Award for Young Achievement: Kah Soon Chia (ROSEN Group) and Blake Villarrubia (Audubon Engineering).
Kah Soon Chia, Technical Solutions Specialist, ROSEN Group
Elizabeth Corner: Congratulations Kah Soon! What are your thoughts upon winning this award?
Kah Soon Chia: I am humbled for being nominated for such a prestigious award let alone winning it. To be associated with John Tiratsoo, one of the biggest contributors to the pipeline industry is definitely one of the highlights of my career. It motivates me to continue pushing boundaries and contributing to the pipeline industry.
EC: Can you describe your current job role in one sentence?
KSC: As a Technical Solutions Specialist for pipeline integrity, I help operators by tailoring the right asset care solutions for their pipelines in consideration of their respective challenges, threats and risks.
EC: What has been your career highlight so far?
KSC: Being part of a team of design engineers to implement the use of aluminium sprayed coating on to a riser and spool tie-in section to reduce significant end expansions for an offshore pipeline in Southeast Asia. This was aided by an unconventional sliding wye tie-in which I help designed. Four years into my career, I was asked to lead tenders across Asia Pacific. It was rewarding to manage very experienced multi-discipline Leads towards successful tender submissions and awards. It taught me budget, time, and people management. I also contributed to the founding of YPP Malaysia and kickstarted the first few events leading towards the creation of the Pipeline Engineering Series in Kuala Lumpur.
EC: Who are your mentors or role models in the pipeline industry?
KSC: I’ve been fortunate to have met a lot of amazing people throughout my career including Hernando Caceres, John Stearns and Razwan Arshad. All of them have provided guidance and support towards my career and achievements. Hernando Caceres (ROSEN VP Asia Pacific) was a friend long before we became colleagues. He introduced me to the field of integrity management and has been a strong supporter of my growth within my company and in YPP Malaysia. John Stearns (now retired) is a true role model and mentor for engineering and project management. He was a Project Director for a long list of landmark development projects globally. Razwan Arshad (ROSEN Global Business Field Manager – Integrity Solutions) accelerated my growth in pipeline integrity management and entrusted me with project and contract management responsibilities for key engineering projects across the region.
EC: What is your message to other young pipeline professionals. What makes this industry rewarding and attractive for young professionals?
KSC: This is the right industry to be in, and it also happens to be future-proof. Irrespective of the direction of the energy industry, pipelines will continue to play a vital role in the transportation of conventional and future fuels. A body (industry) can’t function without its circulatory system (pipelines). I believe we can expect a lot of new and exciting pipeline projects in the future as the world focuses on energy transition. These projects will present new challenges and a need for new ideas. It is the perfect time and opportunity for young and innovative professionals to be part of this industry.
EC: What are your hopes for the future?
KSC: Being the first person to win the John Tiratsoo Award from Southeast Asia (SEA), I hope this achievement will inspire more pipeline professionals from the region to pursue excellence in their respective roles and to give back to the industry. May there be many more award winners and aspiring pipeline professionals from SEA in the future. As future leaders of the industry, we play a vital role towards our industry’s long term energy transition and decarbonisation goals.
EC: What does a typical working day look like for you?
KSC: There really isn’t a typical day, besides turning on my laptop and then looking at my emails. Every day I would say is quite different in the nature of my role as a technical solution specialist. ROSEN deals a lot with inspections and integrity management related to pipeline assets and there are times when the client is aware of what is needed to ensure the right kind of integrity management of their assets. And there are times when things have not really turned out the way as planned, and they’re giving us an emergency call asking us to be involved and to recommend the best possible solution for their problem…
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