PROCESS ENGINEERING · BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT · 1983–2026
Forty-three years,
on every side
of the table
RGfx Initiatives is a Houston-based advisory firm working on energy and infrastructure capital projects across Latin America and the United States. The firm represents no contractor and no vendor.
RGfx engagements are confidential. What follows describes their shape — sector, country, mandate and scale — without naming clients. The corporate record is public.
Operator, EPC contractor, technology licensor, equipment manufacturer, simulation software vendor: the sequence below covers all of them. That is what makes independent due diligence on a bid or a technology package possible. Each of those positions was built from the inside.
Selected Engagements
RGFX INITIATIVES, 2017–present
Hyundai Engineering Co., Ltd
South Korea · 2018–present
Senior Business and Strategy Advisor, Process Plants and Power Division. Introduced project opportunities in the USD 200M–1B+ range. Current work covers refining and petrochemical opportunities in Mexico and Ecuador.
Engineering reorganization
Riyadh · Q4 2018
Subject-matter expert and steering committee member on a multi-million dollar fast-track engineering reorganization programme for a TADAWUL-listed industrial company.
Market study proposal
Frankfurt · Q3 2017
Reduced technical content by 40% for two global management consulting teams and supported them on site through a complex proposal presentation to a DAX-listed industrial company.
"Fernando used his extensive practical experience about EPCs in the Oil and Gas, refining, and petrochemicals industries to elevate the pitch, and he joined the consulting team for the final presentation. Our client highly appreciated the collaboration with Fernando."
CHRISTIAN MOLDENHAUER · MANAGING DIRECTOR AND FOUNDER, EXPERTPOWERHOUSE · NOVEMBER 2017
Corporate Track Record
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT · 2001–2016
Larsen & Toubro, Heavy Engineering
Houston · 2015–2016
Head of Business Development, Latin America. Led business development with consortia of three EPC contractors for heavy engineering equipment above USD 10M across oil and gas, refining, fertilizer, petrochemical and power. Built the regional opportunity database and the marketing strategy for three refining markets. Opportunity range: USD 25–100M+.
CB&I / Chevron Lummus Global
Houston · 2012–2015
Senior Business Development Manager, Central and South America. Supplied process design packages — technology licence, engineering and cost estimates — for new sulphur recovery units at four refineries, awarded value USD 10M+. Covered feasibility and conceptual stages through modular fabrication, negotiation and construction. Opportunity range: USD 50–100M+.
Honeywell UOP
Houston · 2010–2012
Account Manager, South America — Catalysts, Adsorbents and Specialties. Reactivated refining relationships with national oil companies in Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela and the Caribbean, against estimated annual catalyst revenue of USD 7–10M. Replaced a transactional format with an integrated approach covering catalyst, services, technology and training. Exceeded quarterly targets by an average of 20%.
Siemens Energy
Houston · 2006–2009
Business Development Manager. Led two-year sales growth of 50%, to USD 6M, on the Shell / Motiva / Shell Global Solutions account. Established the Siemens Engineering & Consulting brand across four Latin American offices in eighteen months, and integrated the sales team through an engineering alliance with Siemens Chemtech in Brazil.
"Fernando was instrumental in winning strategic Latin American contracts with PDVSA, PEMEX and many other upstream and downstream regional operators; winning substantial North American contracts with Shell; and establishing the business unit's alliance with ChemTech, a highly respected Siemens engineering-services affiliate in Rio de Janeiro."
GILBERT SALDIVAR · PROPOSALS AND PROCUREMENT · 2009
PROCESS SIMULATION & TECHNOLOGY · 1992–2006
INOVx Solutions
Houston · 2001–2006
Business Development Manager. Built the Latin American enterprise asset management market — laser scanning, services and 3-D virtualisation licensing — to approximately USD 1M. Delivered FCC and gas plant laser scanning and 3-D modelling, and a refinery data asset management 3-D integration programme at a heavy oil upgrader.
Tecnoconsult / Tecnofluor
Caracas · 1997–2001
Manager, Process and Environmental Engineering. Ran a thirty-engineer department across conceptual, FEED, detail design, quality assurance and construction start-up on capital projects above USD 100M: a 285 MMscfd compressor plant expansion, an LPG plant expansion, and basic engineering for 190 Mbpd of upstream facilities. Selected the CAD/CAE and simulation vendors, implemented a concurrent engineering environment that improved delivery and workflow by more than 50%, and sat on Fluor Daniel's process technology corporate committee.
Simulation Sciences
Caracas · 1992–1997
Senior Sales Engineer, Latin America and the Caribbean. Developed national and international oil company accounts across the region and instructed pinch analysis — Bodo Linnhoff's methodology, implemented in HEXTRAN — inside national oil companies. Grew territory volume by 40% from a USD 4.5M base.
PROCESS ENGINEERING · 1983–1992
Lagoven · Foster Wheeler · Okara · Marshall & Asociados
Caracas · 1983–1992
Nine years in process engineering before the commercial side. Offshore production at Lagoven in Zulia — new well tie-ins and the LL-84 manifold — following field work on the southern Monagas and Anzoátegui development, precursor to the Orinoco Belt programme. Conceptual engineering for the Amuay olefins pool revamp and basic engineering for the El Palito BTX complex at Foster Wheeler, completed at headquarters in Livingston, New Jersey. Process design and simulation coordination at Okara, including an assignment at the ISLA refinery in Curaçao. Lead process engineer at Marshall & Asociados: basic engineering for the New Eastern Refinery, conceptual engineering for the Cristóbal Colón offshore gas and condensate project, and relief and tank-farm revamps — with assignments at Hudson Engineering in Houston and Raytheon Engineers in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
ACCOUNTS AND COUNTERPARTIES ACROSS FOUR DECADES
PDVSA · PDVSA Gas · Intevep · Pemex and IMP · Petrobras · CENPES · Ecopetrol · YPF · Pluspetrol · Repsol · OXY · YPFB · Petroperu · Petroecuador · Total Austral · Methanex · Shell, Motiva, Shell E&P and Shell Global Solutions · Hamaca Consortium · Fluor Daniel · Bechtel · KBR · Chevron Lummus Global · Siemens Chemtech · Hyundai Engineering
Accounts and counterparties worked under each employer listed above. Not current RGfx mandates.
CREDENTIALS
BSc Chemical Engineering, Universidad Simón Bolívar · 1982
Executive MBA, IESA · 1999
Strategic Sales Leadership, Rice University — Jones Graduate School of Business · 2014
Venezuelan Gas Processors' Association, a branch of the US Gas Processors Association — Associate Director, 1998–2001. Coordinated the technical committee reviewing terms and conditions for the Venezuelan gas transportation business with national and international operators, and engaged PDVSA Gas on the Eastern Gas Development plan for Sucre State.
