Stoughton– Work continues on plans for a proposed refinery near Stoughton, as Dominion Energy Processsing Group Inc. (DEPGI) held a public meeting in the town on Jan. 19.
Approximately 200 people attended the three-hour long meeting, according to Keith Stemler, CEO of DEPGI. “The hall was full,” he said on the phone the following day, after meetings in Regina.
The company is the Canadian subsidiary of Tempe, Az.-based Quantum Energy Inc. In December 2016 they announced their intention of building a 40,000 bpd refinery southwest of Stoughton, adjacent Crescent Point Energy Corp.’s Viewfield gas plant.
“We’re getting to the nuts and bolts of it now,” Stemler said, adding it was “a hell of a good trip.”
The meeting began with a half-hour presentation of the proposed plan, followed by an hour of questions, then one-on-one interaction.
Stemler said questions included topics of emergency response, firefighting, potential disasters and the like. Issues like public notification in case of an emergency and what an alarm means were also discussed.
One-on-one questioners asked about what type of training they would need to get work at the completed refinery, and how they could get that training.
Overall he said there was “overwhelming support from all except one.”
That person had “legitimate concerns,” and they will be run through DEPGI’s engineering team.
Stemler noted their risk assessment will exceed regulatory standards.
“I think the town hall was very successful,” he said, adding the meeting was an important public consultation, part of the regulatory approval protocol. It was “a box they needed to check off,” he noted.
The meeting was documented and an action plan from issues raised at the town hall will go to their engineering group.
The refinery is still in the proposal stage right now. Once they have permits in place, they will work on the details.
Asked about their current timelines, Stemler said, “Right now we’re pushing hard to get engineering started in January.”
He would like to have their permit submission ready in 90 days from then, and expects it would take 60 days to get it back. If all goes well, that could mean getting their permit approval by June to the end of July.
“We would like to start rough dirt work before freeze up,” he said.
Key to the final completion will be the purchase of long-lead time items, Stemler explained. While the industry is slow right now, and there’s ample capacity, things could tighten up if oil picks up. “It’s the long lead items that can get us in trouble – transformers, boilers. We want to get that in front.
“If industry comes back in a big way, we could be sitting with a beautiful graded site.”
The design is all modular fabrication. He expects it would take about 18 months to build the refinery. Stemler would like to see commissioning begin in October 2019.
They are looking at Saskatchewan vendors for those modules, and he said they were in “heavy” discussions with two of them.
There is a contractors awareness meeting planned for early February, although as of press time, the date and location had not yet been settled. “We’re going to reach out to all of them.”
On Feb. 1, Stemler informed Pipeline News that the meeting is now being considered for the middle of February.
As for their feedstock, he said they were still in negotiations, but hoped to close that by the end of January.
“Things are starting to progress,” Stemler said.
