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#91 John Hooker: Simulation, Control, and Predictive Maintenance in Oil & Gas and Power
John Hooker: In this episode, John Hooker, Director of Engineering at Statistics & Control, shares how his lifelong fascination with gas turbines led him from aerospace engineering at Iowa State into turbomachinery control and, eventually, advanced process control and large-scale simulation. He explains how controlling a turbine in an airplane isn’t that different from controlling one on the ground—an insight that helped him land in oil & gas consulting at a small company that grew into a global team with offices across multiple countries.
John walks through how their work expanded from PLC-based turbine and compressor control into building training simulators and full network simulations—gas, pipelines, electrical, steam, and even oil wells—often because customers kept asking: “Can you simulate this too?” Federico and John unpack why simulations grow more complex than expected, especially when you start layering on optimization and economic goals that change with market conditions (like maximizing throughput when gas prices are high vs. minimizing cost when prices drop).
They share real “engineer pain” stories: a geothermal steam project that was mysteriously off by five megawatts until they realized altitude and humidity were missing from the model; and the reality that every plant has its own twist—single-speed pumps, mixed fuel gases, outdated P&IDs, or aging valves that leak so badly “30% open” behaves like “100% open.” John emphasizes a key principle: you can’t optimize what you can’t control—solid control comes first, then optimization.
The conversation also dives into industrial tech realities: legacy Windows XP systems still running remote stations, the shift toward virtualization and cloud access, redundancy strategies for data and communications, and the “too much data” problem that makes predictive maintenance and analytics valuable—when the data quality is good. John closes with practical advice for young engineers: learn fundamentals (like ISA resources), ask experienced people questions, and learn by doing—build small control examples, simulate processes, and iterate fast.
About John Hooker:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/johndhooker/
About Federico Ramallo ✨👨💻🌎
🚀 Software Engineering Manager | 🛠 Founder of DensityLabs.io & PreVetted.ai | 🤝 Connecting 🇺🇸 U.S. teams with top nearshore 🌎 LATAM engineers
- 💼 https://www.linkedin.com/in/framallo/
- 🌐 https://densitylabs.io
- ✅ https://prevetted.ai
🎙 PreVetted Podcast 🎧📡
- 🎯 https://prevetted.ai/podcast
- 🐦 https://x.com/PrevettedPod
- 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/company/prevetted-podcast
00:00 Introduction to Control Engineering and Career Path
05:07 The Evolution of Simulation Technology
09:14 Challenges in Engineering Solutions
15:35 Navigating Software and Technology Changes
21:41 Consulting and Client Expectations
24:14 Project Challenges and Optimization
27:03 Control Systems and Their Importance
30:39 Mechanical vs. Electrical Systems
35:10 Data Management and Predictive Maintenance
39:30 The Role of AI in Engineering
46:55 Advice for Aspiring Engineers
View all episodes
By Federico RamalloJohn Hooker: In this episode, John Hooker, Director of Engineering at Statistics & Control, shares how his lifelong fascination with gas turbines led him from aerospace engineering at Iowa State into turbomachinery control and, eventually, advanced process control and large-scale simulation. He explains how controlling a turbine in an airplane isn’t that different from controlling one on the ground—an insight that helped him land in oil & gas consulting at a small company that grew into a global team with offices across multiple countries.
John walks through how their work expanded from PLC-based turbine and compressor control into building training simulators and full network simulations—gas, pipelines, electrical, steam, and even oil wells—often because customers kept asking: “Can you simulate this too?” Federico and John unpack why simulations grow more complex than expected, especially when you start layering on optimization and economic goals that change with market conditions (like maximizing throughput when gas prices are high vs. minimizing cost when prices drop).
They share real “engineer pain” stories: a geothermal steam project that was mysteriously off by five megawatts until they realized altitude and humidity were missing from the model; and the reality that every plant has its own twist—single-speed pumps, mixed fuel gases, outdated P&IDs, or aging valves that leak so badly “30% open” behaves like “100% open.” John emphasizes a key principle: you can’t optimize what you can’t control—solid control comes first, then optimization.
The conversation also dives into industrial tech realities: legacy Windows XP systems still running remote stations, the shift toward virtualization and cloud access, redundancy strategies for data and communications, and the “too much data” problem that makes predictive maintenance and analytics valuable—when the data quality is good. John closes with practical advice for young engineers: learn fundamentals (like ISA resources), ask experienced people questions, and learn by doing—build small control examples, simulate processes, and iterate fast.
About John Hooker:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/johndhooker/
About Federico Ramallo ✨👨💻🌎
🚀 Software Engineering Manager | 🛠 Founder of DensityLabs.io & PreVetted.ai | 🤝 Connecting 🇺🇸 U.S. teams with top nearshore 🌎 LATAM engineers
- 💼 https://www.linkedin.com/in/framallo/
- 🌐 https://densitylabs.io
- ✅ https://prevetted.ai
🎙 PreVetted Podcast 🎧📡
- 🎯 https://prevetted.ai/podcast
- 🐦 https://x.com/PrevettedPod
- 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/company/prevetted-podcast
00:00 Introduction to Control Engineering and Career Path
05:07 The Evolution of Simulation Technology
09:14 Challenges in Engineering Solutions
15:35 Navigating Software and Technology Changes
21:41 Consulting and Client Expectations
24:14 Project Challenges and Optimization
27:03 Control Systems and Their Importance
30:39 Mechanical vs. Electrical Systems
35:10 Data Management and Predictive Maintenance
39:30 The Role of AI in Engineering
46:55 Advice for Aspiring Engineers