Pipeline News April 2018 by Pipeline News

PIPELINE NEWS SASKATCHEWAN’S PETROLEUM MONTHLY Canada Post Publication No. 40069240

April 2018

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PIPELINE NEWS April 2018

While Canadians talk, talk, talk, the U.S. invests, says Tremcar president By Brian Zinchuk Weyburn – Tremcar president and owner Jacques Tremblay has slowed down slightly. Instead of coming to Weyburn every three weeks, he now shows up every four to six weeks. And he’s done so for years, racking up enormous number of frequent flyer miles as he travels to Tremcar’s numerous sites across Canada on a regular basis. Those miles are accumulated keeping a sharp eye on how things are going at the company’s manufacturing plants and sales locations. The family-owned trailer company will soon mark a decade in Weyburn. “We opened here 10 years ago, in August,” Tremblay said on March 8. It’s been just under five years since Tremblay met with Pipeline News, and the industry has gone through tremendous upheaval in the interim. The company was initially in a different building, but it decided to expand, building their own facility and leasing additional property on the south side of Weyburn. The Weyburn location is known as Tremcar West. Their products in Weyburn are tanker trailers, all for the oilpatch. However, the company’s offerings are wide and varied, including stainless steel food grade trailers for things like milk and corn syrup, refined petroleum products, chemicals, cement, plastic pellets and more. “We built trailers for hauling chocolate, full load of chocolate to the U.S., year-round. We have customers in B.C. that haul chocolate to Los Angeles,” he said. “In the States, the petrochemical industry is growing like crazy,” he said, “It was unbelievable to think about that five, six years ago. Now they’re going to export products from oil all over the world. “In Canada, we talk, talk, talk. In the U.S., they invested over $150 billion in the petrochemical industry in the last two years.” Five years ago, about 35 to 40 per cent of Tremcar’s sales were for the

upstream oil industry. The downturn has meant a big hit. Tremblay said, “Now, I would say it’s around 15 per cent, but it’s getting better. “During the booming time, everybody was expanding, expanding, expanding. One day that expansion stopped. “Our trailers last too long. That’s a problem,” he said with a laugh. Stainless steel vs. aluminum Several years ago, several trucking companies opened their own trailer repair shops, just as Tremcar did in Weyburn. Aluminum trailers, it turned out, were susceptible to corrosion from Bakken oil if their linings became damaged, resulting in sumps that often looked like Swiss cheese. As a result, many of these trailers, after several years of usage, required extensive rebuilding. “The aluminum needs a lining inside to protect. It doesn’t last forever. When it is damaged, you have to replace it. Here, in Weyburn, we have a lining booth, especially to do the lining inside the tanker. Not many service centres out west have that,” he said. “We build, also, stainless steel. The more north you go, there’s more sulphur, and that’s more damaging to the trailer. Some people prefer to buy more stainless steel, in the north, most of northern Alberta and northern British Columbia. Here, people were not used to using stainless steel trailers for hauling crude,” he said. “The number one problem when you go with stainless steel is the payload is less. The situation, the depression, about this kind of business, people’s rates are cut. They cannot suffer more to reduce their payload. If you have stainless steel, you’re going to put less oil in, because the weight distribution, the weight law, is a maximum by trailer including the tractor. If you go with aluminum, you put more oil in your tank, and you have better revenue. You go with stainless steel, you have less. But if you go with stainless steel,

it lasts longer. On the short term, people have to pay attention to their revenue, because the price is not there,” Tremblay explained. A stainless steel trailer is good for 35 years, he said, but aluminum, after 12 to 14 years, you have to redo the lining. If the lining is broken, it can damage the trailer, he said. They do rebuilds of aluminum trailers, he noted.

ply all the demand.” Tremblay had been personally involved with the battle over Energy East. “I wrote a letter to the premier of Quebec a few years ago. He said he doesn’t agree with the pipeline because it’s just going to create 30 jobs after the pipeline is done. I sent him a letter, to explain to him, thousands of people in Quebec are working because they supply all kinds of stuff to the people

