Our Company

Project Experts Impacting Communities

Working closely with local governments, institutions, and industry partners, we offer end-to-end asset management solutions throughout every stage of an asset’s lifecycle.

Our strategy emphasizes knowledge transfer, which allows us to boost local economies and concurrently raise community standards.

Our Vision

Develop Assets with Lasting Impacts

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Our Mission

Leverage our extensive global partnerships to create profitable assets that positively impact local communities and yield healthy returns for our valued partners.

Our Strategy

Creating Synergies Through Partnerships

We are driven by Sustainable Economic and Social Empowerment, which inspires our work and gives purpose to our existence. By empowering people, communities, and partners, we actively contribute to the development of sustainable assets.

Our mission is to bridge the gap between the African and American continents. Through strategic partnerships and strong alliances, we deploy resources for long-term opportunities that enable us to transfer knowledge and support socio-economic development.

Our History

Years of Dynamic Evolution

Established in 2015 by Verniss Dillon, a native of Tanzania, MicAyla began as an Oil & Gas Project Controls company. Since then, we have expanded into asset management with diverse interests, including Tech, Acquisitions, Energy, and Carbon Zero Builds.

Headquartered in Houston, Texas, MicAyla also maintains a presence in Tanzania.

Our teams boast over 150 years of collective project experience, having contributed to some of the world’s most significant projects and organizations. We have successfully executed projects ranging in size from $100M to over $21B across various sectors, including Commercial Real Estate, Infrastructure, Fabrication, and Oil & Gas.

our

Leadership Team

“Partners in Economic and Ecosocial Empowerment”

Contact

MicAyla Inc.

2200 Post Oak Blvd,
Suite 1000
Houston, TX 77056

MicAyla Inc. © 2023. All Rights Reserved.

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Verniss Dillon

With an Engineering background and over 21 years of experience developing assets and managing projects in the Energy, Industrial, and Infrastructural sectors across the globe, Verniss spent his formative years in his mother’s native land (Tanzania) and grew up traversing between his father’s native land (the United States) and the European and African continents.

Career Highlights:

  • Chevron in the U.S. collaborated with the owner’s leadership team to develop a top-secret $600M project aimed at implementing innovative technologies to reduce risks in refining processes.

  • RIL (Reliance Industries Limited) in the UAE and India worked with the owner’s leadership team to plan and execute the Cocker Unit Turnaround project to maintain a refining capacity of 1.2Mbpd.

  • Marathon Petroleum in the U.S. consulted with the owner’s leadership teams to carry out Turnaround and Capital projects across Marathon’s numerous refining assets in the U.S.

  • BP/HUSKY in the U.S. developed an in-house earned value management system that saved $20M on project costs and managed the entire lifecycles of various major projects worth over $500M.

  • BP (WRMP) in the U.S. was part of the owner’s leadership team that oversaw a $10B project to modernize a refining asset, from the design phase to start-up.

  • North Texas Tollway Authority in the U.S. included the owner’s leadership team in a $21B tollway development project and influenced funding decisions to sustain corridor development.

  • Peerless MFG in the U.S. led the implementation of companywide ERP systems that improved visibility and overall efficiency, resulting in time and cost savings in fabrication and delivery.

  • At NASA, Boeing in the U.S. developed a recommendation plan for the evolution of the Space Shuttle Program into Space Exploration Systems in support of the National Vision for Space Exploration.

Founding MicAyla Inc. was the natural progression of his career, as he sought to develop sustainable assets and provide innovative solutions that support all aspects of the energy transition spectrum. He is also dedicated to promoting local content through training and certification, with an emphasis on bridging the gap between African and American continents in all his endeavors.

Tom O'brien

Thomas has over 34 years of experience in project management, project service, and controls across a range of sectors, including oil and gas, infrastructure, buildings, power, petrochemical, and commercial construction industries. He possesses hands-on expertise in all phases of EPC work, from FEED through execution and closeout, and has extensive experience in contract administration, scope development, and execution. His work includes both onshore and offshore projects, as well as upstream and downstream operations. His technical proficiency is complemented by field construction experience.

SME in Planning and Scheduling, Project Controls, Risk Analysis and Claim Mitigation. Experience writing and auditing Project Execution Plans (PEPs) and Procedures. Expert use of industry software including Primavera P6 and MS Project. PMI Cost Management REP.

Career Highlights:

Project Services/Controls /Manager on the following Oil & Gas major projects:

  • Jazan ASU Project – Largest (6) Train Air Separation Units in the world. Jazan, KSA
  • BP Plant Wide Modernization Project included (4) new units (Crude, Coker, Hydrotreater, SRU) ($10.2B). Whiting, IN
  • Pipeline Crude Oil “C” Sunoco Oil (4) Simultaneous New LSG Units ($2.1B). USA
  • (3) Simultaneous New Ultra-Low Diesel units ($900M). USA
  • Regen Head Replacement & New COB Boiler, Marcus Hook PA
  • Offshore Platform and Undersea pipelines replacement, Bahama Oil Co

Schedule Risk, Cost Risk, and Claims Management assignments include:

  • Defend claims for various clients in the Middle East.
  • Defended Claims and Deposed as Expert witness on FPL Co-gen, Marcus Hook PA ($750M).
  • Authored claim for a contractor for $3.6M, settled for $3.1M,
  • Successfully Defended $20M delay claim on behalf of the owner on New Gas Oil Hydro Treater Unit ($1.2B). (Negotiated $20M claim to $6.2M),
  • Successfully Defended schedule delay claim on behalf of the owner on Mining & Metal: Phase 2 & 3 New Tunnel and Aluminium Smelter ($14 B) Terms Confidential.

Caroline Alabi

With over 27 years of experience, including 15 years as a Project Controls Professional, Caroline has a proven track record of developing and implementing cost controls in capital programs and projects, with a focus on the oil and gas industry. Her expertise is particularly extensive in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) and the downstream sector. She is the creator of the Estimate to Complete/Estimate at Completion workbook, which enables the accurate forecasting of project performance upon completion. Caroline has been recognized for her exceptional performance, receiving both the Core Innovative Award and Outstanding Employee Performance award. Additionally, she provides valuable mentorship to the Cost Control team.

 Career Highlights:

  • Project Cost Controller at BASF, responsibilities included overseeing the cost control process for several major capital projects during both the detailed engineering and construction phases. She was responsible for preparing and maintaining accurate project cost forecasts and providing detailed variance explanations for root cause analysis. This involves preparing Work Breakdown Structures, Cashflow reports, and creating project cost reports.
  • Lead Cost Engineer at BP-Husky, responsible for overseeing project cost forecasts, Work Breakdown Structures, benchmarking, Cashflow reports, Management of Change tracking, finance, procurement and supply chain management interface, and project reporting for projects totaling over half a billion dollars. The projects she managed include the Crude Processing Metallurgical Upgrade, which safely enables increased capacity of Hi-TAN crude, feed optimization for the Desalters, and the installation of a new FCC Naphtha Post Treater at the BP-Husky Refining LLC (BPH) Toledo Refinery to meet US EPA Tier 3 gasoline regulations.
  • Lead Cost Engineer at BP GOM Thunderhorse Offshore Water Injection (Worley Parsons): A BP brown field project on water injection efficiencies on the Thunder horse platform. Where she was responsible for EPC cost reporting and forecasting, management of project change control, WIP /VOWD, internal financial reporting to Worley Parsons.
  • Project Controls Lead at BP Thunder Horse & BP Atlantis (FMC Technologies Inc) :FMC managed BP projects in the GOM for subsea production system; Scope included subsea trees, manifolds, pressure cap, and completions services to BP.