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Jeff Dice

Jeffreydice, P.E., PMP

Senior Engineer
Civil & Structural

Education & Qualifications

B.S. Civil Engineering
M.S. Civil Engineering
Texas A&M University

Professional Engineer
Texas: 85433
New Mexico: 26891
South Carolina: 40704

Project Management Professional
PMI No. 1703683

Areas Of Expertise

Structural Engineering
Upstream & Midstream
Renewable Energy
Earthquake Structural Analysis
Forensic Engineering
Fire & Explosion Investigation
Root Cause Analysis
Expert Testimony

Biography

Jeff Dice is a licensed engineer with deep structural engineering knowledge on an array of energy projects.

During his engineering career, Jeff gained invaluable experience having worked on some of the most complex and technically challenging projects around the globe. Jeff has a strong track record of delivering reliable, risk-based solutions to energy clients that have taken on ambitious endeavors to maintain industry dominance. Jeff’s structural engineering encompasses fixed and floating offshore structures, subsea structures, chemical processing plants, refineries, foundations, modules, skids, and drilling rigs.

At OCI-USA, Jeff brings his experience to insurance carriers, adjusters, and their legal counsel that face perplexing structural engineering challenges across traditional and renewable energy industries.

Selected Assignments

Description Type Value
Deepwater Fixed Jacket – Gulf of Mexico Expert Witness $180K
Louisiana Plastics Plant –Explosion CAR (PR) $38M
Midwest Refinery FCCU, Crude – Fire PD $938M
Louisiana Plastics Plant – Hurricane PD $80M
Offshore Facility RCA $1.2M
Southern Refinery, Penex ISOM – Fire PD + BI $40M
Petrochemical – Reactor Explosion PD $91M
Warehouse – Roof Failure RCA $1.3M
Mid-Atlantic Refinery – Roof Collapse PD $3.6M
Texas Solar Farm – Weather Event PD $500k

NOTABLE EXPERIENCE

EXPERT & INSURANCE CLAIMS

Deepwater Fixed Jacket – GOM
A dispute ensued over construction methodologies assumed by the design team as opposed to those used by the fabricator for a deep-water fixed jacket that failed during installation in the Gulf of Mexico. Jeff was selected as an expert witness for opining on cost and schedule impacts and technical support for methodology selection. Jeff reviewed the contract and engineering documents to determine the cause of inappropriate decisions and recommended apportioned blame.

Chemical Plant – Fire & Explosion
A chemical facility experienced a fire and explosion event during the commissioning of an LDPE plant. Jeff performed a root cause analysis of the plant’s structural components to determine that design loads were underestimated. Jeff analyzed the extent of repair required by failure versus the extent of repair required to prevent future failures, and he apportioned damage and final cost allocations for structural and facility scopes.

Louisiana Plastics Plant – Hurricane
A hurricane caused soil movement and resulted in facility damage to a refinery dock. Jeff inspected structural damage sustained to the cooling towers, mechanical and welding shops, and general buildings. Jeff prepared a structural repair assessment, including the dredging required to remove excess soil deposited by the hurricane.

Offshore Facility – Personal Injury
Jeff was selected as an expert witness to opine on the cause of a personal injury incident. Jeff reviewed the as-build flooring design to determine its structural adequacy.

Midwest Refinery FCCU, Crude – Fire
Jeff was appointed to create a material take-off and provided technical support for schedule development to perform a like-kind execution plan to define value-for-claim where the insured chose to replace the entire facility. Jeff’s scope included all facility items including structural, civil, electrical, piping, and related equipment.

Southern Refinery, Penex ISOM – Fire
Jeff was deployed on-site to verify structural damage and develop cost estimates to support the reserves development. Jeff’s scope included a review of the damages’ extent and access limits to execute repairs. Jeff also performed subsequent site visits to review the impact on heater performance caused by fire deformation.

Petrochemical – Reactor Explosion
A chemical facility experienced a reactor explosion during the construction phase. Jeff evaluated damage to the facility’s structural steel, and concrete buildings & foundations. Jeff’s analysis determined that repair costs were significantly greater than the coverage limits allowed under the insurance policy.