Tremcar president Jacques Trembly comes to Weyburn on a very frequent basis. Photo by Brian Zinchuk Downturn and pipelines When asked about the downturn, Tremblay replied, “My opinion is there’s not enough pressure on government. It’s all about pipelines. If you had more pipelines, tomorrow morning, more capacity, of course, people are going to invest more money. To move your oil out of this area, it’s a major problem.” He noted former President Barack Obama was against the Keystone XL pipeline, but now current President Donald Trump is for it. “I hope it’s not too late,” he said. On the Energy East pipeline, he said, “Energy East, in my opinion, it was very bad how they handled it. Sometimes politicians create an illusion for the people. When they say they are against the pipelines, they are going to save the planet. We will use less oil. But that’s not the case. The oil comes from Montreal, most of the time, from the Middle East. It doesn’t make sense. We ship $13 billion out of the country instead of using the stuff from the west, because all the pipelines from the west cannot sup-

who produce oil out west. Don’t just talk about the jobs on the pipeline. Talk about the head, you know? “I hit him very hard, and after that he changed a bit of his speech. Also, at that time, I had a report in the newspaper in Montreal. I talked to the vice president of pipelines with TransCanada,” he said, but added he didn’t think they were going about the right way to convince people. “Go on the street! People don’t know that the oil that we use in our life every day. Women don’t know there’s oil in their cosmetics. Agriculture, farmers, to make fertilizer, needs oil. Bombardier’s C-series, the big airplanes, they now take less gas because the weight is lower because they’re made of carbon fiber. What is carbon fiber? It comes from oil! Everything in our lives, we have oil. People don’t realize just 28 per cent of oil goes for transportation. The rest is all of our standard of life. People don’t realize it. Nobody explains it! Nobody!” he explained. “People are paranoid about shale gas. They think

they’re going to pollute all the water. It doesn’t happen this way. Here, you drill in the shales for 40, 45 years. In Texas, in west Texas, they are booming,” he said. “We sell trailers in west Texas, too. For a while it was slow, but now it is increasing.” “The U.S.A. is going to produce 10 million barrels per day. Five, six, seven years ago, nobody was expecting that.” “One day, one people will realize America is self-sufficient. They don’t need to send the army to the Middle East in a war.” Canadian Politics When former Alberta Premier Ralph Klein retired from politics, Tremblay brought him on. “I hired him as a consultant for Tremcar,” Tremblay said. “He worked part-time for us. He worked for a law firm. We used their services.” At the time, they organized dinners with the Calgary Petroleum Club, the Edmonton Petroleum Club, and another event in Grande Prairie. “I sent an invitation, signed by him and myself, to all the customers. We were full of people. He was so popular!” Tremblay said. Tremblay thinks Jason Kenney, Alberta leader of the opposition and leader of the United Conservative Party, is the next Ralph Klein. “It’s what I think. It’s my feeling. This guy has a good chance, and he’s a good guy too.” “As more oil is going to moved by rail, it doesn’t make sense that New Brunswick and Quebec buy oil from the Middle East. In the Middle East, they don’t ask people to supply a report that they protect the environment,” Tremblay said. “We think nobody knows the future, but Canada is a natural resources country, and no politician is going to change that. In my opinion, in southern Saskatchewan here, oil is cheaper to process than in the north. That’s a plus. I don’t see why we can’t come back to drill more.” “We can take care of the environment and also produce oil,” he said. And when there are issues, we have technology that can solve it.

Tariffs At the time of the interview, the Trump administration was threatening tariffs on all externally produced steel and aluminum. Since then Canada, Mexico and Australia have been exempted. Asked if that would affect Tremcar, Tremblay pointed out that Canada produced a lot of aluminum in Quebec due to the cheap cost of electricity. However, the final product is ingots, not aluminum plate. As a result, they buy their aluminum plate for trailer manufacturing from Alcoa in the United States, from aluminum originally sourced from Canada. “It will not affect us, because our aluminum comes from the States,” he said. Ninety per cent of their components come from the United States, right down to the aluminum wheels. The same thing applies to stainless steel plate, he said. Weyburn changes Their oil-related business is getting better in Alberta and Saskatchewan. It was improving in North Dakota, too, but has since slowed. “Not much is moving in North Dakota. For us to sell trailers, you need expansion. If you just keep going the way it is, they don’t need more trailers,” Tremblay said. “We are restructuring to ensure we have good service,” Tremblay said, adding they’ve been talking to customers about “We are looking at what we do good, and what we do bad.” Key features they have in their Weyburn service centre is their lining booth/paint booth, sandblasting and washing rack. “We built that in the last three years, the lining booth,” he said. Doug Weir is their new manager in Weyburn. While sales have been flat in the region, he said, “I’m confident we’re going to see some signs in the next few months. “We are always looking to find good workers. We are very, very confident the business will be going long term. But we need good people to support us,” he concluded. “We are hiring.”

