HOUSTON, May 12, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- It is the power that fuels our cars, heats our homes and is a key ingredient to countless consumer products. Oil and gas comprise the staples of everyday life and despite current low crude oil prices, the need for future development of their infrastructure is critical. To address this need, Burns & McDonnell is committed to growing the size of its team to ensure transmission and storage systems are in place to meet current needs and be positioned for the next upturn when prices rebound.
"It's like having too many cars and not enough highways to efficiently get drivers from one place to the next," says Hoyt Brown, who is Burns & McDonnell's newest leader with a focus on oil and gas projects across North America. "Pipelines serve as the vital highways transporting oil and gas from where it's extracted to where it's needed to produce the power and products we all rely on every day. Right now, the demand for this fuel still outweighs the current infrastructure."
Hoyt is relocating from Denver to his family's hometown of Houston (fourth generation Houstonian) where he will serve as Burns & McDonnell's National Business Manager for terminals and pipelines. The city is not only in the heart of the nation's oil and gas industry, but also home to Burns & McDonnell's largest regional office. The Houston office experienced a 27% increase in staff in 2014 with plans for additional growth this year.
"Hoyt has successfully managed the infrastructure development of some of the most oil rich parts of North America," says Leslie Duke, Burns & McDonnell Senior Vice President in Houston. "We see untapped potential for development in Texas that will benefit the state with not only the improvement of oil and gas infrastructure, but also new, high paying jobs throughout the region."
Hoyt will lead a national team out of Houston that is expected to dramatically expand in size over the next year. In spite of the relative slow down of oil and gas production in various North American shale plays, the industry is still in need of infrastructure to meet current and future energy demands. With anticipated initiatives throughout North America focused on the transportation and storage of oil and natural gas to meet these demands, Hoyt sees the need to add key staff able to design and construct these infrastructure projects.
"We are ramping up for accelerated growth in several key markets with plans for significant growth of our oil and gas teams in Denver, Oklahoma City, St. Louis and others," says Hoyt, who explains that the growth stems in part to Burns & McDonnell integrated project delivery method. "Even with low commodity prices there's much needed infrastructure still to be built – the industry is just now getting caught up. Our key differentiator is that we provide our clients with a team skilled in delivering every aspect needed for a job from engineering to procurement to construction. This one-stop shopping approach makes the project more efficient, affordable and ultimately more successful."
Hoyt is a member of both the American Society of Civil Engineers and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and is a recent board member of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association. Hoyt has a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines and a Master of Business Administration from Rice University.
Kristi Widmar 816-448-7379
