Pipeline News January 2016

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PIPELINE NEWS Saskatchewan’s Petroleum Monthly

January 2016

A3 Synchrotron to look at foamy oil

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A4 TS&M Supply Fiberglass bringing Fiberspar under its wing

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Volume 8 Issue 9

A16 Crescent Point reduces fresh water use

Trevor Gibson, an excavator operator with Pro Canada West Energy Inc., digs a trench for two fiberglass pipelines supplied by Apex Western Fiberglass near Stoughton. Pro Canada West is based in Midale, while Apex Western Fiberglass is based in Estevan. Photo by Brian Zinchuk

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PIPELINE NEWS January 2016

INSIDE SECTION A 4

TS&M Supply Fiberglass takes Fiberspar under its wing

14 Husky considers selling some Lloydminster infrastructure

5

EVRAZ dealing with cheap Chinese steel imports

16 Crescent Point moving to eliminate fresh water use in Shaunavon and Viewfield Bakken

6 Editorial 7 Opinion

18 Wade Baldwin: The Force is strong with this one

10 A year of changes for Apex Western Fiberglass

22 Operations of a pipe custodian: L&C Trucking

12 Anatomy of flowline pipeline job: Pro Canada West Energy

24 Fibreglass Solutions moves into new shop

PiPeline news Saskatchewan’s Petroleum Monthly

February 2016 Focus

EFFiciEncy

Contact your Sales Rep to be a part of the focus edition

EstEvan OfficE: SE & SW SASK. & SW Manitoba • Phone: 306.634.2654

Candace Wheeler

cwheeler@estevanmercury.ca

Alison Dunning

observer@sasktel.net

Deanna Tarnes

dtarnes@estevanmercury.ca

Northern Sask. Phone: 306.460.7416

Teresa Hrywkiw

thrywkiw@estevanmercury.ca

Editor Phone: 306.461.5599 EDiToriAL

CArLyLE

SE Sask. Phone: 306.453.2525

LLoyDMiNSTEr & KiNDErSLEy

Cindy Beaulieu

cbeaulieu@estevanmercury.ca

Harland Lesyk labean@sasktel.net

Brian Zinchuk

brian.zinchuk@sasktel.net


PIPELINE NEWS January 2016

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TOP NEWS

Synchrotron to look at foamy oil  Joanne Paulson For Pipeline News Saskatoon – Petroleum scientist Ian Gates relies on the humble soda bottle to explain the huge issue of foamy oil. “It’s just like when you open a Coke bottle… the bubbles come out,” said Gates, head of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering at the Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary. “We open (an oil) reservoir, the bubbles come out. The bubbles are really small, and because they remain small, they form this foam.” He goes on to explain that the process of cold heavy oil production with sand (CHOPS) leaves gaps, or wormholes, in the reservoir, which create a drop in pressure. Similar to a can of shaving cream, the foam then arises from natural gas mixing with oil as the well depressurizes. “Foam has low viscosity. As you produce it, you produce the finelygrained sand. It depressurizes (the well) and stops. It’s stuck. There’s no more energy to get it out. You’re looking at getting 10 per cent of oil out of the reservoir.” Remarkably, after decades of oil extraction, no one really understands why this foaming happens in CHOPS. What Gates does know is that foam plus sand equals low recovery, and he is determined to change that, with help from a new collaborative research project. His new weapon in the search for a better oil recovery system is a powerful beam of light. The light comes from the Canadian Light Source

Scientists work on the BMIT (Biomedical Imaging and Therapy) beamline at the Canadian Light Source Synchrotron in Saskatoon. BMIT will be the beamline used for the foamy oil research project. Photo by Joanne Paulson

(CLS) Synchrotron on the University of Saskatchewan campus in Saskatoon. Funding for the research was announced Nov. 20 at a news conference held on a platform in the middle of the scientific facility. Innovation Saskatchewan is providing $160,000 for the project, with $100,000 coming from the Petroleum Technology Research Centre (PTRC) in Regina. The CLS and the University of Calgary are providing in-kind support, bringing the project’s total cost to $303,000. The scientific team will build a miniature reservoir containing oil, gas and water, and put it in a beamline at the CLS Synchrotron. The synchrotron’s beam is created by using radio-frequency waves and magnets to accelerate electrons close to the speed of light within a massive ring. Beamlines come off the ring, and produce a variety of light wavelengths that can “see” matter at the molecular level.

“As the X-rays go through (the reservoir) we’ll see the bubbles, we’ll see how they evolve, how the sand grains move, and then as we add the additives we can see, ‘Oh, this is what this did,’” said Gates. Gates thinks a polymer or a carbon dioxide additive may assist in cold heavy oil recovery, but the team first must do detailed experiments to make sure their ideas actually work in reality. The research reservoir is only eight inches long by about an inch in diameter. If the scientists can figure out the foaming mechanism, they will scale up the experiment to a larger reservoir, and hopefully bring it to field trial sometime in the future. “After decades of production, we can finally understand what’s going on,” said Gates. “When you look at the economic value… even two per cent, from 10 to 12 per cent, you’re looking at billions of dollars of income,” Gates added. “Not just mil-

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lions, billions. What we’re going to try to do is increment it by looking at how does the foam form? How do we elongate (the well’s) life? It’s not clear to us yet, but if we can improve how we understand it, we can then do the design work to basically manage it. And in managing it, we can hopefully extend the life (of a well.)” In Saskatchewan and Alberta, there are tens of thousands of wells sitting idle that have produced the 10 per cent, “and we don’t know what to do with them,” said Gates. “And we don’t abandon them, because all the companies are thinking a follow-up process will arrive.” Ken From, CEO of the PTRC, said the research project is a potential game-changer and extremely important in a low price oil environment, such as the one hurting the industry today. “What typically happens is people really cut back on their capital expenditures,” said From in

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an interview. “When you cut back on your capital, how can you increase or maintain your oil production? Well, that can come from your existing wells. You don’t have to drill any more; you’re not adding to any environmental footprint; your (capital expenditure) is way down. “Enhanced oil recovery is, in many people’s opinion, the most economic way of producing that incremental oil. In periods of low prices, enhanced oil recovery becomes more important. “What is challenging, though, is funding to do the research because prices of oil are low. It’s that Catch-22. If you’re a large company you can afford that; if you’re a smaller company, you might be a late adopter for the technology that comes out of the research. It’s almost counter-intuitive that when prices are low, that’s when you want to do the most research.” In Saskatchewan, heavy oil makes up 55 per cent of production, making it the largest contributor to the province’s

industry. From noted that companies using thermal techniques can heat oil and improve its viscosity through SAGD – steam assisted gravity drainage. However, with CHOPS, there is no thermal element to production. “It is not expensive, but when you’re producing it cold, you can’t really get as much out,” he added. “We have a particular problem with our cold wells, in that the sand is not consolidated; it’s not like a rock. Those sand grains will move. As the oil comes out, it’s like foam. That foam…traps the sand. “These things stop at about somewhere between five and 10 per cent of oil production. The question is, how do we get more out?” The experiment will take place on the CLS beamline called BMIT, short for Biomedical Imaging and Therapy. While that may seem counterintuitive, since oil foam is not biomedical, the line provides three-dimensional imaging that will be useful to this experiment. The project marks a first for the CLS, as well. It’s the first time a synchrotron has been used to visualize a heavy oil system. “We are pleased to invest in this project that has the potential to increase oil production in heavy oil reserves with very little investment in new equipment,” said Jeremy Harrison, Saskatchewan’s minister responsible for innovation. Continued research is key to the long-term viability of the province’s oil and gas industry, he added.

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PIPELINE NEWS January 2016

BRIEFS CAODC forecast As low commodity prices continue to hammer the oil and gas industry, the Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors has released its 2016 drilling forecast on Nov. 18 which estimates that 4,728 wells will be drilled next year. The projected number of wells is down 58 per cent from the 11,226 wells drilled in 2014 while the projected 56,260 operating days is off 57 per cent from 131,021 in 2014. Year-to-date there have been 5,531 wells have been drilled in Western Canada. The CAODC also expects a 57 per cent reduction in employment from 2014 levels with a loss of 28,485 jobs along with a contraction in the rig fleet by 62 rigs to 696 drilling rigs by the fourth quarter of 2016 from 758 rigs in Q4 this year. The forecast utilization rate for the year is 22 per cent with 159 active rigs out of a fleet of 722 rigs. The association has based its forecast on an average oil price of US$45 per bbl. WTI and a natural gas price of C$2.80 per mcf at AECO.

