Passing the Torch: Welcome KC Yost

                 

00:00:00 Jordan Yates
This episode of the Energy Pipeline is sponsored by Caterpillar Oil and Gas. Since the 1930s, Caterpillar has manufactured engines for drilling, production, well service, and gas compression. With more than 2100 dealer locations worldwide, Caterpillar offers customers a dedicated support team to assist with their premier power solutions.

00:00:25 Speaker 2
The energy pipeline is your lifeline to all things oil and gas to drill down deep into the issues impacting our industry. From the frack site to the future of sustainability, hear more about industry issues and resources to streamline and modernize the future of oil and gas. Welcome to the Energy Pipeline.

00:00:47 Jordan Yates
Hello everybody. It is Jordan Yates, and we are back with another episode of The Energy Pipeline, but today is different. I have some news to share. As you guys know, I've had so much fun being your host here on the Energy Pipeline. Got to meet some really incredible people, gotten to talk about some really fascinating topics, and hopefully all of you have learned a thing or two along the way. I know I definitely have, but you guys know how life is. Things come up, new adventures arise, and sometimes it takes us in new directions. I say all this to say I am stepping down as the host of the Energy Pipeline. I have some other commitments that require my undivided attention. As sad as I am to go, I am not as sad as I am excited to introduce you to your new host, KC Yost. Oh my gosh, that rhymes. KC, say hello.

00:01:46 KC Yost
Hi, Jordan. How are you today?

00:01:49 Jordan Yates
I'm pretty good. I'm also kind of jealous that you can have your intro of, I'm your host KC Yost. It's Yost, right? That's how you say it.

00:01:58 KC Yost
Yes, yes. You're doing quite well.

00:01:59 Jordan Yates
Lucky you.

00:02:00 KC Yost
Exactly.

00:02:00 Jordan Yates
You were meant to be a host. But guys, today we are going to get to know him and make this an episode of passing the torch. So I just want to, before we get into that, give you all a massive shout- out for tuning in, sharing your thoughts along the way, and supporting me as I've been your host. I have had so, so much fun, as I said, but enough of that, let's talk about KC because he is the one that is going to be spending a lot more time with you guys moving forward. So KC, let's just quick kick it off with, if you could share a bit about your background, or should I say extensive background in the pipeline industry and your journey from civil engineering to your roles as executive PM, business manager. You've done a lot. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your background.

00:02:58 KC Yost
Jordan, before I get started on that, be clear. I understand I have huge shoes to fill. I'm going to do my best to make you proud, so we'll give it a good shot and see how things go.

00:03:12 Jordan Yates
Well good.

00:03:15 KC Yost
I hope to live up to the high standards that you've already set, so. So good luck to me.

00:03:23 Jordan Yates
You've got this, 100% faith.

00:03:25 KC Yost
Good, good, good. KC Yost, born and raised in West Virginia. Went to West Virginia University, got a B. S. in civil engineering in 1976. Immediately moved to Houston and I've been in Houston since then. So in 2024, I guess we're coming up on forty- eight years in the energy industry, pipeline to industry. I guess we're going to talk a little bit about my family later on, but my career has been some with operating companies and a great deal with engineering firms. I'm a licensed professional engineer in 29 different states. I have worked throughout the world, had an apartment in Calgary for a while. I should have had an apartment in Anchorage for a while, spent a good bit of time down in Bogota or Bogota where I'm known as KC Yost, and Queensland. Spent some time in Baghdad before the US troops pulled out. So I've had a great trip around the world and worked in 32 different states in the lower 48. So it's been a good ride, very good ride.

00:04:52 Jordan Yates
You've got some experience, so you guys are very lucky to be inheriting a host that has done quite a bit. Meanwhile, I'm over here, I've got like five years of experience, so I'm just so happy to be passing it on to somebody that is just so embedded in this industry. So like you alluded to, you come from a family of pipeliners, which adds to your unique dimension in your career. How has the multi- generational involvement influenced your perspective and your passion for the industry?

