EMR, experience modifier rate, is a three year history of claims paid by an insurance company over a three year period. The less payout of claims by insurance companies translates to a lower EMR. S-Con’s current, 2016 EMR is 0.76.

Generally Speaking:

• Excellent: 0.40 –0.75
• Good: 0.76 –1.00
• Average to At Risk: 1.01 –1.25
• At Risk to Adverse Projections: 1.26 –2.00

S-Con Inc.’s 2017 EMR Goal is 0.65 or lower.

The majority of S-Con Inc.’s work is in the midstream natural gas industry. This is the link between the exploration and production of natural gas and the delivery of its components to end-use markets. The midstream industry consists of natural gas gathering, compression, treating, processing, storage, and transportation. The midstream industry is generally characterized by regional competition based on the proximity of gathering systems and processing plants to natural gas producing wells and the proximity of storage facilities to production areas and end-use markets.

S-Con is committed to safety for employees, clients and the general public through training, supervising, and monitoring all employees and sub-contractors on safe behaviors in the field as well as in all shop facilities.

S-Con was recently awarded the engineering, design, and fabrication of a 30 GPM Amine Regeneration Plant. The plant, consisting of four (4) modularized skid units, will be installed in Texas as an expansion of an existing Natural Gas Treating Plant. To ensure proper fit-up and spacing, S-Con assembled all skid modules inside its Bryan, Texas Assembly Shop, before shipment to the Field.  All skid instruments and control valves were also Shop tested to insure they were in good working order.

On June 22, 2016, S-Con was awarded the engineering, design, and fabrication of a 60 GPM Amine Treating Plant including the purchase of a new Amine Contactor. This Amine Regeneration Plant is a new/existing stock unit that will be modified to utilize a BKU type hot oil re-boiler instead of the direct fired unit that was originally built for it. The plant consisting of four (4) modularized skid units will be installed in Texas to act as a Fuel Gas Conditioning Unit, feeding a Gas Turbine. Completion is expected in October, 2016.

S-Con was recently awarded a project to modify an existing Refrigerated Dewpoint Control Plant with Condensate Stabilization. The Plant Design is being modified to allow processing of 5.8 GPM gas, instead of the 2 GPM Inlet Gas the Plant was originally designed for. Additionally, the original Condensate Stabilization system is being modified to now produce a 200 psig NGL Product that can be sold over truck racks. The Customer has tasked S-Con to reengineer and modify the existing Plant to meet these new operating conditions. Plant modifications include: 1) Inlet Slug Catching; 2) Filtering and conditioning of Slug Liquids; 3) Additional Vapor/Liquid separation capacity; 4) Compression of Stabilizer O/H vapors to the Residue Gas stream; 5) NGL Product Filtering and Storage; and 6) Truck Loading Facilities.

S-Con is designing and fabricating four (4) process skids to be installed as part of the plant modification effort. S-Con Construction moved into the field on June 15, 2015 and is already well into performance of necessary demolition work and site preparation. The Customer has asked for a very aggressive schedule, with a targeted re-commissioning date of October 1, 2015.

From April 12-15, the S-Con team attended the annual GPA Convention. The convention was held in San Antonio at the Marriott Rivercenter. On Monday, April 13th, S-Con hosted a hospitality suite for GPA attendees. The evening was a great opportunity to connect with our clients in a fun environment. There was food, refreshments, and live entertainment by The Pictures Band. We had a great time and would like to thank everyone who attended!

To see more pictures from the GPA, check our Facebook page!

S-Con personnel successfully completed a three-week trip to Wyoming where they assisted their client with the start-up of a 120 MMSCFD Natural Gas Treating and Processing facility. Despite facing several adverse situations, the S-Con plant met or exceeded all expectations. Once the inlet gas into the plant meets the design volumes and pressures, S-Con will return to the site and aid in final tuning of the plant under full-load conditions. During the team’s time there, Don Deppe and Trey Brown assisted in the tuning of the Hot Oil System, Amine Treating System, and J-T Cryo Plant and Refrigeration System. The Hot Oil and Amine Systems successfully ran under full-load conditions and achieved all operating and design requirements. The client was able to witness the regeneration of the Mol Sieves and, while the plant load was not what was desired, the Refrigeration System was put into operation by implementing an arrangement alternative to the originally design.