Briefs courtesy Nickle’s Daily Oil Bulletin

TS&M Supply Fiberglass added a drive-thru for crews picking up and returning supplies on fiberglass projects. Photo by Brian Zinchuk

TS&M Supply Fiberglass to bring Fiberspar under its wing  By Brian Zinchuk Estevan – When it comes to pipelines, the southeast Saskatchewan oilpatch has one of the highest concentrations of fiberglass pipelines in the world according to Chris Davidson, regional manager and fiberglass piping systems specialist for TS&M Supply Fiberglass, based in Estevan. The supply company has fiberglass products at several of its locations, including Estevan, Virden, Man., Redcliff and Provost, Alta, and now one in the U.S. “We just opened one in Williston,” he said, heart of North Dakota’s Bakken oil play. In 2015 the Estevan location moved into its new, permanent home, after several years of moving around and expanding within the TS&M compound on Kensington Avenue. The layout of the new shop allows for drive-thru, indoor service. Trucks pulling their 35-foot range trailers can pull in, make returns of unused product, and pickup up new supplies for the next job all in a well-lit, climate controlled environment. The fiberglass stock such as pups, fittings, valves and consumables are all stored within the first few rows of warehouse shelving adjacent to the drive-thru. There’s an order desk on the floor near the drive-thru, and a separate office area behind it, meaning that the fiberglass division has its own dedicated office area apart from the other TS&M operations. “We have way more room here. We now have our own area dedicated to our fiberglass division. This is head office for our company,” Davidson said. Fiberspar In December TS&M became the exclusive Canadian distributor for Fiberspar, a spoolable pipe company with its own location in Estevan. TS&M will be expanding its operations to include the

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Fiberspar building and yard on the east side of Estevan. “This is big,” said Davidson. The addition of the Fiberspar products will broaden what TS&M has to offer our customers for composite pipelines. Centron/Star Super Seal fiberglass products The primary product of TS&M Supply Fiberglass is their fiberglass pipe used for flowlines, injection lines and other pipelines. “We now offer 2-inch through 14-inch,” Davidson said. NOV Fiberglass Systems bought the Centron plant in 2011 – our main supplier of fiberglass pipe. The Texas plant is relocating and being consolidated, he explained. “Now all our products are moving to Wichita, Kansas, to be branded as Star Super Seal.” Centron’s product was a well-known brownish-red colour – now it will become a yellowish green. Due to the market they have had to make choices to consolidate, Davidson explained. They feel that they have more research and development and capacity from this plant. They want to keep the SP & SPH threads but want to market all of their fiberglass pipe under the Star brand. The threads will be kept under their Super seal pipe brand because that’s their O-ring product line. The threads and pipe will be compatible with what they have today. NOV Fiberglass Systems currently uses the O-ring connections to achieve the highest pressure and diameter and that’s why anything over eight inch is an O-ring product - up to 3000 pounds per square inch can be acheived. “Southeast Saskatchewan is one of the biggest consumers of fiberglass,” Davidson said, referring to fiberglass pipe. Why is that? Corrosion is the number one reason, he explained. “Ask any of the rig guys about their rods,” Davidson said, adding that the local oil, with its high H2S content, is hard on steel. ► Page A8

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EVRAZ dealing with cheap BRIEFS Chinese steel imports TORC 2016 wells drilled in Western Canada for 2015 versus 2014 levels. This in  By Brian Zinchuk Regina – EVRAZ’s Regina steelworks is an important producer of turn resulted in significant inventory build-up through 2015 that steel pipe, not only for major pipeline projects, but for smaller pipe used will extend into 2016. We believe we are the low-cost producer of OCTG and are strategically located to meet our customers’ needs every day in well completions and pipelines. On Dec. 14 EVRAZ vice president of oil country tubular goods with quality products and short lead times. P.N.: With capital spending by oil companies having tanked sales and business development Kelly Smith responded to our email inover the last year, what has been quiries about EVRAZ’s role in the the impact on EVRAZ? small-pipe industry. Smith: Like our competiPipeline News: EVRAZ is “We applaud the Government of tors in the energy sector, we well known for its Regina steel Canada and the CBSA for their have been impacted by excessive mill and large-diameter pipe inventory overhang at distribuused in mainline pipeline condiligent analysis and decisions, tion centers due to the reducstruction. What might not be which will positively impact the tion in the domestic rig count so well known is its offerings in small-diameter pipe, also Canadian job market while sending coupled with historically high levels of imports from offshore known as oil country tubular a message that illegal dumping and countries. This has led to layoffs goods. Can you please explain our Canadian steelworkers what is produced in this regard foreign government subsidization for – a major reason we have taken in Regina? How many people will be met with strong action by such a strong position against work there? unfairly traded imported tuKelly Smith: EVRAZ the Canadian government.” bular products. While North employs approximately 1,100 Conrad Winkler, American mills have reduced people, and has the ability to President and CEO of EVRAZ North America production to adjust to market produce 2-3/8”, 2-7/8” and 3-½” contingencies, foreign exporters tubing blanks. Additionally, from market- and non-market our 24” ERW mill can produce economies continue to produce 9-5/8”, 10-¾”, 11-¾”, 13-3/8” and 16” casing blanks at our Regina, Saskatchewan, facility. The despite sluggish demand. P.N.: EVRAZ has expressed numerous concerns over the blanks are then sent on to our Calgary or Red Deer facilities in years with regards to Chinese-produced pipe, fair trade pracAlberta for finishing. P.N.: Do you make production tubing, casing or drill pipe, tices and the like. Can you elaborate on what the issues are here, and the recent ruling on Nov. 27 by the Canada Border Services or is it primarily pipeline pipe? Smith: EVRAZ manufactures casing and tubing used in drill- Agency? Smith: As our Nov. 27, 2015 press release states, we were ing applications, as well as line pipe to transport oil and gas from pleased with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) findings the wellhead to processing facilities and large-diameter transmisof preliminary total duty rates between 71 per cent and 396 per sion lines. P.N.: How does this tie into your OCTG operations in Cal- cent against exports of certain line pipe from China into Canada, which are now in effect. gary, Camrose and Red Deer? “We applaud the Government of Canada and the CBSA for Smith: EVRAZ Regina operates an electric arc furnace that transforms recycled scrap into high-strength steel plate and coil. their diligent analysis and decisions, which will positively impact The majority of Regina’s steel is converted into energy tubular the Canadian job market while sending a message that illegal products on site, or at facilities located in Calgary, Camrose and dumping and foreign government subsidization will be met with Red Deer, Alberta. We have the only OCTG heat treat line, and strong action by the Canadian government,” said Conrad Winare the largest producer of ERW OCTG and ERW line pipe in kler, President and CEO of EVRAZ North America. “We actively Western Canada. In addition, Red Deer and Calgary manufacture compete globally with line pipe manufacturers, but foreign compaour EVRlock QB2 premium and QB1-HT semi-premium con- nies should not be allowed to dump their product while we reduce Canadian employment to save their subsidized jobs.” nections used in downhole applications. China shipped more welded line pipe to Canada in 2015 than P.N.: Where do these products eventually end up? Is it primarily domestic consumption, or does some go south, and does any other country in the world. “China is the definition of a nonmarket economy, exporting product at prices below its own home some go overseas? Smith: Large diameter spiral, ERW (electric resistance weld) market to support its steel industry even as its own internal steel line pipe and OCTG products are supplied to customers through- consumption continues to decline,” stated Winkler. “This decision underscores the need for strong trade remedy laws and regulations.” out Canada and the United States. According to Winkler, the company trusts the remainder of P.N.: What has the market been like for your OCTG over the CBSA investigation will further reveal China’s unfair practices the past 18 months? Smith: The OCTG market has been challenging on various and support the Canadian steel industry. ► Page A9 fronts. The drop in oil price has resulted in a 52 per cent drop in

Southeast Sask.

In southeast Saskatchewan, TORC plans to drill 31 (23.2 net) conventional wells. With more than 360 net undrilled locations identified, the 2016 budget represents roughly six per cent of TORC’s currently identified conventional locations. These locations are characterized by their lower risk nature and high rates of return driven by their lower capital costs, high netbacks and the favourable royalty regime in Saskatchewan. Southeast Saskatchewan conventional activity will comprise roughly 40 per cent of the company’s 2016 drilling, completion and tie‐ in capital budget. In addition to the conventional program in southeast Saskatchewan, TORC plans to drill six (five net) development wells into the Torquay/Three Forks resource play in 2016. The Torquay/Three Forks activity in southeast Saskatchewan will comprise roughly 25 per cent of the 2016 budget. When combined with the conventional program, southeast Saskatchewan represents approximately 65 per cent of the overall drilling, completion and tie‐in capital budget.

Briefs courtesy Nickle’s Daily Oil Bulletin

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PIPELINE NEWS January 2016

PIPELINE NEWS

EDITORIAL

Mission Statement: Pipeline News’ mission is to illuminate importance of Saskatchewan oil as an integral part of the province’s sense of community and to show the general public the strength and character of the industry’s people.

Publisher: Brant Kersey - Estevan Ph: 1.306.634.2654 Editorial Contributions: EDITOR Brian Zinchuk - Estevan 1.306.461.5599 Associate Advertising Consultants: SASKATCHEWAN & MANITOBA • Estevan 1.306.634.2654 Cindy Beaulieu Candace Wheeler Kristen O’Handley Deanna Tarnes Teresa Hrywkiw • Carlyle 1.306.453.2525 Alison Dunning NORTHWEST SASK. & ALBERTA • 1.306.460.7416 Harland Lesyk

To submit a stories or ideas: Pipelines News is always looking for stories or ideas from our readers. To contribute please contact your local contributing reporter. Subscribing to Pipeline News: Pipeline News is a free distribution newspaper, and is now available online at www.pipelinenews.ca Advertising in Pipeline News: Advertising in Pipeline News is a newer model created to make it as easy as possible for any business or individual. Pipeline News has a group of experienced staff working throughout Saskatchewan and parts of Manitoba, so please contact the sales representative for your area to assist you with your advertising needs. Special thanks to JuneWarren-Nickle’s Energy Group for their contributions and assistance with Pipeline News.