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Moe supports cutting off oil to British Columbia SASKATCHEWAN WON’T BE FILLING THEIR TANKS, AS PREMIER LOOKS TO EXPORT PERMITS IF NECESSARY By Brian Zinchuk Regina – By midMarch, it was apparent both in Edmonton and Regina, governments and their respective premiers have become increasingly frustrated with attempts by the British Columbia NDP government to delay the construction of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Expansion Pipeline. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe made numerous social media posts and statements, getting increasingly tougher on B.C. In his first interview with Pipeline News since he became premier, Moe laid out his case by phone on March 23. Pipeline News: In recent days you’ve been making some strong statements on the pipeline politics in the country. What is your broad thrust here? Premier Scott Moe: The broad thrust is how important this pipeline is, not just to the province of

Saskatchewan, or even Alberta, but how important it is to the nation. Canada is an exporting nation. More specific to Saskatchewan, our exports are precisely our source point of wealth here in the province of Saskatchewan, and they’re the job creator in Saskatchewan as well. We need any and all avenues to get those exports to market. That includes rail, but it also includes pipelines. We have to ensure that this pipeline that has been approved by the federal government begins construction as soon as possible to ensure we’re able to move that product through that safe and efficient transport method, and open up some of the capacity on rails for some of the other products we want to export. P.N.: The Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Expansion is seeing daily protests, and deliberate

attempts by the B.C. NDP government to draw this out as much as possible. Is this an attempt at death by delay? Moe: This is an attempt, by the province of B.C., and a few individuals, to essentially stop this pipeline that’s been approved by the federal government, through meaningless and unnecessary delays. We’ve seen this with Energy East and it’s all familiar to us right now. I would put forward it’s the B.C. government and a few individuals attempting to play politics with a project that has gone through a very rigorous assessment process. The National Energy Board looked at it, looked at this project for 29 months, and it deemed that it is of the national interest. Fifteen thousand construction jobs, and 37,000 jobs, both direct and indirect, will apply. Further to that, if

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe is taking a hard line with British Columbia’s efforts to block the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Expansion Pipeline. File photo anyone is wondering if the project was not looked at closely and meticulously, That’s just not the case. It was given a full inspection, from an environmental perspective. We know this because it was given 157 conditions, that needed

to be met by this pipeline. The industry, from what I understand, is prepared to meet those and move forward with construction. It has gone through the process, the process by the federal government, and now we should

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To submit a stories or ideas: Pipelines News is always looking for stories or ideas from our readers. To contribute please contact Brian Zinchuk at 306-461-5599. Subscribing to Pipeline News: Pipeline News is a free distribution newspaper, and is now available online at www.pipelinenews.ca Advertising in Pipeline News: Advertising in Pipeline News is a newer model created to make it as easy as possible for any business or individual. Pipeline News has a group of experienced staff working throughout Saskatchewan, Manitoba and parts of Alberta, so please contact the sales representative for your area to assist you with your advertising needs.

Published monthly by the Prairie Newspaper Group, a division of Glacier Ventures International Corporation, Central Office, Estevan, Saskatchewan. Advertising rates are available upon request and are subject to change without notice. Conditions of editorial and advertising content: Pipeline News attempts to be accurate, however, no guarantee is given or implied. Pipeline News reserves the right to revise or reject any or all editorial and advertising content as the newspapers’ principles see fit. Pipeline News will not be responsible for more than one incorrect insertion of an advertisement, and is not responsible for errors in advertisements except for the space occupied by such errors. Pipeline News will not be responsible for manuscripts, photographs, negatives and other material that may be submitted for possible publication. All of Pipeline News content is protected by Canadian Copyright laws. Reviews and similar mention of material in this newspaper is granted on the provision that Pipeline News receives credit. Otherwise, any reproduction without permission of the publisher is prohibited. Advertisers purchase space and circulation only. Rights to the advertisement produced by Pipeline News, including artwork, typography, and photos, etc., remain property of this newspaper. Advertisements or parts thereof may be not reproduced or assigned without the consent of the publisher. The Glacier group of companies collects personal information from our customers in the normal course of business transactions. We use that information to provide you with our products and services you request. On occasion we may contact you for purposes of research, surveys and other such matters. To provide you with better service we may share your information with our sister companies and also outside, selected third parties who perform work for us as suppliers, agents, service providers and information gatherers.

