FENEX CRC Foundation Fellow
Dr Luke McElroy is an experienced process engineer having worked for operating facilities and projects in the oil and gas industry for the past ten years.
As a FEnEx Foundation Fellow, Luke has responsibility to deliver Commonwealth milestones of FEnEx within the Efficient LNG Value Chains theme, and to work on industry-driven projects funded through FEnEx.
Luke most recently worked with the Australian Centre for LNG Futures as Project Lead of the LNG Futures Facility Project and will continue in this lead role as a FEnEx Foundation Fellow. The LNG Futures Facility Project aims to construct a natural gas and hydrogen research facility in Kwinana, WA. Concept development work from 2018-2020 was jointly funded by NERA, UWA, Chevron, Shell Australia, and Hyundai Heavy Industries. A further $10m commitment from the WA State Government—announced by WA Premier Hon. Mark McGowan and Chevron CEO Mike Wirth at LNG19, Shanghai—was supported by Luke’s project business case. Luke’s role encompasses assurance, commercial, contracts, HSE, and technical aspects of the project, requiring engagement with industry, and state and local governments. During 2020, a significant project scope was carried out by Melbourne-based company GLP under COVID-19 travel restrictions. Luke managed this virtual team to ensure delivery of the work, including facilitating a multiday design workshop with attendees in Perth, Melbourne, and Beijing.
Luke’s industry experience includes four years with Woodside Energy providing process engineering and safety risk support to oil and gas facilities. His work with Woodside included an engineering role at Karratha Gas Plant, where he also served as chair of the site process safety meeting. Through past employment with DuPont and Arup, Luke has gained experience in delivering engineering services to a range of clients in industry and government.
As a research fellow at Curtin University since 2016, Luke has supervised PhD and undergraduate research projects in natural gas processing, and supervised students undertaking industry design projects. His research interests include process design, process control and simulation, and applied statistics.
Luke obtained a BE (Hons) and PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of New South Wales. His PhD involved development of novel sensors for minerals processing using statistical inference from equipment noise. His work received a Faculty of Engineering Dean’s Award for Excellence in Postgraduate Research in 2008.