Saturday, June 01, 2013YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Local building tradesmen expect a busy season this summer as extensive construction on oil and gas pipeline networks and a new cryogenic plant in Springfield Township get under way.
Carpenters, pipe fitters, electricians, laborers, operating engineers, cement masons – to some extent all will benefit from the $150 million natural-gas processing plant under construction by Pennant Midstream LLC.
“There’ll be several hundred involved over the next month,” reports Rocco “Rocky” DiGennaro, business manager of Local 125 of the International Laborers Union. “That plant is going to employ all of the trades.”
The site near the intersection of Stateline and Middletown roads in the township is under development. Trees have been cleared, and heavy earthmovers are busy preparing ground on more than 100 acres where the plant will rise.
Pennant Midstream, a joint venture between NiSource Midstream and Hilcorp Energy Co., is progressing on its Hickory Bend project, a 50-mile pipeline and processing system that will extend from western Pennsylvania, through Mahoning County, and into Columbiana County.
DiGennaro says that his membership is already actively involved with related projects as some 40 of his members having helped lay a 13-mile stretch of pipe from Hilcorp’s Carbon Limestone well pad to Petersburg. Operating engineers, plumbers and pipe fitters, and Teamsters were also part of the initial pipeline construction.
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The second phase of the pipeline build-out into Columbiana County should start in mid-June. “They’ll probably use the same size crew,” DiGennaro says. “NiSource has embraced our local workers.”
Another 24-mile leg would extend into western Pennsylvania through Lawrence and Mercer counties, the business agent reports. “It looks like they’re going to be here for awhile.”
Moreover, DiGennaro says, contractors looking to secure future work with these projects are now asking to sign on to union agreements. “They’ve told them, ‘We want to do this right and be on your list of preferred contractors.’”
Energy companies such as Hilcorp and Chesapeake are developing large-scale pipeline and processor networks in eastern Ohio to tap the abundance of dry and wet gas in the Utica shale.
Two high-profile midstream projects in this region – the Hickory Bend plant and another cryogenic plant under construction in Kensington, Columbiana County, through a partnership between M3 Midstream, Access Midstream and EV Energy Partners – are providing opportunities for local tradesmen, union representatives say.
At present, some crafts are busier than others in relation to oil and gas development, reports Don Crane, president of the Western Reserve Building and Construction Trades Council.
He estimates about one-third of the combined membership of the trades unions are directly engaged in the oil and gas industry.
“They’re giving these guys good work across the board,” Crane reports. “About 500 are directly involved in shale work.” Ironworkers are likely to have opportunities as concrete foundations are poured, as would millwrights and carpenters to a certain extent.
Electrical workers can expect to see sufficient job gains as construction ramps up on processing plants and substations, Crane says. “Electrical contractors will have some work, but their work is limited.”
Pipelines could extend 60 or more miles, Crane relates, so the bulk of the jobs at present are going to the operating engineers, laborers and pipe fitters largely because of the nature of the work.
“We’re involved with the Kensington project,” reports Roland “Butch” Taylor, business agent for Local 396 of the Plumbers & Pipefitters Union, which represents just under 500 members. “By the end of this month, we should see some work at Hickory Bend,” he said, “which will be a tremendous boost.”
Taylor reports there are about 30 members of the Plumbers & Pipefitters local on site in Kensington, where a cryogenic plant will separate “wet” gas such as ethane from “dry” gas, usually methane.
A critical component to strengthening the prospects for tradesmen becoming a part of the industry is creating a strong bullpen of qualified workers.
“We’re working hard to get these guys trained,” Taylor says. Last year, the Plumbers & Pipefitters Union was awarded a $130,000 grant that supports training programs for prospective welders through Local 396 and Eastern Gateway Community College. The U.S. Appalachian Regional Commission procured $65,000 toward the grant, while the rest were secured through local matching funds.
Among the skills taught through the program are MIG, TIG and stick welding, Taylor reports, and 52 new welders have been certified since the program kicked off less than a year ago.
“All 52 of them are working,” Taylor elaborates. “Some of them are working at the Kensington plant, while others are outside the area working.” Local contractors such as Evets Oil and Gas work on projects all across the country and use trained employees from the Mahoning Valley on these projects.
Also important is that the plumbers union has added 14 new contractors to its base over the past 2 years. “These are contractors who have moved in from outside the area and want to grow,” Taylor says. “They’re looking for new opportunities.”
While the Hickory Bend project is likely to be a huge lift for labor in the Mahoning Valley, Taylor is also optimistic about landing work with future projects involving the oil and gas industry.
“It’s in the very early stages with BlueRacer,” he says, noting that his leadership hasn’t formally met with representatives of that venture.
BlueRacer, formed as a partnership between Caiman Energy II and Dominion, which announced earlier this year that it wanted to build three new processing plants in Ohio, one in Petersburg in the southeastern corner of Mahoning County.
“They’ve had a good relationship with unions in West Virginia,” Taylor notes.
Copyright The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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