Disappointment from unfulfilled expectations related to oil price When the oil downturn hit its greatest depths, when things looked bleakest, there was hope. Hope that when oil hit US$50 per barrel for WTI, then, surely when it hit US$65, things would turn around. We just need to see US$65! It’s like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The light at the end of the tunnel. We can see it now! The service companies that constitute the bulk of the workforce in the Saskatchewan oilpatch, could expect to start getting back on their feet. So has been the hope. Well, that hope is somewhat muted now. We got to the end of the tunnel, and we’re still not in the free and clear. It seems the tunnel is a lot longer than we thought. Oil has been over US$60 for a while now, well in excess of US$50. Activity level has picked up. Companies have done some hiring. There’s more work to be had. But those service companies have not seen any sort of substantial rebound when it comes to their bottom line. While some have been able to bring the rates they charge the oil companies back a few points, it’s nowhere near the amount they had cut – not by a long shot. Yet their business operating costs are the same, or in some circumstances, even higher (think diesel). Most service companies are still working for rates at, or close to, the levels that were set when oil was in the US$30s range for a barrel of WTI. For instance, next to no new semi units have been purchased in the last three years by the companies Pipeline News has spoken over recent months. These are not small fleets, either. And they’ve kept running, maintaining that they have and stretching it as far as they can. But sooner or later, those companies are going to need to replenish their fleets. It’s not going to be a small buy, either. They’re going to need units by the dozen. But is the money there to do that? Not a chance. Not even close. The prices of new units, of pretty much anything, are impacted significantly by the cost of Tier IV engines with their more complex, and costly emissions controls. That makes new purchases very tough, indeed. The mechanics continue to be busy, and will be for some time, keeping older units on the road. The equity destruction that’s taken place in this downturn is substantial. It’s going to take a long time to

rebuild that, never mind consider serious growth. In several cases, companies told Pipeline News their efforts have largely been to keep their people working. They’ve started hiring back a few people at a time, but they’re nowhere near where they were before. In one case, they hired more people with an expectation of a busier winter, but that expectation did not pan our. What happens if Saskatchewan gets slapped with a carbon tax? That will impact the oil companies, their spending, and what they’re paying their service companies. Costs for the service companies will go up, and will continue to climb as the carbon tax ratchets up, as the Trudeau government has promised. Will service companies start tacking carbon tax surcharges on their invoices? How well is that going to go over? Who is going to eat that, the service companies or the oil companies? A useful analogy is a fuel surcharge. From what we’ve heard, they don’t always work. The service company, therefore, ends up eating the increased fuel prices, instead of adding it to their bill. These companies are so skittish about the possibility of losing any of the work they have, they just eat it, instead. That carbon tax is going to eat into jobs. It’s going to eat into capital budgets for replacement units. And its going to eat, even moreso, into the entrepreneurs’ capital. No matter what the carbon tax is, no matter how it is applied, it’s going to hurt a sector that has already been through nearly four years of downturn. This industry has gone through the equivalent of 12 rounds with Mohamed Ali. How many more rounds can it take before being knocked out? Don’t think it’s all doom and gloom out there, because it’s not. Most people we’ve spoken to in recent months are more optimistic now than they were in late 2016; more optimistic by a long shot. Talking to people now is no longer like having a conversation after a funeral. It’s just that there had been so much hope that now, at the currently oil price levels, finally, there would be a substantial improvement in the bottom line, and that simply hasn’t happened. Will there be an improvement after breakup? One can only hope.

PIPELINE NEWS April 2018

How does oil get from Azerbaijan to Canada? Our son, Spencer, 11, and I have recently taken up a game. Basically, I name a country, and he finds it on the globe. This was inspired by his favourite TV show, Young Sheldon (spinoff from The Big Bang Theory). In it, young Sheldon recently pointed out that South America and Africa fit together like puzzle pieces. That fascinated Spencer, and now I’m trying to drill some geography into him. I think the next country I will ask him to find is Azerbaijan. I was saving that for way down the line, as a bonus round sort of item. But in this case, it’s time-appropriate. That’s because on March 26, Azerbaijan jumped out at me like a sore thumb from a story in the Calgary Herald. It pointed out that in 2017, Canada imported on average 670,000 barrels

