UNSW Chemical Sciences and Engineering graduate Ross Dunbar has been recognised for his impressive work in oil and gas production operations with a prestigious industry award.

 

Ross, 27, has won the Alstom Award for outstanding contribution to industry from a chemical engineer under the age of 30 for his work with global oil and gas group ExxonMobil in Victoria.

 

The award recognises Ross' achievements in improving production and process efficiency at Exxon-Mobil's Longford gas plant in the southern Victorian regional centre of Sale.

 

"The bulk of the work was working on the gas plant to improve the production and process efficiency , to reduce the amount of energy it took to produce the condensate products and maximise the yield of the more lucrative LPG components," Ross said.

 

Ross has now moved from Longford to Exxon-Mobil's head office in Melbourne, where he is Offshore Mechanical Integrity Engineer, responsible for ensuring the reliability and safety of pipelines and pressure vessels on 16 production platforms in Bass Strait.

 

Head of the School of Chemical Sciences and Engineering, Professor Rob Burford, said Ross had been an outstanding student who graduated from the Industrial Chemistry program in 2002 as a University Medallist.

 

"He was one of those people who seemed to be able to do anything with a minimum of effort . The other thing is he chose deliberately to do industrial chemistry which is a minor stream in terms of class numbers but he is very highly regarded in the wider chemical engineering profession. It just shows what we tell students - there is a lot of commonality between the industrial chemistry and chemical engineering courses," Professor Burford said.