Occupation: Gas Plant Operators
Gas Plant Operators
Distribute or process gas for utility companies and others by controlling compressors to maintain specified pressures on main pipelines.
Reported Job Titles
(10)
- Compressor Technician (Compressor Tech)
- Engine Room Operator
- Gas Controller
- Gas Dispatcher
- Gas Plant Operator
- Gas Resource Control Operator
- Gas System Operator
- Liquefied Natural Gas Technician (LNG Technician)
- Liquid Natural Gas Plant Operator (LNG Plant Operator)
- Plant Operator
Core Tasks
(15)
- Monitor equipment functioning, observe temperature, level, and flow gauges, and perform regular unit checks to ensure that all equipment is operating as it should.
- Distribute or process gas for utility companies or industrial plants, using panel boards, control boards, and semi-automatic equipment.
- Control operation of compressors, scrubbers, evaporators, and refrigeration equipment to liquefy, compress, or regasify natural gas.
- Control equipment to regulate flow and pressure of gas to feedlines of boilers, furnaces, and related steam-generating or heating equipment.
- Record, review, and compile operations records, test results, and gauge readings such as temperatures, pressures, concentrations, and flows.
- Determine causes of abnormal pressure variances, and make corrective recommendations, such as installation of pipes to relieve overloading.
- Adjust temperature, pressure, vacuum, level, flow rate, or transfer of gas to maintain processes at required levels or to correct problems.
- Collaborate with other operators to solve unit problems.
- Monitor transportation and storage of flammable and other potentially dangerous products to ensure that safety guidelines are followed.
- Start and shut down plant equipment.
- Read logsheets to determine product demand and disposition, or to detect malfunctions.
- Contact maintenance crews when necessary.
- Test gas, chemicals, and air during processing to assess factors such as purity and moisture content, and to detect quality problems or gas or chemical leaks.
- Clean, maintain, and repair equipment, using hand tools, or request that repair and maintenance work be performed.
- Signal or direct workers who tend auxiliary equipment.
Supplemental Tasks
(4)
- Control fractioning columns, compressors, purifying towers, heat exchangers, and related equipment to extract nitrogen and oxygen from air.
- Calculate gas ratios to detect deviations from specifications, using testing apparatus.
- Operate construction equipment to install and maintain gas distribution systems.
- Change charts in recording meters.