Walter Paalvast
Walter Paalvast was educated at Noorder Haaks academy for petroleum and gas technology in Den Helder. He then studied geochemistry at the University of Utrecht. He has spent his entire working life in the upstream oil and gas industry. He started as an agency worker on drilling and production platforms, progressing from there to become a consultant – initially as a freelancer, now with FUEL61. His current activities focus primarily on commercial oil and gas metering. Within this highly specialised area, he works on issues that range widely from instrumentation technology to commercial sales advice. Walter views it as an exciting challenge to expand and deepen his knowledge through the study of reservoir engineering, process engineering and instrumentation, thereby strengthening his grasp of commercial metering and everything that comes along with it. And of course, the fact that his work also involves meeting people from a wide variety of backgrounds and specialisms is a fascinating and rewarding bonus.
Frans Paalvast
Frans Paalvast has been working since 1969 in various professions in the oil and gas industry. After studying maritime engineering in Rotterdam, he worked in international oil transportation for several years. In 1976, he entered the employ of an oil company that had just started extracting Dutch natural gas. For the following 30 years, Frans fulfilled a variety of functions, gaining experience in all aspects of oil and gas extraction, including management of reserves and production facilities, maintenance projects, planning, management and training projects. He was also involved in both setting up and scrapping oil platforms. Frans started working at FUEL61 in 2003. His core activities in the company are as a consultant in the area of training for the industry. He is an effective communicator, passing on his extensive knowledge and many years of experience to operators and technicians learning to carry out their work safely and efficiently.