00:05:23 KC Yost
So we can actually go back to my great- grandfather if we're talking about the energy industry. He worked on oil wells and gas wells in around the Ohio River just south of Parkersburg, West Virginia, years and years ago. My grandfather became a teamster and worked pipeline construction from Parkersburg over to Clarksburg during his career. My father, when he got back from the South Pacific, went to school in Morgantown at WVU and immediately went to work for Hope Gas, the company that my grandfather retired from. In fact, I have my grandfather's 25- year watch here dated 1944. Anyway, spending time with my grandfather and visiting with him about being out on the right of way and things like that while we are out working on the farm, my father taking me on trips to go look at a GE Frame 3 compressor that's being installed at their Hastings Compressor, I believe it's Hastings Compressor Station, when I was not even a teenager yet. Those types of things, gas measurement facilities and all, it got me very interested in the energy industry. I was very fortunate when I got out of college that a company in Houston, Tennessee Gas Pipeline, was interested in me going ahead and carrying on that lineage. But I've run into a lot of people who have two, three, four generations of energy industry relationships, and it's great to visit with them about their experiences, whether they're in Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, West Virginia, Ohio. It's a nice kindred relationship.

00:07:35 Jordan Yates
That sounds really cool. It sounds like something that you would start off as a plot in a movie about true Americans, and it's like the generations in the oil industry. It's a very cool story and background to have that run through your family for so many years. Really speaks to the depths of how this industry affects people individually, so that's very cool. I think your background is going to heavily contribute to your just natural gravitation towards these topics.

00:08:07 KC Yost
Well, Jordan, I would also argue that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, and at the end of the day, here I am, in an industry that my father and grandfather and frankly my great- grandfather were in as well. The apple has stayed very close to the tree.

00:08:26 Jordan Yates
The apple's in the tree, the apple's still growing.

00:08:29 KC Yost
There you go, there you go, there you go. Very good.

00:08:32 Jordan Yates
So I think what many listeners are going to want to know more than anything else is, what motivated you to step into this role and become a podcast host for... I mean, clearly you got the energy interest, but to take the leap into podcasting, what inspired that?

00:08:52 KC Yost
Knowledge transfer. I'm a firm believer in knowledge transfer. I am very interested in visiting with younger engineers and managers, project managers, construction managers, et cetera, on my experiences. There may be some limitations, but frankly, I know that I've made a lot of mistakes over the years. I've seen a lot of successes over the years, and it's a matter of passing that on to the younger generation, to the managers out there. In my 48 years, there are a lot of things that I haven't done and that I constantly learn new things. So in two words, knowledge transfer, is what I'm interested in doing. This seems like an excellent, excellent mechanism for doing that. So I'm very excited about it, really am.

00:09:54 Jordan Yates
Yeah, no, that's so true because that's what the Energy Pipeline set out to be from the beginning is an educational podcast. Ideally we entertain the guest a little bit and we keep the conversations interesting, which naturally happens because the topics we talk about are cool, but it really is supposed to be the, I think inaudible, your lifeline to oil and gas or something like that but it truly is meant to be an educational podcast. So the fact that your main goal is knowledge transfer, I think you are in the right place. So, welcome.

00:10:27 KC Yost
Sweet.

00:10:29 Jordan Yates
So do you have any specific themes or areas of focus that you're excited to get into as you start hosting this podcast?

00:10:38 KC Yost
So I want to add value. I want to have guests on that can relay their experiences to our listeners. Something that they may be able to glean from that experience, whether it be in a coffee table discussion or whether it be in a conference room discussion. The idea is to be able to add value to their knowledge and transfer that knowledge to them so that they can be better informed, more in tune with what's going on, be aware of the new things that are happening in the world. It doesn't matter whether we're talking about preliminary design, conceptual design, construction, operations. The whole idea is to cover the spectrum because frankly, you can't build a building and have it operate well if you don't have a good foundation from which to work. If someone can someday be able to say hey, I heard this on the podcast, then I take a great deal of pride in that, that someone picks something up that they could use in their daily life.