Overall, S-Con accomplished its assistance to the client with the new operating conditions, tuning instrumentation and system operation, and on-site, personal operator training. Working with the client’s own highly capable, “Training Squad,” the new Plant Operators quickly adapted into their new jobs and gained a greater understanding of the plant and its operation.

The Bakken Flaring Alternatives and Gas Capture conference was recently attended by S-Con in Denver. The conference was composed of a variety of producers and vendors detailing various ways to reduce or eliminate the flaring of associated gas in North Dakota. The majority of the methods entailed the mechanical refrigeration method of removing NGLs with the remaining natural gas flared. One vendor added a Deethanizer to provide fuel for a generator to power their unit but still sent the remaining natural gas to flare. Only one, in addition to S-Con’s SUPERCOOL^TM Process allowed for the total elimination of flaring and that process involved the conversion of the associated gas into anhydrous ammonia. S-Con’s SUPERCOOL^TM Process allows for the elimination of all flaring resulting in highly valued LNG and NGL hydrocarbon products. Please see the Flare Gas Recovery / SUPERCOOL^TM page for further details on this superior process.

During the first week of December, S-Con Sales Engineer Marta Mattioli attended ProMax Training for Level 2 Gas Processing. The training built on the tools learned in the Level 1 Training and covered several areas from simple JT Refrigeration to Fractionation Plants. With the assistance of BR&E (www.bre.com), Marta was trained on the different components of the simulation software. For example, in the exercise for simulating different variations of the Turboexpander Plant, solver applications were used to control the conditions for the heat exchangers. One important reason to control these conditions is to ensure effective approach temperatures are within the exchanger’s capabilities.

Another important aspect covered in the training was understanding the simulation software and the limits of the software. The software does not take into account the time required for starting up heat exchangers. Therefore, one must be aware of and understand the effects of the rate of heating and cooling during the start-up period. Another aspect stressed in the course was the quality of the data used in the simulation. If the data one is using is not accurate neither will the results of the simulation. It is extremely important to always check the results and not rely solely on the simulation software.

As a new engineer straight out of school the training was a great opportunity for Marta to get familiar with the current technology used in the energy industry. The training was especially helpful regarding rules of thumb for pressure drops in equipment and the pros and cons of different processes, such as the GSP vs the RSV processes for Cryogenic Plants. The training was a great way for Marta to enhance her engineering knowledge to better be able assist our customers.

S-Con’s Trey Brown recently traveled to Wyoming to provide Operator Training to one of its Customers. The three-day training session included both classroom and on-site activities. Areas of training included Amine Gas Treating, Mol Sieve Dehydration, Cryogenic Gas Processing, Refrigeration and Hot Oil System design, start-up and operation. Approximately fifteen Client employees attended the training, with each expressing that the training gave them a much better understanding of the processes that they would be working with and what to expect during actual start-up and operation of the different plant systems. Classroom training included an in-depth review of the Plant P&ID’s and discussion of the theory associated with each process system, as well as the various problems that might be encountered during normal operation and how to respond to minimize impacts on the plant. On-site training consisted of “walking down” the plant and providing hands-on application of the theories discussed in the classroom. At the end of the three-day session, the Customer’s Operators felt much more comfortable and ready to get to work on processing gas.

On Thursday, October 9th, the S-Con Sales Team sponsored a hole at the Houston Gas Processors Association Golf Tournament. The tournament was held at Pine Forest Country Club and allowed the sales team to meet with natural gas professionals. At the hole, the team gave out S-Con koozies, flashlights and golf towels, as well as, refreshments.