Published monthly by the Prairie Newspaper Group, a division of Glacier Ventures International Corporation, Central Office, Estevan, Saskatchewan. Advertising rates are available upon request and are subject to change without notice. Conditions of editorial and advertising content: Pipeline News attempts to be accurate, however, no guarantee is given or implied. Pipeline News reserves the right to revise or reject any or all editorial and advertising content as the newspapers’ principles see fit. Pipeline News will not be responsible for more than one incorrect insertion of an advertisement, and is not responsible for errors in advertisements except for the space occupied by such errors. Pipeline News will not be responsible for manuscripts, photographs, negatives and other material that may be submitted for possible publication. All of Pipeline News content is protected by Canadian Copyright laws. Reviews and similar mention of material in this newspaper is granted on the provision that Pipeline News receives credit. Otherwise, any reproduction without permission of the publisher is prohibited. Advertisers purchase space and circulation only. Rights to the advertisement produced by Pipeline News, including artwork, typography, and photos, etc., remain property of this newspaper. Advertisements or parts thereof may be not reproduced or assigned without the consent of the publisher. The Glacier group of companies collects personal information from our customers in the normal course of business transactions. We use that information to provide you with our products and services you request. On occasion we may contact you for purposes of research, surveys and other such matters. To provide you with better service we may share your information with our sister companies and also outside, selected third parties who perform work for us as suppliers, agents, service providers and information gatherers.

Numbers that begin with “3” In November, we spoke to Crescent Point’s Brent Forster, vice-president, drilling, completions and facilities. Among other things, we talked about how the company is dealing with the low oil price environment, and how that affects their spending. He mentioned how Crescent Point continuously looks at different scenarios, at different price points for oil. “That includes numbers that begin with three,” he said. At the time, oil was running around US$44 per barrel West Texas Intermediate. On Dec. 4, OPEC wrapped up its big meeting in Vienna. It’s conclusion saw no plans to cut back production and boost the price of oil. When trading resumed the following Monday, WTI fell to the $38 range, then $37 the following day. On Dec. 14, it hit $34 in intra-day trading. On Dec. 8, the National Post carried an interview with Asim Ghosh, president and CEO of Husky. The story noted, “Husky will also reduce the break-even oil price it uses for planning purposes to sub-US$40 West Texas Intermediate, from the midUS$50s last year.” In other words, numbers that begin with “three.” Yes, those are shivers running up and down your spine. This is a scary scenario, one no one wants to start the year with. Drilling activity has been down tremendously over the past year, often with one quarter

to one third the number of rigs we’ve seen working at this time over the past five years. Fewer rigs equals fewer wells, fewer completions, fewer pipelines, fewer everything. The trickle down affect is definitely being felt by businesses in oilfield communities. Many are struggling, some have closed. Several companies are on workshare programs, but even that has a limit. One company told us they just reached theirs. They had used the full 38 weeks. And there’s no turnaround in sight. We’ve heard some people are now optimistic for spring – of 2017. It’s brought on a new phrase: “lower for even longer.” If there was going to be a quick change, it would have been at the winter OPEC meeting. Their November 2014 meeting is what spurred the crash in prices to the $40s, and now $30s. This one could have just as easily turned it around. The big thing OPEC is apparently concerned about is market share. But what good is market share if you’re going broke? Isn’t it better to have a smaller market share, but be making money? How’s the current strategy working out for you, Venezuela? “It’s going to be a tough winter,” we heard from some construction workers in early December. They weren’t kidding.


PIPELINE NEWS January 2016

A7

OPINION From the Top of The Pile

By Brian Zinchuk

That other industry we work in Several times this month I heard about oilfield services companies working in that other industry they sometimes work in. It’s the one that in some ways has nothing to do with oil, and everything to do with oil. I’m talking about potash. Every so often you’ll hear about a drilling rig which picked up some potash work. Even today, of the 34 drilling rigs working in Saskatchewan on Rig Locator’s map, three are working in potash. Trinidad Rig 427 (formerly CanElson Rig 27, formerly Eagle Rig 7) is drilling near Lanigan for Potash Corp. North of Moose Jaw, Akita Drilling Rig 40 is working for K+S Potash. And finally, Ensign Rig 689 continues that company’s very, very long term relationship with Mosaic Potash at Esterhazy. A lot of the work done by coring specialists is in the potash industry. Several years ago I interviewed a man who had spent his life coring. When things got really bad in the Saskatchewan oilpatch in the early 1970s under the NDP’s Bill 42 (a comparison I’ve been hearing to today’s times), he

packed up and cored potash in New Brunswick. In the fiberglass pipe work, a big part of this month’s focus, I kept hearing about how different companies have a bit of potash work here and there. Similarly, two pipeline contractors in recent months have mentioned they do some potash work as well, and are glad to have it. That’s the common thread. For these oilfield service companies, potash work is rare and usually limited, but they’re glad to have it, and doubly so when times are tough, as they are now. So when that small local drilling company picks up a few potash holes, it brings a smile to the faces of the owners. Potash work isn’t all bubble gum and lollipops, however. They have very exacting safety programs, or so I’m told, much more so than even the ones we’re familiar with in the oilpatch. One company, for a while at least, required all contractors on their site to install the most ridiculous rollbar onto any pickup truck that was going on site. Apparently they knew more about truck safety than Ford, GM

The Mineral Corner

or Chrysler. One oilpatch vendor told me he would park his truck on the edge of the site and tell them to pick him up. If you saw one of those rollbars in Estevan, you knew they had been working for that mining company. Funny, I haven’t seen one of them in quite a while, or heard of much activity from that mining giant, either…. Potash development uses a lot of similar technologies and equipment for some of its processes as the oilpatch. Laying a pipeline for a potash mine is really not much different than laying one for Enbridge. You still use sidebooms and welders. It’s good work if you can get it, and I imagine a lot of companies would sure like to get some potash work right about now. Brian Zinchuk is editor of Pipeline News. He can be reached at brian.zinchuk@sasktel.net.

Tips on managing your mineral rights

right management. If you require assistance with your obligations, please contact us and we will recommend you some qualified partners. Negotiate a fair and reasonable lease By Cameron C. Wyatt If you are fortunate enough to be approached Mineral rights are an extremely unique asset by a resource company that requires extensive knowledge, patience and wanting to lease your mineral rights; it only makes a balanced mindset to effectively manage. Besense to negotiate the best deal possible. Quite cause of this, mineral rights require diligence and often mineral rights owners focus too heavily on maintenance to properly monetize. Here are some the lease bonus payment and not enough on the recommendations on how to maximize your minroyalty rate, term and other lease conditions to eral right ownership: ensure a well-rounded fair and reasonable lease Understand your ownership between the mineral rights owner and the resource As mineral titles are passed on from one gencompany. Pay attention and obtain professional eration to the next they often become an extreme- advice to assist in negotiation. ly complicated asset. The combination of partial Maintain quality records ownerships and expanding generations sometimes Once you have received and agreed on an oil causes uncertainty in ownership. It is extremely and gas lease, it is a good idea to commence a critical to understand your mineral ownership and document tracking system to maintain proficient maintain a highly proficient database detailing record-keeping. At some stage within the term your ownership is the first step to generating value of your lease there is a high probability that you for yourself. will need to reference the lease document. If you Maintain your obligations are fortunate enough to have your mineral rights There are several common mistakes that mindrilled and producing; it is highly important to eral right owners make simply from not staying maintain a copy of your royalty statements and on top of their obligations. One common mistake a tracking system that provides your accountant owners make is not planning for tax implications. with the required information to process your In most cases, mineral rights income in Canada is additional income. If you have substantial mineral considered passive income and is taxed at a higher interests use a spreadsheet, online management rate than personal or corporate tax rates. Please software or hire a mineral rights management make sure to consult with a qualified mineral tax professional to assist you. In order to maximize accountant and understand your liabilities before the value of your mineral rights; they need to be it is too late. Maintaining obligations is the most treated as a business and not just an asset. overlooked aspect of efficient and effective mineral Stay informed on activity in your area

Mineral rights owners benefit greatly by maintaining knowledge of industry operations – especially within your rural municipality. If you are not aware of other oil and gas activity within your area contact the local rural municipality or MineralRights.ca for assistance. Understanding the activity in the area can provide you with significant knowledge to assist you with maximizing the value of your mineral rights. Plan for the next generation Passing mineral rights from generation to generation further fragments interest in your mineral rights. Many oil and gas companies will not consider leasing properties that have significant fragmented interests. Seek to pass along whole mineral rights interests instead of sub-dividing them into further smaller interests. One alternative is to pass the mineral rights on to a child who is financially savvy or has a sufficient management background, while passing other assets of equivalent value to other children. If you wish to further sub-divide the assets to pass them to several children, take the time to at least understand the challenges. Be available Oil companies determine mineral rights ownership through sourcing the available data from public sources. Make sure that you are reasonably locatable. Is your phone number publically listed in local directories? Have you been divorced and changed your name but have not updated your title information? Consider whether a reasonably diligent person could actually locate you. The easier you are to find the higher the probability of being found you have. Cameron Wyatt is the founder of Homestead Energy Ltd and MineralRights.ca with 15 years’ experience in the industry. He can be reached at cameron@ mineralrights.ca.

PIPELINE NEWS INVITES OPPOSING VIEW POINTS. EDITORIALS AND LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ARE WELCOME. Email to: brian.zinchuk@sasktel.net


A8

PIPELINE NEWS January 2016

New location offers onestop shop for TS&M Supply ◄ Page A4 “This Bakken fluid has changed a lot,” he said, adding it’s very, very corrosive. (That ties in with what Pipeline News has seen in other sectors such as fluid haulers, whose fleets of aluminum tanker trucks are being eaten up like Swiss cheese. As a result, the largest fluidhauling trucking companies in recent years have all set up their own tanker trailer repair shops.)