00:12:03 Jordan Yates
Yeah, absolutely. Ideally, we can carry some influence and weight as we are hopefully bringing information that is that useful or even it's something that may seem like a minor detail to somebody with as much experience as you, but if somebody maybe like me is listening that's early in their career, they can come in, hear something and they're like, oh wow, I don't think I would've learned that if I wasn't tuning into the energy pipeline. It's your whole new world opened up because it's not easy to come across these incredibly experienced individuals. We've had multiple CEOs from oil and gas companies on here. Being my age, there's nobody that would've probably just let me talk to them for an hour straight and take up their time at that level. So the fact that we give the listeners inside knowledge and just experience through our guests, it's very exciting. I agree that it's a wonderful way to plug them in and just get them up to date, so.

00:13:04 KC Yost
I'm very excited to get industry experts in here and just ask them open- ended questions and let them talk and absorb that knowledge along with our listeners. Again, I am constantly learning new things and I am really looking at this as a mechanism for me to learn new things as well. I'm hoping that the topics and the way the conversations go, that interest in me will also interest our listeners.

00:13:37 Jordan Yates
So speaking of topics, are there any key issues that you think you're excited to hone in on as you start coming up with the next few episodes? Because now, I mean, you're the one driving the content ship, so what are you excited to get into?

00:13:54 KC Yost
So there are a number of fronts there, aren't there? Why is pipeline a bad word? I think we need to recognize that pipelines are the safest way to transfer any fluid. I don't care whether we're talking about hydrogen, crude oil, syngas, refined products, water, it doesn't make any difference. It's a great way to transport product from point A to point B. Talking about that a little bit. Technology, technology is at the forefront. People think hey, you dig a ditch, throw a pipe in it, cover it up, and someone gets paid for that. Obviously there's a lot more to that. Some of the developments in pigging inline inspection tools and the like, are really fascinating, which leads into regulations and making sure that everyone's up- to- date on the regulatory issues. Understand the difference between what liquid pipeline has to worry about versus a natural gas line versus a hydrogen line, and have those conversations just to make sure that they're different. We do go to Canada, so when we talk about regulations, let's have a conversation about their ZED 662, I believe, versus our DOT CFR 192 and 195. Let's talk about regulations and how they compare. So that's the type of conversation I would like to have that maybe designers, project managers, department managers might find very, very interesting. That's what we're hoping for.

00:15:53 Jordan Yates
I think it's ironic that the show is called the Energy Pipeline and I don't think we've ever really focused on any midstream pipeline related topics to date, and we've done, got a half a year of episodes, so it's funny. We've done so much upstream and fracking and environmental regulations and then a lot of downstream refinery stuff, and yet somehow we just never got into midstream or pipelining. The show is literally called the Energy Pipeline. So I think that it's meant to be that somebody with your pipelining background is now here taking over the Energy Pipeline. Nothing's ever felt more meant to be to me.

00:16:33 KC Yost
Thank you very much. I've never called myself anything but a pipeliner.

00:16:40 Jordan Yates
Well, perfect. I guess there's a lot of your background's been answered, your motivations for being here, what you're looking forward to doing, but ideally, we like to think from the Energy Pipeline's perspective and those who've been putting time and effort into it, such as Caterpillar, OGGN, all of the above. We like to think that we are playing a role in educating and engaging listeners on energy- related topics, whether or not we're successfully doing it, hard to say, but it's definitely been our goal.

00:17:13 KC Yost
Sure.

00:17:13 Jordan Yates
So as you take over, what do you see as the show's role in fostering these discussions and driving the positive change, beyond just the conversations? Do you think that there is more trickling impacts that this show can have?

00:17:26 KC Yost
Well, I think just starting the conversation is extremely important, right? Everyone, for example, talks about hydrogen and how hydrogen is going to be extremely important as a fuel getting away from hydrocarbons, so the consumer believes. But at the end of the day, one of the best ways to generate hydrogen is by using natural gas. Also, being able to identify the difference between brown hydrogen and blue hydrogen and green hydrogen. What's the difference between these things? Let's have some interaction, let's have some conversation online. Then I'm actually very interested in having a segment at the beginning of each podcast, a couple of minutes where we actually respond to comments that come back to us, Hey, KC, I see what you're saying, but that idea sucks, or whatever the case may be. Express your opinions and we'll take it up, but at least have the conversation. If we can't have the conversation within the industry, how can we expect the rest of the world to know about our industry and be able to relay that information to them?

