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Trip to the Flow Measurement Forum in Perth, Australia – November 2012
From the November 2012 issue of Flowtimes


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Letter from the President: Flying with the wind

In late November, I traveled to Perth, Australia to give the keynote speech at the Flow Measurement Forum.  The Forum was held on November 28 and 29, 2012.  

I also gave a four-hour workshop on flowmeters.  The focus of both presentations was on flowmeters used in the oil and gas business, and the energy markets more generally.  This is an important topic in Australia, since they are a major provider of natural gas and LNG and also have significant supplies of crude oil.  

        Jesse Yoder in Sydney, Australia

Just getting there is half the battle.

In case you have been to Australia , you know that getting there is a lengthy process. I left my house at 2:00 pm on Saturday for a flight from Boston to New York.  This was to catch a New York flight at midnight to Dubai.  The flight to Dubai lasted 13 hours.  Then I had a 6-hour layover in Dubai before boarding a 12-hour Emirates flight to Perth.  All told, it took me 39 hours to get to Perth from Boston.  Since I can’t sleep on planes, I was beyond exhausted by the time I got there.  I arrived in Perth around 7:30 pm on Monday evening, November 26.

The Flow Measurement Forum

The morning of November 28, I gave a four hour workshop about the different flow technologies, their advantages and disadvantages, and their applications in energy environments.  The audience was a mixture of people from process plants, universities, and engineers and technicians.  I was also asked to chair the afternoon sessions.

The following morning (November 29), I gave the keynote speech, the focus of which was a more high-level look at flow measurement trends in energy along with trends in oil and gas production and exploration.  This is such an exciting topic because so much is happening both in natural gas and crude oil production.  More and more attention is shifting to natural gas because it is cheaper, cleaner, and more plentiful than crude oil.

Australia is the epicenter for a great deal of natural gas development. The Gorgon Project exists in a couple of islands offshore of northwest Australia.  The Gorgon Gas Fields are about 130 kilometers off the coast of northwest Australia.  Near the fields is Barrow Island , where a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant is being built.  This plant is expected to produce 15.6 metric tons of LNG per year. Australia opes to supply LNG to the entire region, with India being a major destination.  The project, which is costing an estimated $54 billion, is a joint venture of Chevron Australia, Shell Development Australia, and Mobil Australia Resources.

A rare day off: sushi and sleep, plus the zoo

Kangaroo.JPGOn Friday, I had a free day.  First, I caught up on a little sleep.  Then I went walking around downtown Perth , looking for sushi places.  I also managed to get in a visit to the zoo, where I saw some panda bears and kangaroos.

Visiting Sydney

The next day I flew to Sydney for three days.  I actually had only one free day there, since Saturday was taken up in flying east to Sydney .  While the flight takes only four hours, because you are flying east, due to time zones you lose three hours of time on the clock.  So I left Perth in the morning for a 4-hour flight, but arrived in Sydney in the evening.

 

 

Visiting Macnaught  

DSC_0102.JPGSince I can’t seem to go anywhere without visiting a flow company, I had set up a meeting with Macnaught Industries for Monday, December 3.  This proved very interesting.  Macnaught is the largest positive displacement flowmeter supplier in Australia , and they are a lot larger than I realized.  After leaving Macnaught, I left for the hotel and headed for the airport at 5:00 pm.

 

Flying with the wind at your back has definite advantages.

The return trip was a little easier than the trip to Perth .  I had only one stopover – in Dallas – and then flew straight to Boston .  This took closer to 28 hours than the 39 hours I spend going from Boston to Perth .  What was most significant about my route is that I flew east the entire way, instead of heading east and then returning the way I came.  Because I continued east to Dallas from Sydney instead of returning through Dubai , I saved at least eight hours of flying time.  I logged over 25,000 miles of flying time in a unique opportunity to fly around the world.

Many wonderful experiences and people

I’ve been to Dubai , Abu Dhabi , Oman , Qatar , Switzerland , Germany , Norway , Amsterdam , London , and, in the United States , I’ve been to Boulder , Minneapolis and countless other places.  I love all these places, but what I love most is the truly wonderful people I meet on these trips.  My trip to Australia ranks up there among my very best trips – even though I was sleep-deprived most of the time – and I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything I can imagine.  I am grateful to Sarah Montgomery and IDC Technologies for giving me the opportunity to make this trip.  If you ever have a chance to go to Australia , don’t hesitate!

--- Dr Jesse Yoder, President

 

Here are some further thoughts on “Flying with the wind.”

According to Sir Newton, a body in motion stays in motion unless its progress is impeded by some opposing force. But a body in motion that is flying with the wind will accelerate.

Flying with the wind means traveling and working with minimal encumbrances, taking advantage of natural forces that are aiding you in a certain direction  Of course there are plenty of literal examples. But here’s a different kind of example. At night I come back to the office and work for several hours every night. I listen to music at top volume while doing so. This energizes me and gets my mind and body in a kind of natural rhythm.

When writing an article or study, I sometimes take a day or two to get my ideas together. But when I start writing, I find that there is a natural flow of ideas that takes over and enables me to write as long as is necessary.

I think that people unnecessarily spend a lot of energy hiding their true feelings from other people. If they would just let their emotions flow out of them, they would no longer have to waste energy on hiding their feelings. Here flying with the wind means letting your emotions flow freely.

A similar concept applies to people who worry about what other people think about their appearance. If they dress in clothes that naturally express themselves and their inner feelings, regardless of what others may think, they will be much freer to act naturally without concern about other people’s impressions.

 

 

 

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