Davidson said in years past, everything was tried, but companies started to go back to fiberglass. They found that fiberglass put into the field long ago had no issues. The Waskada field in southwest Manitoba, just north of the U.S. border, used to be all steel, he noted, but is getting changed to fiberglass. By hand Fiberglass pipelines are largely assembled by hand. It is light enough in most sizes that it can be

carried and manipulated by workers without the need for heavy equipment. A typical three-inch/1000 pounds per square inch joint weighs 70 pounds and can be carried by one man. While the pipe comes into their yards by semi, it is usually goes out to the field on 36-foot trailers pulled by local crew trucks. Threads are spun in by hand, and tightened by pipe wrenches, as opposed to welding of steel or fus-

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The fiberglass crew sorts through returned pipe and bundles it for the next job.

ing of poly pipe. Not requiring welding is a major advantage, as welders are an expensive line item on a budget. Crews will usually pick up pipe and supplies as they go. It’s common to see them pick up 1,000 metres at a time. The typical application of flowlines has changed in recent years. Davidson noted, “We used to pipeline into a header. Now it’s a group and test system.” That’s where there are typically two lines, a larger group line and a secondary test line, that run parallel in the ditch. If the field is to be developed into a waterflood, then a third line for an injector will also run in the same

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ditch. That will typically be a high-pressure line. This design allows multiple wells to flow into the one group line. When individual wells need to be tested, they can be isolated and run on the test line. Other products TS&M Supply also offers downhole solutions. These include injection strings for disposal wells, scab liners to repair a casing leak, tail strings and production tubing. There’s some wariness out there about running a rod string through fiberglass tubing, Davidson noted, but he suggests companies try it out. “If you can’t keep a steel string, why wouldn’t you try it (fiberglass)?” he said. “We do facility piping as well. All the piping between tanks is generally fiberglass,” he said. Bondstrand is another NOV FGS-branded product, designed for low pressure applications such as vapour recovery unit lines, flare lines and suction lines. The Bondstrand product has tapered and bonded connections. Service “We have field technicians. In Estevan alone we have six field hands to help with all applications 24/7. Nobody offers that but us,” Davidson said. “We hire technicians who have several years’ experience installing fiberglass pipe. Our

guys are there to help and support the product 100 per cent. The last thing I want to see is a customer having an issue. Our Canadian fiberglass division has over 300 years of combined oilfield field experience. “We’ve got good contractors here. But there are always new guys coming into the oilfield with little or no fiberglass experience.” Some things to watch for are being careful not to bruise the pipe with a rocks while backfilling, over torqueing and watching maximum bend radius for instance. To that end, TS&M offers courses and complete certifications on the installation of their fiberglass products. Activity The Estevan fiberglass location currently has 11 staff members. Is there some motivation to get pipelines in the ground to forego more-expensive trucking, especially when times are tight? Davidson thinks so. “Oil companies still need to keep people working. Pipelining makes sense to me. Trucking is expensive.” “Things are slower than they have been,” Davidson said. “Compared to other areas, we’re very fortunate that some of the customers we work for have been able to keep busy.”

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A9

OCTG demand will follow rig count once inventory burns off ◄ Page A5 P.N.: With oil prices less than half what they were for much of 2010-2014, and producers looking to cut every expense they can, how does the imposition of duties between 71 and 396 per cent affect the oil and gas industry? Smith: See above. This is an ongoing case and we expect final resolution sometime in Q1 2016. P.N.: What does the future hold for the Regina EVRAZ facility? Smith: Just as it has for the past 60-plus years, EVRAZ will continue to serve the North American energy sector with quality plate, coil and tubular products. Our recent $200 million investment includes state-of-the-art upgrades in steelmaking including degassing and the ability to make larger steel slab sizes. Additionally, the power and size of the rolling mill will be increased to make thicker, wider steel coils. And the new two-step large diameter pipe mill will enable the production of larger, thicker-wall pipe and increase our annual production capacity of large diameter pipe by over 100,000 tons. We also expect that as inventory overhang burns off in OCTG, total demand will follow more closely with rig counts and oil production. P.N.: Is there anything you would like to add? Smith: At EVRAZ North America, our absolute priorities are safety and quality. We make our premium engineered products safely and with strict adherence to increasingly stringent industry standards in order to supply our pipeline customers with the highest quality pipe available. We pioneered large-diameter pipe in North America and are its largest producer. We have long been committed to the ongoing improvement of steel and pipe technology. Our research and development centre is the largest focused on pipe manufacturing in North America, and we budget millions of dollars each year to study and enhance the safety and integrity of steel and steel pipe. Our own emi-

nently qualified team works with numerous other industry and academic institutions on mechanical, collapse, weld and corrosion testing; microstructure analysis; and process simulation. In addition, EVRAZ high quality pipe is made safely and sustainably in North America from recycled steel to meet North America’s rigorous environmental regulations. We are also the only company capable of manufacturing “100 per cent Made in Canada” pipe for energy infrastructure.

This is EVRAZ’s Red Deer, Alta., small pipe steel mill. Photo courtesy EVRAZ

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A10

PIPELINE NEWS January 2016

A year of change for Apex Western Fiberglass  By Brian Zinchuk Estevan – The past year was a big one for Apex Western Fiberglass, as the family-owned and operated company Western Fiberglass was purchased by the Apex Distribution in May 2015. It was likely the largest change for the company since its founding in 1983. They still maintain a good relationship with Vern Whitman and family, as there is a lot of institutional knowledge to be drawn from. Scott Granberg, Estevan operations manager, has been with the company for 18 years. “I’ve been here since Jan. 1,

1997, he said. “I spent 10 years in construction with Schindel and Bazin.” Granberg’s experience actually putting pipe in the ground is reflected throughout their staff. It makes a difference if you’ve actually worked with the product in the field yourself. Dallas Heintz, sales and marketing manager, said, “Our whole company, anyone in management, came from the field, from an installation background. It’s better to have that sort of foundation before doing sales.” Southeast Saskatchewan is worldrenowned for its widespread use of fiberglass for pipeline gathering systems.

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Whitman was involved in the installation of some of the very first fiberglass in the region, they noted. “The mindset was that fiberglass was created to combat corrosion,” Heintz said. However, there are other benefits. It’s lightweight, goes together much easier than steel pipe, and is easier to install. Everything is lighter, they noted. A lot is done by hand, rather than requiring sidebooms, specialized crawler tractors which have a crane on the left side for handling pipe. The weight difference is substantial, between one-quarter and one-sixth the weight of a similar steel pipe. It means the pipe is manhandled. Since their pipe is threaded together with and “integral joint,” welders are

not needed except for installing items like supports and road casements. Apex Western Fiberglass’ pipe is called “STAR” and is manufactured with a 8 round EUE connection which means there are eight thread per inch. It is torqued with a hand wrench until there is a two-thread standoff, i.e. two threads are exposed. The thickness depends on the pressure expected and the type of service. The pipe wall can be from one-eighth to one inch thick, accommodating from 500 to 4,000 psi pressure, and at temperatures up to 93 C. The resin system used in the construction of their pipe allows it to carry higher pressure and temperatures, according to Granberg, a uniqueness to Apex Western Fiberglass’ product. ► Page A11

Martin Trepanier, a field technician with Apex Western Fiberglass, straps down a load about to go out for a job with Pro Canada West, a pipeline contractor. Trepanier has worked with Apex Western Fiberglass for four-and-a-half years now, and prior to that used to be a foreman in the field, installing this type of pipe. Photo by Brian Zinchuk

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PIPELINE NEWS January 2016 ◄ Page A10 Another helpful property is how smooth the inside of the pipe is, especially compared to steel. This results in a low friction factor. Heintz said fiberglass is up to twice as efficient as steel, in that respect. Exchange rate “Our product comes from San Antonio,” he said, explaining there are no Canadian suppliers of stick fiberglass pipe. That means the Canadian dollar exchange rate is a critical factor for fiberglass pipe providers. A common refrain from the various fiberglass pipe providers in Estevan has been the impact of the falling Canadian dollar compared to the U.S. dollar. Granberg noted, “In the last year, there’s been an almost 20 point swing in the exchange rate.” While oil companies across the board have sought pricing cuts from their vendors, companies that source their material from the U.S. have felt the squeeze. While their clients are asking for price cuts, their product now costs much more from the factory than it did a year ago due to the exchange rate. “We’ve tried to accommodate (the oil companies) where we could, and tried to add value as we could,” Heintz said. In a perfect world, prices would reflect the exchange rate, they noted. While steel pipe is almost always delivered to distribution points by rail, fiberglass, on the other hand, comes by truck. Again, the weight advantage is an issue, and they can have a load come in by truck from the factory in two days. Their fiberglass pipe doesn’t just find its way onto any flatdeck looking for a backhaul. They only use truckers who have experience handling fiberglass pipe. “We use a trucking company, the same one, for the last 20 years,” Heintz said. If it came by rail, Granberg expects they would have to hand inspect each joint of pipe. Inventory Driving down Estevan’s 5th Street, which is straddled by Apex Western Fiberglass’ operations, its hard not to notice their substantial inventory. “Inventory is something you have to have, because if you don’t have it, you can’t sell it. We’ve prided ourselves on being able to service people at any time,” Granberg said. Sorry, we’re out, is a phrase that doesn’t cut it there. Heintz is based in Red Deer, Alta. He noted, “We’ve installed fiberglass pipe everywhere.” That includes places like Shaunavon, Swan Hills, Grande Prairie, Rainbow Lake and Zama. In southeast Saskatchewan, the concentration of fiberglass is the highest, where gathering systems are about 90 per cent fiberglass. Because of its nearuniversal use in the region for many years, crews in the region have a high level of skill and comfort with its installation. In other regions, Apex Western Fiberglass will send out a worker to assist in installation. “We have an active technical support program which would have our guys onsite, supervising every job,” Heintz said. The knowledge-base of the staff is important, such as knowing how to adapt their product to work with others. Custom-cut pups One specialty is the ability to locally produce custom-length product. “We can build high pressure,

