With 55 years at the company, the engineer reflects on his extensive and fruitful career, his experience as a young professional, the more than 40 projects in 12 countries he has worked on, and the technological changes at the forefront. Know his story.

Back in 1969, at the age of 25 and freshly graduated as a chemical engineer, Guillermo Cordero joined Techint Engineering and Construction through the Young Professionals Program. Today, 55 years since that beginning and with a long journey filled with achievements, he affirms that the company provided him with the opportunity to have the professional development he had dreamed of since he was a student. “Techint is part of my life, and I feel very comfortable working in a team, sharing with my colleagues the problems and challenges of everyday life,” he emphasizes.

Over this time, his main activities have been hydraulic, thermal, and mass transfer calculations during the detailed engineering of refineries, petrochemical plants, power plants, and steel mills; basic design of crude oil, gas, water, and suspension pipelines; the development of proprietary software and quality procedures to meet international standards.

First steps

Within the Young Professionals Program, Guillermo executed programs for fluid flow, heat exchange, gas pipelines, oil pipelines, and water hammer. He recalls: “We used pocket calculators. We shared a computer among many users and had to queue to use it.”

At that time, Techint E&C's Engineering Management was divided into the Mechanical Department and the Civil Department, which supported group companies in small tasks, such as adding lines or incorporating pumping systems. “The big projects, at that time, came fully designed from abroad, and what we did was help implement the construction. Sometimes we did some detailed engineering, some ancillary service, and clarified customer queries, but always in contact with the company that had done the basic engineering,” recalls Guillermo.

Later, he was called to two works in Brazil: the development of basic and detailed engineering for a solid and liquid Vaseline plant and the design of the torch system at the Duque de Caxias refinery.

Technology as an ally

In less than a decade, technological advancement completely changed the dynamics of process engineering. In a few years, they went from using pocket calculators and a few available computers to implementing spreadsheets in Lotus, which “had a simple programming language and were very useful for facilitating hydraulic, thermal, and heat transfer calculations.”

But the big leap came with the appearance of Excel spreadsheets, with an advanced programming language. Guillermo points out: “All the process engineers collaborated in the conversion of Lotus spreadsheets to Excel, with a great team effort,” and continues: “In our work, that's the daily bread. It's what allows us to quickly meet customer queries and be productive. When in the late 80s the first project for a YPF pipeline appeared, which was the Malargüe - Luján de Cuyo Oil Pipeline (over 500 km and 16 inches), we calculated the pressure loss to design the intermediate pumping stations. And from there, it was a series of pipelines of different types in several countries, all very important works,” he comments.

A before and after

Between 1999 and 2004, Techint E&C built the Heavy Crude Oil Pipeline in Ecuador, and Guillermo, who conducted the hydraulic studies, says he was “impressed” to compete with and win the bid against an American company.

“We had started using software to simulate dynamic conditions. For example, what happened when valves were opened or closed. That allowed us to optimize the tonnage of the pipelines. We adopted diameters from 36 inches to 24 inches, achieving a much lower cost for the project than the one proposed by the participating American company, with a single diameter for the 500 km. That was a very interesting experience to give us confidence that we could undertake large projects and compete with internationally renowned companies,” he adds.

During those years, Guillermo also participated in the construction of the Hawiyah II gas processing plant in Saudi Arabia and the Camisea gas pipeline (Peru). Later, he collaborated on the expansion of these gas pipelines and natural gas liquids (NGL) pipelines.

Rising

In 2007, Guillermo was appointed Head of the Processes Department, and from that role, he was directly involved in several projects such as the Northwest Gas Pipeline (Argentina), the Humay Gas Pipeline (Peru), and the Norperuvian Oil Pipeline. He also participated in the tender for the Chihuahua Gas Pipeline and the bid for gas and liquid ethane pipelines for Pemex in Mexico.

Guillermo emphasizes the value of assistance between sectors, which has allowed plans to be successfully implemented. “The essential element, and what we have always had in Engineering Management, is a good climate of cooperation and respect among the different specialties. When we had queries, we often discussed them among ourselves, and one's experience helped solve the other's problems. That is very common in our way of working, and we always feel very supported,” he reveals.

Other projects

Throughout his career, Guillermo participated in various projects for different market segments. He worked on the solvent unit of the Planalto Paulista refinery (Brazil) and the third expansion of the Dálmine Siderca S.A. steel mill (Argentina). Additionally, he participated in works for Celulosa Argentina, Propulsora Siderúrgica S.A., and YPF, in the radiochemical processes laboratory of the National Atomic Energy Commission (CNEA), the Sierra Chata field, the Campo Boleadoras - Punta Loyola Oil Pipeline, the Ramos – Cornejo Gas Pipeline, and the ARGENER Thermoelectric Power Plant, all in Argentina.

Over the years, Guillermo continued to gain international experience. He participated in Nigeria in a 650-kilometer pipeline from Enugu to Yola, the Rusgas Project in Italy, the Shaybah – Abqaiq Oil Pipeline in Saudi Arabia, the Pampa Lagunillas - Cerro Colorado Aqueduct Project, and the water supply system from Monturaqui, in Chile.

Another major international challenge came between 1999 and 2000 with the Muglad Basin Oil Development Project in Sudan, where Techint E&C was responsible for building the initial six pumping stations on a 1500-kilometer pipeline, plus a marine terminal. This project was added to the simultaneous works he carried out at the Loma de la Lata Thermoelectric Power Plant, located in Neuquén; the tailings pipeline and main pipelines of Los Bronces, in Chile; and the Yanbu - Madinah Aqueduct in Saudi Arabia. In Colombia, he focused on hydraulic alternatives for the Ballena Barrancabermeja Gas Pipeline (1994-1995).

Towards the end of the 90s, he worked on the Norandino Gas Pipeline. Previously, he was part of the Güemes Thermoelectric Power Plant (Salta, Argentina, 1980-1981), the olefins utilization plant of the Ensenada Petrochemical Complex (Argentina, 1986-1987) and the La Tablada fuel storage and dispatch plant (Uruguay, 1987-1988).

The value of experience

Since 2015, the engineer has been working as a Process Consultant: he provides technical support for ongoing projects and tenders, develops calculation and standardization procedures, and one of his primary tasks is staff training.

“The incentive that you are still useful and that you can continue to make a contribution is essential. It is not simply repeating what you have done before. There is always something new and the climate is still one of cooperation between the sectors," Guillermo emphasizes.

In 2008, the international journal Hydrocarbon Processing published an article authored by Guillermo entitled “An improved experimental correlation for the Darcy friction factor”, where he listed some alternatives to classical pipeline modelling and included some modifications to the theory and suggestions for improvement. Specifically, it shows that Princeton University research on friction in smooth pipes allows predicting that the traditional calculation method can underestimate the pressure drop in industrial installations by up to 3%.

According to Guillermo, these improvements in the calculation procedure increase the reliability of the hydraulic reports and this is essential because, as with Techint E&C's projects, when there are contractual guarantees involved, this margin can lead to non-compliance. “Prior to these improvements to the calculation procedure, it was very common to over-dimension, which makes you less competitive and gives you more uncertainty in the operating conditions,” he says.

Outside the company, Guillermo dedicated several years of his life to teaching. Between 1978 and 1984, he was an associate professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Buenos Aires, in Unit Operations II. Previously, he had taught Mathematics II and III (1965-1977).