SCOPE

The Leesville Cryogenic Processing and Fractionation Facility was the third facility in a system of facilities for Utica East Ohio Midstream.  This facility completed the three plant system that would gather, process, and distribute valuable wet and dry gas from the Utica Shale formation in Eastern, OH.

E.S. Wagner’s initial scope for this facility was mass excavation, embankment and drainage.  As with previous projects, this facility’s completion milestone was being driven by operational deadlines as well as interim milestones for large component deliveries.  E.S. Wagner took our standard approach and maximized our assets to have multiple earthwork operations working simultaneously on one site to safely and effectively move high volumes of excavated materials in every shift.

Upon award of this project, the provided geotechnical reports suggested a need for blasting as well as a very elaborate and costly subsurface drainage system to handle perched water.  E.S. Wagner utilized our extensive knowledge of the regional soils as well as past experiences and were able to eliminate the need for both blasting and the majority of the subsurface drainage saving the owner over $1 million.

As the site progressed, E.S. Wagner was afforded the opportunity to utilize our other areas of expertise where we installed 100% of the concrete foundations for processing equipment as well as all compressors, pumps, filters, and loading equipment.  During the design phase for each foundation, the owner as well as the engineer relied on E.S. Wagner to perform constructability reviews and in some cases, looked to E.S. Wagner for conceptual design.  The established trust between the Owner, Engineer, and Contractor made for a nearly seamless design/bid/build process for each foundation package prepared and eventually built.

Additionally, E.S. Wagner was able to aid the owner by installing secondary containment for all above ground storage vessels.  E.S. Wagner exceeded the owner’s expectations by installing a quality containment system on time and under budget.  After the secondary containment was installed at Leesville, E.S. Wagner was asked to install similar systems at other facilities.

SAFETY

E.S. Wagner Company displayed another exemplary safety performance on this project.  As the site construction progressed, increased safety requirements were mandated by the owner due to increased risk with the introduction of gas to the plant.  The experience gained in previous oil and gas construction helped E.S. Wagner Company to maintain its reputation as one of the safest contractors in the Utica shale region.

VALUE

E.S. Wagner Company provided engineering expertise, experience, and a large fleet of machine controlled equipment to maintain the owner’s construction pace and continually beat interim milestone.  Because of operational milestones, grading and drainage had to be completed in the fall so mechanical construction could be performed through the winter.  E.S. Wagner Company partnered with the owner to reduce costs in other areas of the project to allow for cement stabilization of the site’s subgrade.  Because of previous value engineering ideas, this additional work had little impact on the project’s overall budget but improved working conditions through the winter.  By cement stabilizing the subgrade, other trades saw a huge reduction in mud due to freeze/thaw and snow melt.  This reduction in mud increased morale, increased production, decreased the amount of weather delays and decreased maintenance cost for a net negative in life cycle costs for the project. 

ONGOING PRESENCE

In addition to the site preparation and foundation installation, E.S. Wagner Company was asked to rehabilitate Azalea Road which is the road that leads from State Route 212 to the Leesville Facility.  E.S. Wagner Company competitively bid and was given the notice proceed with removing the existing asphalt, performing a full depth reclamation, and installing a new asphalt surface.  E.S. Wagner Company again beat the owner’s schedule and exceeded the expectation of the local municipality.