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custom-length pup joints to the millimetre,” Granberg said. While that is usually done in the shop, they can and have done it in the field as well. New threads are created using a ceramic and graphite compound. The result is shorter length joints can be used as one-piece, not assembled out of numerous short pieces to make up a required length. “It’s an active program for us,” Heintz said. The Estevan location now has five full-time employees and one part-time employees. That’s down from nine before the sale of the company, when the Whitman family departed. It’s also a reflection on the times. The Red Deer location, which Western Fiberglass had since 1993, has six workers there. “You can tell we’re down in sales from the prior year,” Granberg said “Like everybody else,” Heintz added. Less wells drilled means less wells to tie-in, and thus less pipe moving. “We do quite a bit of well-to-wells,” Granberg said, explaining that’s when a new well is connected to an existing flowline at another well. Trucking is quite expensive, and flowlining eliminates the need for trucking. For 2016, Granberg said, “I have good feelings and am hoping for the best.” Heintz pointed out they are increasing market Scott Granberg has been with Western Fiberglass, now share in Alberta, part of an aggressive sales program. Apex Western Fiberglass, since 1997. He now runs the It’s not a pricing thing, but rather going out and inEstevan location. creasing value to installation.

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PIPELINE NEWS January 2016

Anatomy of a flowline pipeline job: Pro Canada West Energy Orry Knoll is a project manager with Pro Canada West.

Stoughton – The big pipelines, the mainlines that run across the country, get all the press, for better or for worse. But oil doesn’t just fill those pipelines magically. It has to be collected from thousands of wells. If the Enbridge mainline is the aorta of the Canadian oilpatch, then the flowlines connecting wells to local batteries are the capillaries. And thousands

of kilometres of those capillaries, known as flowlines, are built each year. One contractor who does this work every day is Pro Canada West Energy Inc., a pipeline outfit based in Midale. Darin Gutzke, regional manager for oil and gas, southern Saskatchewan, Orry Knoll, project manager, and Rick Scott, operations manager for Midale met with Pipeline News at a typical flowline project

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under construction near Stoughton. All three used to work together in the pipeline and oilfield business throughout their careers before joining Pro Canada West in the fall of 2013 for new opportunities. The company has operated out of Midale for several years, and is owned by John Adderley. They have a fabrication shop in Midale as well. The whole company has currently approximately 120 workers. That peaked between 250 and 300 last year, of which about 100 were working in oil and gas. Their other division works in the potash and civil sectors. In this case a crew of 10 were installing two pipelines in the same ditch, a four-inch group line and a three-inch test line. The project was a 700 metre job tying one well into an existing flowline that had been blinded off near another well. “They would always flowline rather than truck it,” said Scott, who added that with formations like the Bakken that produce more water than oil, you don’t want to be trucking all that water. “It’s been pretty active,” he said, noting flowline projects usually follow drilling, but they were now ahead of the drilling rigs. Knoll explained that it’s common to install tees on pipelines where addi-

tional wells will be added at a later date. Those tees, blinded off, are surveyed and indicated so they can be tied into later without disrupting the line in operation. Often there is a third line in the ditch, a high-pressure line for water injection in a waterflood scheme. However, in this case, the injection line ends where they begin, indicating injection isn’t likely for the new well that’s being tied in. Most of the pipe Pro Canada West puts in the ground in southeast Saskatchewan is fiberglass or composite, they said, about 75 per cent in 2015. In this case, the pipe was supplied by Apex Western Fiberglass in Estevan. Knoll said, “We did more steel this year than we have in a while.” This crew had two excavators, one bulldozer (and their operators), one foreman, and the balance was made of up of labourers. They had a welder come in for steel casing for the road crossing, where the fiberglass pipe would pass through a protective steel casing bored under the roadbed. The roadbore was done by a third party. “This crew does this year-round,” Knoll said. Projects for this particular crew might range from 50 to 1,500 metres. ► Page A13


PIPELINE NEWS January 2016

Alex Rey crumbs a ditch with a rake to ensure it is safe for the fiberglass pipe.

◄ Page A12

Process The construction of small flowline projects like this one are pretty straightforward. The oil company’s consultant would tell the foreman the location, and then surveying and staking would be lined up. “We line up Sask First Call,” Knoll said. Two third-party line locating contractors are brought in to perform their own, independent threeway sweeps to ensure there are not lines being crossed unknowingly. Both companies have to sign off before work can proceed. The pre-job hazard assessment includes a hazard

assessment sheet and tailgate meetings every day. There’s a ground disturbance checklist that must be followed. Line locates take about a day. Pro Canada West does its own fencing and gates where necessary. Stripping of topsoil takes place next. This can be full-width stripping, ditch side stripping or ditch width, depending on the area. In pastures, for instance, minimal stripping is done for the least amount of environmental impact. In warmer weather, a smaller dozer like a Cat D6T is used, but when it gets cold and the frost sets in, larger D8Ts are used for ripping and dealing with the frost. Those dozers will spend the summer months working in the potash sector, but revert to the oil and gas crews come Christmas time or so. The crew will pick up their pipe and supplies from the supply stores in town and begin assembling the pipe above-ground. Any line crossing are hydrovaced and “daylighted,” as in they are exposed to daylight to be visible. They use a 32-foot trailer to pick up the pipe from the supplier and string it along the right-of-way. For larger project, pipe might be stockpiled. The pipe itself is 9.8 metres long. The two excavators in this case are Cat 336E models. The operators have two buckets each which they can switch easily using quick-attach mechanisms on their digging arms. Excavators can be used for lowering the pipe into the ditch, but that is usually accomplished by hand. If a high-pressure injection line is being put in, a small sideboom will be brought in to handle the heavier weight. For a 700 metre project like this, the two excavators can get the digging done in a day in decent weather. Since labourers go into the ditch to “crumb” it with rakes, the ditch has to be properly sloped and escape avenues, like stairs dug into the sidewall, must be spaced at regular intervals. The ditch is typically five-to-six feet deep on the pipeline right-of-way and seven-to-eight feet deep on leases. The additional depth is to account for frost being packed into the ground by the additional traffic

that occurs on well leases. “Then you don’t have to worry about service rigs,” Scott said. “Or muddy leases, where they will sink,” Gutzke added. The additional depth provides more leeway. Scott said, “A lot of that is client-driven.” When the pipe is lowered into the ditch, one line is put in the bottom corner of the ditch closes to the spill pile so that any rocks or frost lumps that may roll into the ditch will likely miss it. Any additional pipes are spaced accordingly. Since fiberglass cannot be detected by metal detectors, a tracer wire is applied to each pipe. All fiberglass pipe is “sandpadded,” which means the excavator operator will sprinkle in a layer of sand under, over and around the pipe. A labourer props up each pipe during this process so that sand can fall below it, creating a layer between the ditch floor and the pipe itself. A third party company brings in the sand and stockpiles it at regular intervals along the rightof-way. In this case, one-foot of sandpadding is used. The excavator operator will then “shade” the ditch as he backfills, carefully drawing in the spill in such as way that it does not damage the pipe. Scott noted, “You keep your ditch tight,” meaning that they limit the amount of ditch open at any one time. They backfill every day, leaving as little open as possible. This limits the possibility of a rock falling on the pipe, bruising it and requiring a repair. In the wintertime they will leave a “roach,” a small crest of the backfilled soil along the ditch. This allows the earth to settle. Cleanup is accomplished during warmer weather. Once the pipe is in the ground, fluid trucks are brought in and pressure testing is done by a third party, something Pro Canada West monitors. “We tie in the wells also,” Knoll said. Great weather Scott said, “We’ve been steady all year. As far as weather, you couldn’t ask for a better year.” He added they’ve been able to pick up a few extra jobs, but, as with everything in the industry, “Everything is bid extremely tight.”

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PIPELINE NEWS January 2016

Husky considers selling some Lloydminster infrastructure  By Pat Roche (Daily Oil Bulletin) Calgary – Husky Energy Inc. expects 2016 capital spending in the $2.9-$3.1 billion range, roughly on par with estimated 2015 spending of about $3 billion. The budget includes $400 million for Western Canada resource plays, $700$800 million for heavy oil, $100 million for oilsands, $400-$500 million for offshore Newfoundland and $400 million for its Asia Pacific operations. Downstream and corporate spending are expected to total $800 million and

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Dispositions planned In Western Canada, the company plans to dispose of legacy production of up to about 50,000 boepd as it focuses spending on more material plays. A previously mentioned potential sale of royalty assets producing about 2,000 boepd is still being considered. Husky is also considering the “potential partial sale” of midstream assets in the Lloydminster area. The proceeds would enable the company to meet its internal debt objectives sooner than originally planned. However, Husky intends to retain operatorship of its midstream assets to maintain the tight integration between upstream production and downstream facilities. It also ruled out any transaction involving downstream assets such as the Lloydminster upgrader and its refineries. On a conference call Dec. 8, Husky said it hasn’t yet finishing putting the Lloydminster divestiture package together. It has about 1,900 kilometres of pipe and associated storage in the area, all 100 per cent owned by Husky. “And we’re looking right across the scope of those assets to determine what assets would form part of that package, and what assets wouldn’t,” said Bob Baird, Husky’s senior vice-president for downstream. He said the company hasn’t decided what proportion of the assets would be sold. Braced for low oil price Husky expects its 2015 production to average 346,000 boepd. Next year’s output is expected to average in the range of 330,000-360,000 boepd. Husky said lower sustaining capital projects will comprise more than 40 per cent of its overall production by the second half of 2016. Sustaining and maintenance costs in 2016 are expected to be in the range of $2.4-2.6 billion, a 15 to 20 per cent reduction compared to a historical average of $3 billion. Husky said this represents the investment required to keep production stable, maintain facilities and meet regulatory requirements. ► Page A15


