Page 76: of Offshore Engineer Magazine (Feb/Mar 2015)

75 77

Pro? le Faces of the Industry Faces of the Industry Faces of the Industry

By Kelli Lauletta ebruary’s Faces of the Technology, technology,

F

Industry takes us on technology. Ten years from

Featuring the best of a subsea to topside career now your title will not mat- journey with Fernando ter. I have made it a point

Hernandez, technical advisor to work for companies that

ALL THE ROCKSTARS at Houston-based dynamic have less than four com- positioning company, C-Nav. petitors globally. Working

Fernando shares how he went with technology that is new, from working as an offshore innovative and cutting edge mechanic to brokering global is very important to me. I’m deals and advising companies reminded of a quote from on deepwater projects. Yes, a Author C. Clark who said, lot has happened in between. “Any suf? ciently advanced

EXPLORERS

At the current age of 30, technology is indistinguish-

Fernando has tucked away a able from magic.” I see it in

AND GAMECHANGERS decade of impressive industry the same way. Also in the experience that includes set- patent process, the essence

Driving our Industry, today.

ting industry ? rsts in the Gulf of innovation is based on of Mexico, a sti nt in the North the previous art, which has

Sea and he is now actively to be referenced. I perceive involved in cutting his teeth new technologies as a blend on Mexico’s new deepwater between magic and art. This frontier; spending his time dynamically positioned rigs, subsea tooling. That technol- really drives me in my career.

between Mexico and America. and breaking away from using ogy really drew me in. I went

Do you have any interesting

A self-professed oil and gas jackup rigs, which are com- on to work in Aberdeen where travel stories?

junkie, Fernando says once mon in the Bay of Campeche. I was trained to out? t ROVs he got into offshore he was C-Nav’s technology will be for subsea intervention tasks I had to cross into a country hooked. key in Mexico—where it is to be carried out in thousands where the only rental car

OilOnline recently visited currently used, as it provides of feet of water. This experi- agency was not in service. So, with Fernando to get a fresh 5-7cm accuracy to drillships, ence opened a whole new I had to travel in a “chicken perspective on breaking offshore construction and world of technology and I was bus” traversing a dirt jungle into oil and gas, his view on support vessels, for instance. hooked. I came back to the and avoiding cows along the

Mexico’s jump into deep- The opening of Mexico’s US with a new perspective way. It wasn’t even public water, how to survive the deepwater market is exciting. and an appetite to work on transport, rather it was an old downturn, and why he thinks It is the equivalent of seeing international projects. school bus painted orange cutting-edge technology is a the North Sea develop; there I also learned that offshore with pictures of chickens on combination of art and magic. are obvious differences, but a is where the magic happens. it. We eventually made it into lot of similar opportunities. It does test your mental agility a port. I will never forget that

What is your current role in and ability to adapt to remote experience.

the industry? How did you break into the and harsh environments. I o