Bantrel Co., an engineering and construction services firm, has “worked 5.7 million man hours without a lost-time incident,” Vice President Mike Gordon says.

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Bantrel Co. is finding that in a highly active market, maintaining the same degree of quality on which the company was founded takes dedication. However, according to Vice President Mike Gordon, the company continues to exceed customer expectations.

Founded in 1983, Bantrel is an engineering and construction services firm that works on some of the most significant oil sands projects in Canada, the United States and overseas. Key clients include Suncor, Shell Canada Ltd., Petro-Canada, EnCana, TransCanada PipeLines and NOVA Chemicals.

Gordon says because Bantrel is an industry leader, keeping up with its volume of work can be a struggle.

“We have two main business lines: oil sands upgrading and the refining market,” he explains. “Oil sands is a large portion of our business, and the market is very heated. Oil sands are the largest, undeveloped oil in the world, and with the instability and declining oil reserves elsewhere in the world, activity in oil sands has grown. And, it’s forecasted to grow even more; in the next 10 years, production is expected to double.”

Currently, the industry’s production levels are at about 2 billion barrels per day, and Gordon says this is due to many “very aggressive projects.” As a result, resources are stretched.

“There’s a high demand for resources including engineers, procurement personnel [and] designers – in addition to the field labor needed to execute the jobs,” he explains. “There’s also a demand for subcontractors, equipment, materials – all of these factors contribute to the heated market. We’re trying to complete these large projects, competing for resources and fending off the competition.”

However, its solid operations allow Bantrel to stay ahead. In addition to its Calgary, Alberta, office, the company operates satellite offices in Toronto and Edmonton, which Gordon says work together seamlessly.

Bantrel also receives support from parent company Bechtel Corp.’s worldwide offices. “We’re able to pull manpower and equipment from sister offices to allocate resources to projects,” he notes.

Its core business involves bitumen upgrading, petroleum refining, integrated gasification combined cycle technologies, oil and natural gas pipelines and pipeline infrastructure, and the petrochemical production markets.

Bantrel says it offers turnkey capabilities, including feasibility studies, front-end and detailed engineering, procurement, project management, construction, commissioning and start-up, risk management, loss prevention and operations assistance.

Selective Process
Suppliers and subcontractors are also stretched thin, which is why Bantrel is highly selective of who it brings on board. “Even in a heated market, it is critical that we maintain our high-quality standards,” Gordon stresses. “The subcontractors we work with all go through our very rigorous selection process.

“We also benefit from Bechtel’s global supply chain group to identify, manage and expedite suppliers on a global basis,” he adds. “This allows us to do work in places we might not otherwise be able to.”

Bantrel is also selective in who it performs work for. Gordon says the company keeps its customer list relatively small, but fosters longstanding relationships. For example, Bantrel has worked with Suncor since the beginning.

“We try to align ourselves with customers who have our same values,” he explains. “Safety comes first and foremost; then, it’s quality, integrity and ethics. We also look for clients with a long-term program of upcoming projects, who have demonstrated an ability to finance projects and bring them to production.”

Relying on a strategy of work-phase planning helps Bantrel tightly integrate its construction process, Gordon says.

Remaining Robust
Recognition from clients and peers is an area of pride for Bantrel. Gordon says the company received the Petro-Canada President’s Award for Safety for its work on the Edmonton Diesel Desulphurization/Ed monton Refinery Conversion project. It also earned the Construction Owners Association of Alberta’s Safety Leadership Award.

“We’ve worked 5.7 million man hours without a lost-time incident,” Gordon says. “We’ve also had two consecutive million-hour runs without a recordable incident.”

Along with safety awards, Bantrel is proud to celebrate its 25th anniversary next year. “We see the industry remaining very robust in the foreseeable future,” Gordon says. “The development of the oil sands is still in its infancy, and new players will be coming in.

“There will be more competition, but the sheer magnitude of these projects will keep us very busy. We have a long and storied history of success in our execution, and we will remain unabated in our growth.”