Texas Solar Farm– Weather Event
Heavy rain occurred during the construction of a solar project, causing the failure of large modules housed in cardboard containers and exposed to weather elements. Jeff mobilized onsite to inspect the support packages that sustained heavy rain and the resulting damage to the solar panels. Jeff’s assessed the support package design to determine the failure’s root cause.

Warehouse – Roof Failure
Jeff performed a root cause analysis to determine the failure of a commercial warehouse’s roof supports. Jeff prepared a detailed structural assessment, including a review of the facility’s concrete, masonry, timber, and steel components.

Refinery – Storage Tank Roof Collapse
Jeff was appointed to determine the cause of a chemical storage tank roof failure. Jeff performed a detailed assessment of possible mechanism failures to pinpoint the failure’s root cause.

Refinery – Fire
Jeff performed a detailed fire damage assessment to develop a repair plan for a refinery that sustained fire damage. Jeff created repair estimates for both the cost and schedule.

INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE

Subject Matter Expert – Deepwater Offshore Projects
As the structural engineering SME, Jeff presided over numerous projects from a technical standpoint. Jeff delivered technical risk decisions on an ultra-deepwater platform with scopes including deck extensions, living quarters, temporary cranes, topsides and platform rig modifications, and topsides modules. Jeff supervised engineering from design through installation and provided leadership planning to drilling, construction, and operation scopes.

Jeff provided assurance for an offshore modification project that experienced physical damage and was further complicated by the legal issues of a bankrupt operator.

Jeff leveraged his deep knowledge of a foreign country’s regulations on international projects to guide clients on future substructure design developments.

Facility Development Engineer – Offshore Upstream
Jeff was appointed the project manager and lead structural engineer for intermediate and deep gas exploration projects from early design studies to facility installations. Project scopes included jackets, decks, caissons, conductors, skids, equipment, and other specialty structural items. Jeff is experienced in managing all disciplines from design analysis, cost estimating & scheduling, contract bidding & bid evaluations to performing contractor & inspector oversight. As the owner’s engineer, Jeff oversaw various work scopes including specification development and selection, design criteria development, installation, collapse assessment, and permitting.

On separate international projects, Jeff reimaged abandoned fields to provide LNG source gas for export and export gas to shore. Jeff’s studies have been used as a guide to navigate complex international regulations on multi-fixed platform development plans.

Design Engineer – Refineries & Offshore Upstream
As the lead structural engineer, Jeff led the structural engineering design aspect for multiple oil & gas projects such as chemical processing plants, fixed drilling platforms, and deep offshore drilling platforms. He developed the final design for modular refineries fabricated internationally and installed in the US. He also performed bespoke engineering for seismic and earthquake-sensitive projects located in remote offshore regions, focusing on minimal modifications to aging facilities. Jeff has also led the structural engineering discipline through project transitioning phases, from spar to semi-maintaining leanings on a mega offshore platform. He evaluated value and risk drivers across multiple construction methods to design topside spars, tension leg platforms, and semisubmersible options. These studies included a review of the weight savings from the integrated hull and topsides for semisubmersible options.

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

2022 – Present OCI-USA
Houston, TX
Senior Engineer, Civil & Structural
2015 – 2021 Private Consulting
Houston, TX
Consulting Engineer – Energy, Structures, and Management
2010 – 2015 BP
Houston, TX
Structural Engineering Team Lead / Project Structural Technical Authority and Installation Engineer
2007 – 2010 Upstream Engineering, LLC
Houston, TX
Senior Project Manager
2004 – 2007 Atlas Engineering
Houston, TX
Project Manager – Structural Engineer
1993 – 2004 Mustang Engineering
Houston, TX
Consulting Structural Engineer
1992 – 1993 McDermott’s Hudson Engineering
Houston, TX
Structural Engineer
1991 – 1992 Texas A&M / Cardinal Glass
College Station, TX
Research Engineer