Bilawal Soomro
Unit 610, 1595 Dyer Drive, London,ON
Summary
Experienced oil and gas professional with 5+ years of technical experience across entire oil and gas value chain ranging from upstream oil sands operations to downstream refining. Skilled in production planning and process engineering within leading energy companies, well-adept at optimizing production schedules and enhancing operational efficiency.
Overview
6
6
years of professional experience
Work History
Production Scheduler
Shell Canada Ltd.
11.2024 - Current
- Optimized blending & scheduling of Crude, Gasoline, Diesel, Jet, NGL, HFO, and Unit Operations using Orion-Aspen software to meet customer requirements (saving $5MM per year) for Shell Sarnia Manufacturing Centre Refinery.
- Customized short and medium-term gasoline blend schedules to ensure alignment with the monthly refinery plan while minimizing stock outs, demurrage and maintaining stocks and product losses within agreed targets.
- Acted as a local subject matter expert for the refinery scheduling processes & tools (Aspen Unified Scheduling).
- Embed and maintained refinery scheduling tools, basic data management of process units and product streams, capability & constraint setting of process units, and blend model optimization.
- Coordinated activities with Retail Business Team to resolve customer bottlenecks and improve relations.
Production Planning Engineer-In-Training (EIT)
Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.
03.2023 - 11.2024
- Updated daily, weekly and 3-month production plan for coordinating production activities across all business units including mining, extraction, upgrading and utilities.
- Interfaced with operation leaders from all business units to review, validate and consolidate area production data and integrate all inputs in the production model to develop the optimal short and long-term production plans.
- Investigated and explained production variances, consolidated area production plans, and reported and explained production performance as compared to plan.
- Led and prepared supportive insights through analysis and scenario studies based on production plans required to support the sequence and integration of the operations during start up, ramp down, outages, etc.
- Gained valuable knowledge about and field exposure to Primary Upgrading (Distillation and Delayed Coking Units) and Sulfur Recovery plant equipment and processes by providing inspection support to Process Engineering during Turnaround.
Chemical Engineer-In-Training (EIT)
Suncor Energy Inc.
05.2021 - 02.2023
- Conducted hydraulic analyses for evaluating functionality of new/existing piping configurations (including valves and orifice plates) and equipment installation for extraction and tailings equipment and identified improvement opportunities through analysis of pump curves, equipment datasheets and real-time data.
- Facilitated development of PID controllers by developing equations based on correlations and fine-tuning controller performance to optimize process performance and avoid equipment failures.
- Updated alarms database to better monitor process conditions by introducing new alarms and omitting nuisance alarms and Piping and Instrumentation Diagrams (P&IDs), Data Sheets, Line Designation Tables (LDT) and Control Narratives to better reflect process configuration and conditions.
- Hosted daily meetings to collaborate with operations and technical representatives from other disciplines e.g. Reliability and Planning to decide a path forward to address operational concerns/develop improvement opportunities.
- Chaired Hazard Assessments (HA) and Management of Change (MOC) meeting to evaluate hazards/risk associated with implementation of a new plan/technology and assigned actions to ensure safe execution.
- Gained valuable knowledge about and field exposure to Hydrotreating plant equipment and processes by supporting Turnaround Technical Team as Pre-Startup Safety Review Coordinator i.e. (PSSR) during Turnaround.
Mineral Processing Co-op Student
Taseko - Gibraltar Mines Ltd.
01.2019 - 12.2019
- Performed extensive metallurgical tests (Bond Work Index, Froth Flotation, Particle Size Analysis) and evaluated performance trends in PARCflow for increasing ball mill grinding efficiency and determining optimal flotation reagent dosage.
- Inspected grinding mill equipment (SAG, ball mill, hydrocyclone, screen deck) during mill shutdowns for creating wear profiles to predict equipment lifespan and schedule timely replacements.
- Monitored circuit performance through regular circuit sampling including tracking of flocculant concentration and solid content for thickener circuit as well as grinding surveys for maintaining optimal operating conditions and trouble-shooting operational concerns.
- Expedited scheduling process for repair and maintenance of mill equipment by automating data-entry using MS Excel Macros and VBA Programming.
- Compiled detailed Process Change Request Forms (PCRF) with recommendations to modify process configuration for removing unwanted bypasses on 10 alarm interlocks in Distributed Control System (DCS).
Education
Masters of Engineering - Chemical Engineering
University of Western Ontario
London, ON05.2027
Bachelor of Applied Science (Co-op) - Mining Engineering
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC05.2021
Skills
- Production Scheduling
- Process Safety Management
- P&ID Development
- Equipment Sizing
- Process Control Design
- Operation Cost Analysis
Timeline
Production Scheduler
Shell Canada Ltd.
11.2024 - Current
Production Planning Engineer-In-Training (EIT)
Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.
03.2023 - 11.2024
Chemical Engineer-In-Training (EIT)
Suncor Energy Inc.
05.2021 - 02.2023
Mineral Processing Co-op Student
Taseko - Gibraltar Mines Ltd.
01.2019 - 12.2019
Masters of Engineering - Chemical Engineering
University of Western Ontario
Bachelor of Applied Science (Co-op) - Mining Engineering
University of British Columbia
Industrial Trainings
Shell Global Fuel Product Management Training - June, 2025
3-day fuel quality and supply chain management training focusing on gasoline & diesel qualities, biofuels, additives, commercial fuel specifications and test methods, and technical advocacy.
Saskatchewan Research Council Slurry Pipeline Systems Training - May, 2022
2-day training focusing on applying the basic principles of slurry pipeline flows to actual oil sands hydrotransport and tailings pipeline systems.
Professional Affiliations
Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA)
Engineer-In-Training (Expected to acquire P.Eng designation July 2025)
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