PIPELINE NEWS January 2016 ◄ Page A14 Husky’s business plan is based on an assumption of US$40 a bbl. for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil and an AECO gas price of $3 per mcf during the next two years. The company said it has lowered its break-even point for oil to a WTI oil price in low US$40s today from the mid-US$50s last year. It expects to break even at a WTI price of less than US$40 a bbl. by the end of 2016. For future investments, the company is aiming for a break-even point of US$30 a bbl., or less, for WTI. The company plans to maintain a strong investment-grade credit rating with no new net debt over the near term, and a debt-to-cash flow ratio of less than 1.5. Maintenance and turnarounds Four upstream turnarounds are planned for 2016. In Alberta, the Ram River gas plant is scheduled for a three-week turnaround in mid-year, with an anticipated impact of about 2,200 boepd averaged over the second quarter. Offshore Newfoundland, a 20-day turnaround is planned on the SeaRose FPSO (floating production, storage and offloading) vessel in the third quarter, with net impacts expected to be about 8,000 boepd averaged over the quarter. Also offshore Newfoundland, a 28-day turnaround is planned in the second quarter at the Suncor Energy Inc.-operated Terra Nova FPSO, with an expected net impact of about 1,300 boepd averaged over the quarter. Offshore China, a 14-day shutdown is scheduled at the Liwan gas project in mid-year for the installation and tie-in of a second deepwater pipeline, with expected net impacts of 4,600 boepd averaged over the second quarter. In Husky’s downstream sector, a major six- to eight-week turnaround is planned for the Lima refinery, starting early in the second quarter. A nine-to-11-week turnaround has been scheduled at the Toledo refinery, starting in the second quarter. The Prince George refinery has scheduled a 35-day turnaround for the second quarter. Tucker output rising While Husky’s thermal heavy oil projects in Saskatchewan and its Sunrise SAGD project in Alberta have been well publicized, the company continues to increase output from its Tucker SAGD project in the Cold Lake oilsands region. Husky drilled a new sustaining well pad at Tucker and increased production by about 50 per cent since the first quarter of 2015, chief operating officer Rob Peabody told the conference call. One of very few projects to use SAGD in the Clearwater formation, Tucker was originally a disappointment, though well placement was cited as a possible ex-

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planation. But the company has been slowly ramping up output. Part of its strategy has been to target the Colony formation. “We’ve seen substantial progress at Tucker since we redoubled our efforts in 2010. In fact, volumes have grown from about 6,000 barrels per day at that time to approximately 15,000 barrels per day today,” Peabody said. “This is economic production with better well placement tapping into higherquality reservoir, leading to improved SORs [steam/oil ratios].” Husky expects to start steaming the new Colony reservoir at Tucker in the first half of 2016. “With reservoir characteristics in this part of the development resembling our Lloyd thermals, we expect to increase overall production towards 20,000 barrels a day at Tucker by the end of next year,” Peabody said. While a few new well pairs are being added at Tucker, existing steam generating capacity is being used. “This is just an even more productive use of our steam capacity than what we have seen so far,” said CEO Asim Ghosh. Colony formation characteristics are comparable to Husky’s thermal oil reservoirs at Lloydminster with quick ramp-ups and SORs close to two, Ghosh told reporters on the conference call.

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PIPELINE NEWS January 2016

Crescent Point moving to eliminate fresh water use in Shaunavon and Viewfield Bakken Calgary – It didn’t get shouting-from-the-mountaintops attention, but a relatively small point in Crescent Point Energy’s Nov. 5 announcement of its third quarter results will have a big environmental impact in Saskatchewan. Crescent Point, Saskatchewan’s largest oil producer, is moving away from the use of fresh water in hydraulic fracturing operations in two of its largest plays in Saskatchewan, the Shaunavon and Viewfield Bakken. Company president and CEO Scott Saxberg, in the quarterly conference call, said, “Crescent Point has successfully reduced its environmental footprint by decreasing fresh water usage in the Shaunavon resource play. During third quarter, the company eliminated fresh water usage from the completion process of approximately 50 percent of Shaunavon wells drilled. The company is advancing a similar environmental initiative in its Viewfield Bakken play and continues to make progress in its goal of eliminating fresh water usage entirely.” The usage of fresh water to produce oil has been one of the most contentious

issues around fracking, with enormous volumes of water being used throughout the continent. On Nov, 13, Pipeline News spoke by phone to Crescent Point’s Brent Forster, vice-president, drilling, completions and facilities. He was joined by Mike Johe, who looks after the southwest Saskatchewan completions team and water experimentation with their frac operations. Together, they expanded on what may end up being a significant game-changer in the Saskatchewan oilpatch. First off, Crescent Point is not eliminating the use of water in fracking, but it is eliminating the use of fresh water. “With water being the focus of so many people. You know, ‘frac’ is a bad word, ‘fresh water’ is a bad word. We’re trying to do everything we can to address this. Mike’s been spearheading a big chunk of this drive internally to find solutions and try different things,” said Forster. “We don’t live on our laurels of what we’ve done. We always try new solutions. We try to be forward thinking. We do forward thinking around here. We’re always looking for the next thing. We’ve had success on so many different things.” Eliminating the use of fresh water is almost the holy grail in the oilpatch right now, a notion Forster agrees with. Asked why fresh water has historically been used for hydraulic fracturing, Johe said, “I think the short answer is the ease and abundance of it. In Shaunavon, we were accessing water sold to us by the Town of Shaunavon from the Frenchman Aquifer. It’s very soft, it’s easy to work with. All the hydraulic fracturing systems are compatible with it, so it provided us with a lot of versatility. Forster said another important point in creating frac fluids is turning water into a “linear gel.” “What we’re trying to do is put sand into a water product that is a really thick jelly almost. The fresher the water, by not having high chlorides, high calcium, the chemistry that’s involved to make that happen is a lot cleaner and easier.” ► Page A17

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PIPELINE NEWS January 2016 ◄ Page A16 Forster said the fresher the water, the chemistry behind the frac fluid is a lot easier and cheaper. In the Shaunavon area, there wasn’t really any alternative sources of the volume of water needed, which is one of the reasons they went with Shaunavonsourced water. Asked about using produced water from their own oil wells, Forster said, “The issue with produced water is it has a really high chloride count, and the chlorides are really tough to make the chemistry work to produce a gel to work with.” Johe added that produced water is highly variable, and it can change considerably across the field. Reduce volumes first “For us, our primary focus in the past, has been reducing the water volume per stage. (We’re) really scrutinizing the tonnages we’re putting into the wellbore, making sure it’s absolutely necessary. There’s stages in the wells called pads and scours, and we’ve have been reducing the volumes in those stages,” Johe said. “The other big thing is we use cemented liners and we have coiled tubing in the well. That coiled tubing allows us to circulate stages rather than pumping directly into the well. That has dramatically reduced our water as well. A typical well five years ago might have used over 2,200 cubic metres of fresh water. In 2015, that number has been reduced to less than 1,100 cubic metres. Belly River A little deeper than the Frenchman Aquifer is the Belly River Aquifer. “That’s a non-potable, not fit for consumption by human beings, aquifer,” he said. “That’s the water source we’ve been able to use. We’ve put pumps into two wells and we’ve set up infrastructure to a battery where we can store it. Those two changes – having the two wells and the capacity to store it – will allow us to go to 90 per cent utilization from November 2015-forward. “The term everybody uses is brackish, or non-potable, water. It wouldn’t be good for anything other than industrial purposes.” The wells were there already, but they weren’t tied in with pumps and pipelines. They had been used as source water makeup for a polymer flood in the past, but weren’t currently in use. Crescent Point spent the money to develop them. The wells are west of Shaunavon and tie into a battery just south of Dollard. “It’s been at work for about a year in a half,” Johe said, noting they started small to ensure this water would work out for fracking purposes. The Belly River water has the benefit of coming out of the ground much warmer – around 21 C – compared to the Frenchman aquifer, which is closer to 5 C. The difference is a tremendous amount of thermal energy Crescent Point does not have to put into the water prior to usage, as water temperature is a key component of fracking chemistry. That temperature difference means the tanks only require small heating facilities to maintain temperature. They didn’t have to do any heating at all during the summer, and thus there was a reduction in expense. “We have a formulation that works with this water. It’s a little different from what we use with the town water,” Johe noted. The chemistry costs a bit more, and they have to deal with a bit more bacteria, but with the reduced water-heating expense and not having to pay for town water, the economics come out a bit ahead, according to Forster, who said, “It’s the right thing to do.” Johe said, “We didn’t even realize the heating benefit when we first started going down this path. That is by far the greatest financial benefit. The actual cost difference per well is close to $3,000, just the purchasing of the water. Compared to the cost to drill, complete and tie-in the well, it’s insignificant. So it wasn’t a costsavings initiative. But one of the benefits has been the cost-benefits were greater than we thought.” Viewfield Bakken The Belly River does not exist in the Viewfield area in southeast Saskatchewan, so Crescent Point will have to use a different formation as its brackish water source. Johe said, “The Mannville is the source they use there. “They’re in a much earlier phase there. There’s only five wells that have been fracked using a Mannville source, but they’re planning to move towards that more. They’re just evaluating that in the near-term. A lot of the freshwater used currently in the area is

coming from a shallow freshwater aquifer. The Mannville is roughly 900 metres deep, much deeper than the Belly River. Forster said, “It’s not near as fresh as the Belly River. It has more chemistry hurdles than the Belly River. It’s not going to be as easy, but we are going down the road to make it work.” How confident are they that the Shaunavon experience can be replicated in the Viewfield Bakken area?

