Shell Deer Park General Manager Barry Klein has a passion for the industry that is second to none. Not only is Klein a strong advocate for the industry overall, but he also demonstrates this same passion at the site he manages. Klein wants to continue to make Shell Deer Park a great place to work and an active, caring neighbor to its community.
In January 2013, Klein took over as general manager, bringing 27-plus years of Shell experience to Shell Deer Park. Klein began his Shell career in 1987 as a controls systems engineer at the Kraton facility in Belpre, Ohio. He later managed several processing units and groups including maintenance, technical and HS&E. Over time, Klein became plant superintendent at the Geismar, Louisiana, facility and general manager of reliability, maintenance and turnarounds for Shell Global Manufacturing. Before his current assignment at Shell Deer Park, Klein was general manager of Shell’s Scotford manufacturing site in Alberta, Canada, where he encouraged a shared vision and teamwork among employees and contractors.
In his current role, Klein oversees a fully integrated refinery and chemical plant at Shell Deer Park. The 1,500-acre site is located on the Houston Ship Channel 20 miles east of downtown Houston and consists of approximately 1,600 Shell employees and 1,400 contractors. The chemical plant’s key business categories are aromatics, light olefins, heavy olefins and phenol. The refinery, among the largest in the U.S., has a crude oil capacity of 340,000 barrels per day. It operates as Deer Park Refining Limited Partnership, a 50/50 joint venture formed in 1993 between Shell Oil Co. and Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex).
To oversee a site of this magnitude, a strong sense of leadership is required and Klein brings this skillset to the table. According to Klein, running the site involves strong doses of management and leadership.
“Management skills come from your brain, but leadership comes from your heart,” Klein explained. “Effective leadership is about inspiring and motivating people, getting them excited about what they’re doing and guiding them in the right direction.”
At Shell Deer Park, Klein is set on powering progress. If he didn’t have that passion, energy and belief in the site, he believes it would be impossible to lead employees.
“Our equipment and technology are not much different than the competition,” Klein said. “What makes Shell Deer Park a special site is our people.”
Where does all of Klein’s passion for Shell Deer Park and the industry as a whole come from? It can be traced back to his hometown of Eunice, Louisiana, where he worked in the oilfield, learning from his father. To finance his college education, Klein had a number of eclectic jobs, including repairing bicycles, air conditioner systems, oilfield injection pumps, and working as a late-night disc jockey at a country radio station. Klein earned his associate’s degree in engineering at Louisiana State University and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering with a minor in controls at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
‘Journey to flagship,’ teamwork
Since joining Shell Deer Park, Klein has renewed the site’s “flagship” vision and made great strides toward delivering this vision through his focus on the site’s culture of family, teamwork, ownership, winning and fun.
“Shell Deer Park wants to be the leader, working as one and maintaining excellence in everything we do,” Klein said. “The biggest news at the site right now is focusing on how we can accelerate this ‘journey to flagship.’ How can you bring 3,000 people together and keep them aligned, focused and moving in the same direction even when they’re working in two separate parts of the business? I believe rallying everyone who works at Shell Deer Park around a shared vision ensures we move in the same direction.”
Klein said he wants Shell Deer Park to continue to be a great place to work, where people are valued and proud to be involved. He emphasized it’s important for every member of the Shell Deer Park family — from those at the front line of operations to site leadership to the contractor community — to be motivated, engaged in and challenged by their work, consistently bringing their best.
“If we create an environment of success, I believe that will inspire people and foster teamwork — even at a place as sizable as Shell Deer Park,” Klein said. “I hear people describe ‘The Park’ as a great place to work. I routinely hear people use words like ‘pride,’ ‘ownership,’ ‘high energy,’ ‘engaged,’ ‘great business’ and ‘fun’ when characterizing the site. These qualities make Shell Deer Park a special place to work.”
‘Goal Zero’ mindset
One of Shell Deer Park’s priorities every year is staying safe. Klein calls safety a “must win” and wants every employee to have a “Goal Zero” mindset.
“I want our employees to focus on hazard identification, mitigation of risk, the right behaviors and intervening with each other,” Klein said. “Success with safety comes from being engaged and aware of your surroundings. In regards to safety, you have to be your brother’s keeper. We want zero personal and process incidents at Shell Deer Park, and to ensure our employees make it home safely to their families and back to work each day.”
Shell Deer Park = the community
According to Klein, Shell Deer Park wants to be a good corporate neighbor and contribute to the well-being of the community. Since 1928, Shell Deer Park and the community have grown together.
“The surrounding community exists because of Shell Deer Park, and the site exists because the community wants it here,” Klein said. “It’s impossible to separate the community from the site because the community is Shell Deer Park. Our employees are the ones who live here and their kids go to school here.”
Shell Deer Park and its employees actively help many worthy causes. The site holds its annual Shell Deer Park Strides for Schools Fun Run & Walk. The Deer Park Education Foundation uses the proceeds from this fun run to award teacher grants for innovative programs in the Deer Park Independent School District. Last year, Shell Deer Park also sponsored and was heavily involved in Date With Destiny, a career and education awareness forum for women interested in exploring technical careers and/or education in the oil and gas industry.
In addition, Shell Deer Park wants to be known as a neighbor that truly cares. Shell Deer Park employees volunteer their time to nearby organizations such as The Bridge Over Troubled Waters, Armand Bayou Nature Center, and an annual toy drive and golf tournament for the Boys & Girls Harbor. Shell Deer Park also donated $100,000 toward saving the Deer Park Prairie and $21,000 toward the first audio tour on Battleship Texas.
When Klein is outside of the site, he sits on the board of the East Harris County Manufacturers Association, Economic Alliance Houston Port Region and the Boys & Girls Harbor. Klein is also on a task force for the Greater Houston Partnership, which supports workforce development.
“It’s important to be involved in these types of organizations where people in our industry can get to together to talk about common issues and share best practices to make sure we’re doing the right things in this region,” Klein said. “Part of being in a community like the Greater Houston area is to look at the whole pie and to help others.”
Powering progress continued
Going forward, Klein said Shell Deer Park is constantly considering how it can grow the businesses. There’s work currently being performed with the refinery and chemical plant on how to expand their capabilities and shift to a more flexible set of feedstocks and crude.
“I expect we will make some announcements in the near future,” Klein said. “Overall, we’ll see this industry, particularly in the Gulf Coast, continue to grow because of more natural gas and lighter crudes. The industry we’re in is something people should be really proud of. We do a job that is truly honorable in an industry that powers progress throughout the world.”
Shell Deer Park
5900 State Highway 225
Deer Park, TX 77536
(713) 241-4544
www.shell.com
Employees: 1,600 employees plus contractors’ employees
Products: Chemical products — benzene, toluene, solvent xylent, ethylene/propylene, isoprene/butadiene, piperylenes/dicyclopentadiene, acetone, sulfer and phenol. Refinery products — gasoline, jet fuel and kerosene, diesel fuel and heating oil, propane and butane, asphalt, No. 6 oil, chemical feedstocks and petroleum coke.
Size: 1,500 acres
