In his years of higher education, on-the-job experience and management successes, Peter Batey didn’t have training for the kind of devastation that Hurricane Katrina brought to his refinery.

“We faced an unbelievable combination of unique challenges in trying to recover from the damage Katrina caused. Things you take for granted like communications, transportation and accommodations became huge stumbling blocks in our recovery efforts,” said Batey. “There’s no training for the combination of challenges that we faced.”

Batey is the refinery manager at the Alliance Refinery for ConocoPhillips. His refinery was one of the largest to be shut down by Hurricane Katrina when it made landfall in Louisiana on Aug. 29, 2005. It took 235 days to regain full operation.

Batey will deliver the opening keynote address at ISA Expo 2006 in Houston on Tuesday, Oct. 17 at 8:30 a.m. His presentation will touch on the shutdown of the refinery, the recovery process, lessons learned and plans for the future.

Registration is now open for ISA Expo, which will take place from Oct. 17 through Oct. 19 at the Reliant Center in Houston. More information is available at www.isa.org/isaexpo2006 .

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