Jan K. Varma, P.Eng.

Director

 

Summary

Mr. Varma provides project management advisory services to owners, contractors and lenders involved in construction of large capital projects in the power, refining and petrochemical sectors.

His experience includes management of large-scale engineering and construction projects in the refining, petrochemical and power industries. With over 40 years of experience in engineering, procurement and construction (EPC), Mr. Varma has held senior management and executive positions involving project execution for global engineering and construction firms and operating companies. Mr. Varma’s management portfolio has encompassed management of mega projects, including gas processors, tar sands in northern Canada, ethylene crackers and petrochemicals in the Middle East, ethylene crackers in Canada, Singapore, China, petrochemical complexes including ethylene cracker and downstream units in India, and numerous domestic projects.

Specific advisory services include guidance on development of engineering, procurement and construction execution strategies, plans and procedures for efficient execution, cold eye reviews of EPC contractor progress, contract compliance, schedule and cost forecasts, site safety management and owner management of mega-project execution across industrial and commercial construction sectors.

Mr. Varma holds a master’s degree in business management and bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering.  He is a registered Professional Engineer, Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario, Canada.

 

Experience

• Capital Project / Program Management

• Project Planning

• EPC Execution Strategy

• Cost and Schedule Development

• Engineering and Design Management

• Procurement Management

• Construction Management

• Commissioning and Start-up Planning

• Quality Management

• Site Safety Management

• Risk Management

• Project Close-out

 

Industry Sectors

• Refining

• Petrochemicals

• Olefins              

• Ethylene

• Tar Sands

• Gas Processing

• Power

 

Previous Positions

• Reliance Industries, Executive Vice President

• Shaw Stone & Webster, Senior Vice President

• SNC Lavalin, Vice President and Project Director

• Stone & Webster, Project Director; Global Director of Engineering, Process Division

 

Education and Certifications

• Registered Professional Engineer (P.Eng.)

• Master of Business Administration, Canadian School of Management

• MSc (Mechanical), McMaster University

• BE (Mechanical), Ranchi University

 

Representative Project Experience

• Advisory consulting services in support of an international arbitration involving sequencing of discipline engineering and design processes for a refinery and petrochemical plant in Vietnam.

• Project direction for the world’s largest Refinery Off Gas Cracker complex project. The scope included 1.5 MTA cracker, two polymer units (LLDPE and LDP) of 450-550 KTA, 700KTA MEG unit, 10,000 M3/hr. sea water desalination plant, power plants of 800 MW generating capacity and all utilities and off sites.

• Management services for the largest petrochemical project in Singapore. The project was over $1.5 billion in total installed costs with production capacity of over 1.5 million tons per annum of Olefins and 220 MW of power. The scope included process design, detailed engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning services on a lump sum basis.

• Project advisory and supervision services for a 1.3 million ton/year ethylene cracker in Jubail, Saudi Arabia. The scope included technology front end engineering, procurement, construction and start up.

• Management of front-end design for a $400 million Basic Chemicals Complex project in China. The project scope included EPC for an Ethylene plant, Aromatics Extraction unit, Steam generation and other off-site facilities on a fixed price turnkey basis.

• Management of an $800 million fixed price turnkey project in Indonesia. The scope of the project included engineering, design, procurement, construction and start-up of a 700,000 ton per annum ethylene plant, a 250 MW power plant, steam generation and the offsite and utilities for the petrochemical complex.

• Leadership for a $350 million n-Paraffin/LAB grassroots project in Jubail, Saudi Arabia. The project scope included engineering, procurement, construction, pre-commissioning, and commissioning services for the on-plot facilities.

• Project management services for a multibillion-dollar heavy oil processing plant expansion at an existing Tar Sands facility in northern Alberta, including EPC execution of the offsites and utilities for the project.

• Project management of captive power projects with generation capacity of 800 MW located in a refinery/petrochemical complex in India.

• Project management services for a captive power project with generation capacity of 220 MW located in a petrochemical complex in Singapore.