Former Vice-President of Facility Planning at AOC The Hague, John A. Schnautz, recently learned that he will be inducted into the Oregon State University Chemical Engineering Hall of Fame at Corvallis, Oregon on February 21, 2003. John joins ten others including Nobel Laureate Linus C. Pauling who have received this honor in past years. Membership in the OSU Hall of Fame is reserved for Oregon Stater’s who have made sustained and meritorious engineering and/or managerial contributions during their careers.Mr. Schnautz joined AOC, The Hague September 1958. After completing a one-year post doctorial Fulbright Scholarship at the Technische Hohschule, Darmstadt Germany, he began work in the AOC Engineering department. J. P. (Hans) Cordia was his first supervisor and Liston Hills was the AOC Vice President. John's first major assignment was process design of Aramco’s first raw LPG facility (37,500 BPD) to be located in Abqaiq. Two of his children, Patricia and JoAnn were born in The Hague.
In December 1960, John was transferred to the Dhahran General Engineering Department and worked on a number of technical service projects. His son John Jay was born in Dhahran. He was transferred to Ras Tanura Refinery Technical Service in January 1963 where his daughter, Anita, was born. After transferring to Abqaiq in January 1964, John was assigned to work on technical problems at the Ain Dar Gas Injection Plant. In 1966, he was transferred back to Dhahran and worked for Norton Jaggard in the Facilities Planning Department and became Supervisor of the unit. His son Leslie was born in 1968. It was during this assignment that John introduced a magnetic card calculator to the engineering department to increase the efficiency of making economic calculations of alternative engineering solutions.
In August 1969, John was sent to The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Advanced Engineering Studies. He was placed on loan in 1970 with Standard Oil New Jersey in the Esso Middle East New York Office where he reported to Doug McConnell and George Piercy, and son Thomas was born.
John was named Vice President of Facility Planning in 1972 when he was transferred to AOC The Hague. In 1974, he was assigned to the Gas Task Force, consisting of one member from Aramco, Esso, Texaco, Chevron and Mobil. The task force was charged to study, plan, and recommend facilities to gather, process and utilize the associated gas being flared in Saudi Arabia. John transferred to Exxon New York in 1976 from which he retired in 1986 as Senior Advisor to the Corporation.
Currently, John is Chapter Chair of Asheville SCORE and President of the Buncombe County Extension Advisory Council and resides with his wife Barbara in Asheville, NC. John can be reached by e-mailing John A. Schnautz.