A17

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PIPELINE NEWS January 2016

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years ago, when he was active in mixed martial arts. He doesn’t do that anymore, but still works out. His broad back made for quite the canvas. The tattoo was inked by Adrenne Ray of Ace of Swords in Regina. It took 57 hours to complete, at $120 an hour. Between his shoulder blades is the Death Star II, under construction, as in the Return of the Jedi. His left shoulderblade

features the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy, the Millennium Falcon. Four TIE fighters are flying about. Below that, on the left side of his back is the bounty hunter, Boba Fett, levelling his blaster. Opposite of him is a Stormtrooper in dessert gear. The centre of his spine has Darth Vader crossing lightsabers with Obi-Wan Kenobi from A New Hope.

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PIPELINE NEWS January 2016

MS RS

A19

Going in depth on pipe distribution with Fedmet Tubulars

Calgary – There are only a few steel mills in North America that produce the pipe used in the oilpatch for wells and the pipelines that connect them, but there are numerous distributors that buy and sell pipe to the oil companies that eventually use it. The market sector is known as oil country tubular goods, (OCTG), and one of the companies active in the pipe distribution business is Fedmet Tubulars, a division of Russel Metals, Inc.. Jason Kaiser is president of Fedmet Tubulars. He explained on Dec. 8 how the business works. Like everyone else in the oilpatch, they’re coming off a challenging 2015 that will carry on into 2016. “We’re a pipe distribution company. We do not manufacture pipe. We sell casing, tubing and line pipe to energy and mining sectors of the industry,” Kaiser said, adding they have a Western Canada focus. Fedmet’s product is primarily North American produced predominately from Canada and the U.S., with the majority of their casing coming out of Ontario and tubing out of Canada and the U.S. Their casing supplier doesn’t make tubing. Their line pipe comes out of Canada and the U.S., as well. “Most distributors are aligned with a couple manufacturers,” he noted. “Our industry is packed full of distributors. There are probably 15-plus distributors in the OCTG casing market. We all buy from three or four main manufacturers. Some guys bring in offshore, from overseas.” As a rule Fedmet uses domestically-sourced pipe, although there have been a few exceptions. “We have bought one-offs for a client, from offshore. That’s only on a case-by-case scenario.” Trucking yards Kaiser said, “We stock our inventory across Western Canada in different trucking yards, like L&C Trucking in Estevan. They hold that inventory for us, and we sell it to an end user. They then truck it out to the location along with accessories.” The business model for pipe yards is common in the industry, but uncommon in business. The trucking companies that warehouse the pipe do not charge for

warehousing service, but do charge for handling the pipe as it comes in and out of the yard, as well as any associating trucking to and from the yard. Kaiser said, “That’s common. In Western Canada, there’s no trucking companies that we deal with that charge us directly for storage. They charge us for handling it. They take it off a rail car or highway hauler and put it on a rack for us. The agreement is, if the pipe is in their yard, and we sell a casing to a client, (the oil company) is obligated to use the (trucking company) to truck it to location. “They can use another guy, but (the pipe yard) would charge a fee to load that truck. Nine times out of ten, the trucking company wins the trucking if the pipe is at their yard.” Fedmet has 12 active yards including yards in

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PIPELINE NEWS January 2016

Steel pipe processes explained ◄ Page A19

Coating On their line pipe (used for pipelines) side, bare pipe is typically shipped to central Alberta for the bare pipe to be coated and then shipped out to location. The two main coating manufacturers have facilities in Camrose and Edmonton. Its product is widely-recognized for its distinctive coating. Fedmet buys the bare pipe and pays for it to be coated. “At a mill, the mill will run line pipe for example. They will need to run 60 or 100 kilometres of 6-inch. We’ll buy that whole rolling, or half, then we’ll sell it off in small pieces. End users will only need, say, two kilometres at a time. “A mill will have a rolling schedule on a monthly basis. We buy those rollings from them. We do forecasting with our mills, and they’ll roll according to what we require. We’re not just buying one string of pipe at a time, but for multiple wells in each size,” Kaiser said. Rolling enough tonnage of steel to make sense might mean a minimum mill requirement to maxi-

mize the manufacturing process and minimize shipping cost. He noted, “This is a logistical and procurement service we provide that includes coordinating the manufacturer minimums, the transportation logistics, additional services such as coating and coordinating necessary component parts to arrive at the customers exactly where and when it is needed while maintaining traceability throughout the process for the end user.” Each region’s requirements are different. There are approximately ten different casing and tubing sizes typically used in a region like Estevan. Fracking and horizontal wells have increased the length of a well. They’re longer, and take more time to drill than older wells. Kaiser said, “It’s probably about the same amount of steel, but our customers have decreased the number of wells they drill per year. If you average it out, there’s probably the same amount of steel, but higher grades of steel, heavier wall thickness. Some producers are moving to higher alloys, rather than it being all carbon steel. “The optics of more steel in the well is true, but there’s less wells being drilled.”

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Fracking complex and longer strings equates to a higher quality steel being used in well liners. The majority of wells will have surface casing, intermediate casing, then a liner (production casing). Some will run surface casing, and the intermediate will be the same as the production casing, one size to the end of the well. It’s a little cheaper, because smaller diameter pipe is used all the way through. These are known as a “monobore.” Kaiser noted. “Steel is a commodity, as we know, whether it is selling tubulars for pipe or energy or water, or steel tube for construction. It’s a global commodity. Distributors buy pipe throughout the year and have to watch where the commodity goes. As the price of steel goes down, so does all the cost of our inventory. He went on, “As a distributor, you have some risk on the cost of the inventory, so there is a level of expertise required to determine the appropriate stock levels compared to the market needs that is compounded by the rapid cyclical nature of the business. Managing inventory levels appropriately and continuous coordination between the pipe manufactures and the end user demands is paramount to running a successful distribution business. 2015 decline In 2015, the industry came off a very busy 2014 where drilling programs were at a high. “In the steel world, in 2015 when they decided to cut programs, all the services co-ordinated with that were cut immediately. There was no obligation for the majority of our clients to use the pipe they asked us to purchase. It increased inventories dramatically, and it slowed down our ability to support our mills. There’s been mill closures, and obviously reduced mill capacity. Inventory grew for a six month span because we have to order, at a minimum, three months in advance to get our steel on the ground,” Kaiser said. Another role of the distributor is to buy the pipe from the mill when the coil is ordered. “No returns!” he said. ► Page A21

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PIPELINE NEWS January 2016 ◄ Page A20 A three month-lag based on the established price of coil that was now considered high, a rapid drop in the market, and distributors and some mills ended up with inventory on the ground as their clients stopped drilling. “That’s when you start having trouble sleeping at night,” he said. “And since the market has stopped drilling, you now have a surplus, a typical supplyand-demand scenario. The laws of economics are in play as supply is now outpacing demand forcing a market correction leading to reduced margins. Typically the new pipe is produced at the new lower price which further intensifies margin pressure in an oversupplied market. This is tied to the global drop in commodity prices, be it construction steel or steel for pipe. It’s all the same steel. The price of steel dropped throughout all of 2015, and was still dropping as of late 2015. He said, “We’re hoping it has hit bottom, but we don’t know for sure.” “In 2015 there was very little purchasing from mills or reducing surpluses on the ground,” he said. “With the market the way it is, 2016 is looking similar to 2015. I think if there’s any sort of stability in energy prices, globally, we can see a little more activity. Once the market finds a bottom it will allow inventories to clear and a semblance of order to return to the distribution business.” Is that at US$44 or $38 per barrel? “That’s a good question,” he said. Some companies were drilling and surviving at $44. Imports In the casing world, China, Korea, Indonesia and the Philippines all produce casing. “The Canadian Trade Tribunal

tries to set fair tariffs on it, but I don’t think it slows down the import of offshore casing.” Canada Border Services Agency announced in late November findings of preliminary total duty rates between 71 per cent and 396 per cent against exports of certain line pipe from China into Canada, which are effective immediately. What is Fedmet’s perspective on that? “The majority (of imports) is casing and tubing. Tariffs help slow down import product, but it hasn’t stopped it. “The big dilemma with imported product, and why we focus on domestic, is because of customer service and the ability to communicate with the mill. If you bring imported product in, and you have a failure … there are good mills and there are bad mills. If you deal with (larger mills), a big brand, you’ll have a solid warranty. You’ll have backing from that company. If you’re buying from a different import that doesn’t have that name or solid balance sheet behind it, you don’t know if you’ll have support if you have a failure,” Kaiser explained. There’s concern about quality for some imports. Saskatchewan’s terrain and soil lends itself to a lot of fiberglass pipelines, but the tougher terrain of the mountains more commonly sees steel pipelines. Is composite pipe endangering the steel pipeline market? “I think we’re a long ways away from a product taking over steel, just because of the pressures required and wall thickness that composite, poly and fiberglass just aren’t there yet. Not to say it won’t happen, but as of today, it’s a long ways from that happening, both steel and fibreglass have market niches and I see it remaining this way for the foreseeable future,” Kaiser said.

