Estevan 鈥� How many workers does it take to build a refinery? According to Dominion Energy Processing Group, Inc, subsidiary of Quantum Energy, Inc., 180 or 200, depending on when we spoke with them. That was the number they told about 300 people who attended a contractors meeting in Weyburn on Feb. 15, 2017.
Back then, Keith Stemler, then-CEO of Dominion, said, 鈥淏ased on schedule, we have 29 months from the time we receive the permit to the time of first oil. I feel we can do this 鈥� put the kit together, complete civil, all the underground and above ground structure, and achieve first oil in 29 months. To do that, we鈥檙e looking at a craft staff of basically 24 hours a day 180 guys for 24 months to get it done.鈥�
That roughly 180 workers will change in makeup as the project progresses through its various stages.
Looking at analogous facilities has shown much, much higher numbers. MDU Resources Group, Inc. completed its Dakota Prairie Refinery at Dickinson, N.D. in 2015, commencing operations in May of that year. A press release from MDU on May 4, 2015, noted, 鈥淐onstruction of the facility began on March 26, 2013 on a 318-acre site that is located about four miles west of Dickinson in southwest North Dakota. More than 800 workers were on site at peak construction. Total cost of the plant is estimated to be approximately US$425 million to US$435 million, and the facility employs about 80 people.鈥�
In 2016, that refinery, which struggled in the oil downturn, was purchased by Tesoro Refining & Marketing Co. LLC.听
The Dickinson refinery is pegged at 20,000 bpd., or half the size of Quantum/Dominion鈥檚 proposed Stoughton Refinery.
In 2012, the Co-op Refinery Complex in Regina completed its three-year, Section 5 expansion and revamp project. It cost C$2.66 billion. At the time, Scott Banda, CEO for Federated Co-operatives Ltd, told Pipeline News, 鈥淲e maxed out at 5,000 people on this site at the peak of construction. There were two pieces of our construction: Section V and the revamps. The revamps, we鈥檙e still a couple months from finishing. But we will add 45 per cent capacity to our facility. That takes us up to 145,000 barrels a day.鈥�
It should be noted that 5,000 number may have included organic employees and turnaround staff. In August 2010 Bud Van Iderstine, then the vice-president in charge of the refinery, said they expected a peak of 1,800 people working on the construction and revamps. That number may have changed between 2010 and 2012, when the project was completed.
That project, which Pipeline News visited in August 2010, added 30,000 bpd of nameplate capacity, and additional debottlenecking added another 15,000 bpd, bringing the total additional capacity to 45,000 bpd, closely in line with the size of the refinery Quantum/Dominion proposed. At the time of our visit, there were 800 people working on the Section 5 portion alone.
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The Refinery That Wasn鈥檛 series of stories
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