Remediation Efforts for the Separator Building System at Paragon Refinery

CLIENT: Paragon

LOCATION: South West Wyoming

TOTAL INSTALLED COST: $200 Million

Fee: $8.2 Million

PROJECT SCHEDULE: Two Years

The Ryckman Creek plant is the largest independently-owned interstate natural gas storage field serving the Opal Hub area, containing nearly 35 billion cubic feet of natural gas. The plant was originally built with underground piping that needed retrofitting and alterations. Due to a high water table, poor soil conditions, and settling over time, the foundation beneath the equipment and piping shifted, causing harmful stress at connection points.

PSE engineered new plans to bring all underground piping to be above ground, focusing on designing solid foundations. All existing well piping, associated valves, and pig launchers had to be safely moved, and new pipe racks on drilled piers with proper pipe supports and anchors had to be engineered, accounting for the soil conditions and high water table.  The scope of work included a separator building, where a new pipe rack for headers had to be designed. Throughout the project, PSE provided onsite design support. 

PSE encountered many challenges, including a service road in the middle of the piping run.  PSE had to design a road bridge and new pipe rack over the existing roadway to allow traffic flow through the plant. 

In addition to the engineering design, PSE was hired to complete heat tracing for the project,  an arc flash study, and develop a control philosophy and requisite P&ID updates.