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New product Kaiser spoke of new liner systems, where pipe is internally coated. Fedmet carries the CORE Linepipe product. It’s a manufactured internal liner, in steel. “There’s no weld involved. It has a click-weld system. Rather than welding the joint together, the pipe is clicked together with a machine,” he said. “CORE Linepipe is a new company introducing a new concept and product into the market and Fedmet is one of the select distributors introducing the product in the market for them,” he said. Fedmet has been carrying the product for a year-and-a-half. “It’s just started being used in southeast Saskatchewan in the last two months. It could be a game-changer in the line pipe industry,” he said. It eliminates the need for welders during pipeline construction. CORE Linepipe is based just outside of Calgary. “We’re supplying them with the coated steel. They factory-install the liner and put the mandrel or coupling on, and then we ship it out to field from there,” he said. Another technology is pulling poly pipe liner through a steel pipe. It allows for the strong exterior to handle the pressure, and a liner inside to handle the corrosive product.

A21

This pipe, in L&C Trucking’s Estevan yard, is representative of the steel pipe distributed by Fedmet Tubulars. File photo

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A22

PIPELINE NEWS January 2016

Operations of a pipe custodian: L&C Trucking Estevan –Trucking firm L&C Trucking LP of Estevan is what some

call a “pipe custodian,” a company that looks after and hauls oil country

tubular goods, or pipe. It accounts for about 80 per cent of their work,

but these days, there’s not a lot of pipe moving. “We own nothing in the yard. All the pipe is owned by different pipe companies,” explained Rod Benning, president. “Companies that purchase pipe from the mill ship it to L&C. When an oil company phones, we tally it out and ship it to the user. We do not own any of the pipe in the yard.” Benning said that’s one thing a lot of companies don’t understand. “They think we have something to do with pricing. We do not. They think we get paid to store it. We get zero.” Indeed, this business model that not only L&C Trucking, but other trucking firms in the OCTG market live by, is rather remarkable. Whereas concrete grain terminals charge farmers for their “grain condominiums,” and pretty much every other warehousing scheme charges for their usage, it is common in the industry for pipe yards not to charge for storage. It’s been this way for many, many years. “Our business is trucking, always has been,” Benning said. Norm Mack, general manager, said, “Free rack space was designed to enhance our trucking business.” Once pipe is in

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their yard, there’s about a 90 per cent chance L&C will be hired to haul it out, and thus their trucks are utilized. However, there are times when other trucking companies will end up doing the hauling. “We started the yard in 1989 and it’s never changed,” Benning said. They have a smaller Swift Current location with operated on a similar model. In that case, the majority of the pipe finds its way to the Shaunavon oilfield. Estevan works as a central hub for both southeast Saskatchewan and southwest Manitoba. One oil company had wanted to stockpile pipe at Waskada, Man. That didn’t make a lot of sense to Benning, since the pipe still had to get hauled to Waskada, and then staff would have been required to look after it there. Benning pointed out over $2 million has been spent developing their pipe yards, between the cost of the land, preparation, stripping, gravel, timbers, railroad ties, racks and loaders to handle the pipe. The loaders go along for about a quarter million dollars each. Then there’s also the labour involved. “We get paid to unload it and put it on the rack. It sits free until it’s paid to pick it up,” he said, explaining it was “dead inventory.” “Every stick of pipe in our yard is owned by a pipe company, not a mill. They store it until it sells. In the past, big mills would put pipe in a yard, where it was sold.” L&C’s yard is “never full,” he said. “We used to be well over 100,000 joints. Now we’re under that. We have quite a bit of room left.” The majority of the pipe in their yard is produced in North America, but there is some Asian-sourced pipe, too. “We have some line pipe, but very little,” Benning said. Line pipe is the pipe used in pipelines. “Our (pipe) is 99 per cent for the drilling rigs and completions – casing surface casing long string and tubing.” L&C takes the time to bundle pipe with wire, spending thousands of dollars each

year on wire alone. That saves the oil company time and money in the field, as it takes less time to load and unload. A loader can pick up 15 joints at a time instead of a handful. Slowdown The brakes have been on in the drilling industry since late 2014, with no end in sight. The decline in drilling activity has a direct impact on L&C. For example, on Dec. 13, 2013, there were 89 active drilling rigs in Saskatchewan. On Dec. 13, 2014, just as oil prices took its big plunge, that number was 64. On Dec. 15, 2015, there were 36 active drilling rigs. That’s in all of Saskatchewan, not just the southeast. During the busy times over the last several years, Benning noted, “We had 30 trucks, and a lot of times they would go out two times each per day, and five loaders.” Mack said, “We topped out at 78 employees.” Specifically, they had 78 employees in Estevan and 16 in Swift Current; as of Dec. 2, those numbers were 36 and 8, respectively. Mack said, “Ninety per cent of people are fighting for 10 per cent of the business, because that’s what’s out there. That’s all that’s left out there.” “We had a driver for every unit, and a spare driver and tractor,” Benning said. Asked about their activity level at the beginning of December, usually one of the peak times of the year, Benning said, “We are onequarter to one-third of what we had at our peak time. Our staff is one half, but one third of the activity. Right now it’s a major struggle to keep our staff. “When it hopefully turns around, we’ve got a great group of good guys ready to go.” For much of 2015, L&C has utilized the Service Canada WorkShare program. However, by early December, they maxed out the number of weeks allowed, and the program ended. They were on it since March. It definitely helped, they said. ► Page A23


PIPELINE NEWS January 2016 ◄ Page A22 Mack noted that workers that had been in Estevan but were originally from Ontario, Manitoba and New Brunswick saw the writing on the wall a while

ago and went home. “They saw it was time to go home,” Benning said. “They left without us having to do it (lay them off ),” Mack said. The pair share some frustration about small

one or two-man outfits who compete with them, operating without any overhead like a dispatcher, yard, shop or extensive safety program. Some started trucking as a sideline, such as a farmer in the winter, they noted.

“Our company started and has always been here to do the trucking. That’s our focus,” Benning said. Diversification has been looked at, but they are wary of becoming

competition to their own customers. Similarly, it’s not easy to get established as a long-haul trucking company either, as bidding wars can result where nobody’s making money.

A23

That said, the Swift Current operation is a little more diversified, and they were able to pick up some work for construction of the local hospital and with farmers.

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A24

PIPELINE NEWS January 2016

Fibreglass Solutions moves into new shop Estevan – This past October Fibreglass Solutions Inc. moved into its new location in Estevan. The new shop, adjacent to their previous location, is a big upgrade from the shacks they had used before. Instead of using shipping containers for storage, they now have their own spacious warehouse and shop which affords new capabilities, like pressure testing and custom fabricating. Tim Beatty is the local manager who also handles technical sales. The company is based in Woodstock, Ontario, and has locations in Regina and Edmonton as well. The Estevan location has four workers in the shop, and Beatty himself is usually on the road. “It’s taken a long time to get to this point. It was a bulk fuel service station,” he said. The site had to be cleaned up. All in all, it was a couple years in the making. The location is important, with high visibility and near the nexus of supply stores on the east side of Estevan. “Visibility is probably the best advertisement you can get,” Beatty said. “All the construction crews are up and down every road we can see.”

Fibreglass Solutions’ new shop is a big step up from their previous digs. Photo by Brian Zinchuk

It might have been easier and cheaper to build out of town, but this location was better. In the back, they’ve got racks of fittings, including those for low-pressure pipe for facilities. The Estevan location also services the potash industry, something Fibreglass Solutions has been doing since

its early days. The company’s diverse use of fibreglass pipe includes dewatering systems, chilling for rooftop air conditioning, and pipes that run under bridges. The Estevan location sees about half of its product used for flowlining, and the other half used in other applications like facilities.

“It has been nice for us to grow to this, but the industry as a whole has seen a decline of 40 to 50 per cent,” Beatty said. “We have jobs on the go. Being involved in that other industry (potash) helps us out. We’re still moving.” Asked about what he sees in 2016, Beatty said, “I’ve been in this industry a long time. I’ve learned not to predict. It can change on the turn of a dime. I’ve gone through four of these. I started in 1980, I guess.” He was a battery operator, then worked on construction crews and has personally installed fibreglass pipe. “I’ve worked with it since 1989,” he said. Fibreglass Solutions’ line stick pipe is made in Wichita, Kansas. “Everything is made in the States,” Beatty said. That means the Canadianto-U.S. dollar exchange rate is an important factor, especially with the Loonie falling in early December to its lowest point in 11 years. He noted it’s good for the oil companies, who are paid for their oil in U.S. dollars, but their own product also hinges on the exchange rate. “We like to provide great product and service; firm, fair and friendly,” Beatty concluded.

The Estevan Curling Club would like to thank the following local businesses for their generous sponsorship for the Estevan World Curling Tour held in Estevan Nov. 28- Dec.1, 2015 Without you, this event would not have been such a success

PLATINUM Estevan Hotel Association TSB Oilfield Construction Brent Gedak Welding Ltd. Dart Services Ltd. Cathedral Insurance Brokers PLATINUM IN KIND CJ-1150, Sun-102.3 FM, Rock-106 Southeast Lifestyles Estevan Mercury Pipeline News

GOLD MNP Kendall’s Supply Ltd. Murray GM SILVER Trent’s Tire GB Contract Inspection Southern Plains Coop Swift Oilfield Supply Turnbull Excavating Ltd. Regens Disposal Ltd. TS&M Supply

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