00:18:49 Jordan Yates
I think a segment of answering listeners' questions is fantastic. I think I just never put in the admin side to get that going, and I regret it because I think the questions from the listeners are the most vital part of having the closed feedback loop of, we're putting stuff out there and yeah, we hear things from them and the industry as a whole, but the fact that you're opening up that line of communication and starting that, I think that that is absolutely amazing. I look forward to it and I might even write into it myself.

00:19:21 KC Yost
Good, good.

00:19:23 Jordan Yates
So I think that'll be very fun, but one thing to address I guess, is I know podcasts, it's weird to change the host six months in. Is there any words to say to the audience of like hey guys, it's cool, it's still the same show, but it's going to be a little different because I'm going to do this with it, not with it. Is there just words of comfort or maybe they're really excited to see me go, maybe they don't need comfort, but is there anything you want to say to your current listeners that are already following the show?

00:19:56 KC Yost
Well, let's make sure that we're clear. I, again, stand by my comment that I'll have big shoes to fill. I will do my best to fill those shoes, but at the end of the day, you and I are here for the listeners. So it becomes very important for us to try and help them learn new things about the energy industry, things that they find relevant and important, something that they can apply. One week's podcast may not interest them because it's about X. Well, the following week we'll follow up with Y and we'll try to make sure that we don't pigeonhole ourselves into one aspect. Let's talk about construction, let's talk about design, let's talk about regulations, let's talk about technology. Let's have this conversation and take the foundation that you've laid for this and try to build a structure on top of it and try to grow knowledge transfer. God, I love that phrase, knowledge transfer.

00:21:16 Jordan Yates
Yeah, yeah, me too. I think it's absolutely just encapsulates the goal. So I think that sounds very nice, I feel comforted already, KC, so thank you. Now, I guess we're at the end today. We didn't want to make a super long episode. We just wanted to formally pass the torch to KC because I didn't want to leave you guys hanging. I've loved talking to you guys, I've loved interviewing everyone I have, and I wanted to be able to give you my last goodbye. It's just genuinely been so much fun. I mean, I've got to travel for this, I've gotten to meet so many amazing people, and as sad as I am to let it go, because it was a hard decision to make to step back as host, I feel wonderful knowing that I'm leaving it in good hands. I think KC, I think Caterpillar, I think OGGN, they're going to keep this show up, and I think it's only going to get better from here as KC hits his stride. So KC, thank you again. You know what? I'm going to let you sign off because you're the host now. So sign us out of here. Say goodbye to everybody and give us a sign- off. I can't say I'm your host and whatnot anymore, it's gone. I'm no longer host. KC, sign us out.

00:22:33 KC Yost
Well, Jordan, let's again be clear that I am going to do my best to make you proud in what we do and build on everything that you've done. I'm very anxious to move forward with this new experience and get to meet some friends. Frankly, I've seen a list of some of the topics that are going to come up, and I actually know some of the people that are already on the list, so I'm very excited about that. I guess that comes from age, right? And a pretty nice LinkedIn following. In any case, thank you all for tuning in. I'm looking forward to visiting with you all again in the near future. Jordan, again, thank you for everything. How's that for a sign- off?

00:23:25 Jordan Yates
I love it. Now you got to say, I'm your host, KC Yost.

00:23:29 KC Yost
I'm your host.

00:23:30 Jordan Yates
See you next week.

00:23:31 KC Yost
I'm your host, KC Yost.

00:23:36 Jordan Yates
All right, guys. Bye for now.

00:23:39 KC Yost
Thank you all. Bye- Bye.

00:23:40 Speaker 2
Come back next week for another episode of the Energy Pipeline, a production of the Oil& Gas Global Network. To learn more, go to OGGN.com.