of oil per day. About half came from the United States, and the rest came from Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, Norway, Nigeria, the United Kingdom, Angola, Russia, Columbia, Kazakhstan, Oman, Ghana, the Ivory Coast, and finally, Trinidad and Tobago. If you know anything about history, you will know that the temptation to capture the oilfields of Baku, Azerbaijan, led to Adolf Hitler’s downfall. To take, and keep, Baku and its oil, he needed to take a little place called Stalingrad. It was there, in the greatest battle in the history of mankind, that the Second World War was turned. Azerbaijan’s oil, in other words, is important to the extreme. Azerbaijan is interesting in that it is on a coast, but not an oceanic coast. It’s on the Caspian Sea, which means it can send

product by ship to Russia, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Iran. Most, if not all, don’t really need to buy oil from anyone else. So how does oil get from Azerbaijan to Canada? It starts with pipelines. There are three pipeline options to reach tidewater. One is to go through Russia to Novorossiysk, on the Black Sea. The second, and shortest, goes through Georgia to Supsa, also on the Black Sea. The third passes through Georgia then Turkey to Ceyhan, at the very northeast corner of the Mediterranean Sea. You might remember this pipeline as a major plot device in the James Bond flick The World Is Not Enough. For two of these options, tankers would load in the Black Sea, pass through the Turkish Straits, the Bosporus and Dardanelles. In doing so,

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it would pass Istanbul, a city that makes Vancouver and the lower mainland look like a village. The tanker would then pass through the Aegean Sea; a more rock-strewn body of water would be hard to find. It’s substantially bigger, and rockier, than anything on Canada’s West Coast. Alternatively, the tanker would originate in Mediterranean. A quick glance on Google Maps shows no less than five major oil tanker loading facilities along the Turkish coast in that area. From whichever port these tankers would originate, they would then cross the Mediterranean, through the Strait of Gibraltar, and cross the North Atlantic Ocean. That ocean is not always known for being pleasant in winter. On our side of the pond, it would either enter

the Bay of Fundy and go to the Irving Refinery at St. John, New Brunswick, or head into the Gulf of St. Lawrence and up the St. Lawrence River. There it would either dock at Quebec City or Montreal and discharge its cargo. I suppose if the tanker was small enough, it could traverse the St. Lawrence Seaway and service any of the numerous refineries on the Great Lakes, particularly on the American side, but that might be a stretch. Don’t even get me started on how oil from Kazakhstan would get to Canada. It’s in the centre of Asia. My point is that Eastern Canada sources its oil from places like Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. That oil takes a long journey past plenty of shorelines and crossing an occasionally treacherous ocean. But Canadians,

in our infinite wisdom, could not see fit to build the Energy East Pipeline. That pipeline, all underground, never crossing an ocean, never passing rocky shores, entirely within our borders, was seen as the end of the world. And similarly, the Left Coast seems to think the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Expansion Pipeline will also be the end of the world. Perhaps the people of the Lower Mainland in British Columbia should spend some time on Google Earth and take a look at how much tanker facilities and traffic exist around Turkey, or in the Persian Gulf. The world has not ended there, and it’s highly doubtful it will here, either. Brian Zinchuk is editor of Pipeline News. He can be reached at brian.zinchuk@ sasktel.net

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Moe not afraid to talk about restricting flow of B.C. natural gas through Sask.

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◄ Page A3 P.N.: Should Alberta cut off oil and refined products to the Lower mainland via the existing Trans Mountain pipeline? Moe: Yes. And as we’ve proposed, we’ll support the premier of Alberta and the leader of opposition, in their efforts to stop their exports of these products until the construction of this approved pipeline begins. I’d even go a step further. The premier of Saskatchewan supports them. I’d invite the leader of the opposition in the province of Saskatchewan to join with the four of us, in support of the important construction of this pipeline. P.N.: You’ve said something to the effect that Saskatchewan won’t backfill any shortages in B.C. if Alberta cuts off supply. What did you mean by that, and how

would you go about doing it? Moe: What I mean is we support Alberta in their initiative, that the premier and opposition leader put forward, in halting exports of energy products, if this project doesn’t move forward. I’ve said it won’t be Saskatchewan that fills up the empty fuel tanks in British Columbia. How would we do that? We’d look at passing legislation that would require export permits for oil shipments out of the province. P.N.: So you actually have a legislative plan for this, then? Moe: If need be. That’s how serious we are, and I think Alberta would be just as serious, I would hope. P.N.: The Alliance Pipeline, which handles much of northeast British Columbia’s natural gas exports, runs right

through Saskatchewan, from Kerrobert to Alameda. Have you given consideration to some sort of retaliatory measures on B.C. natural gas exports which run through this province? Moe: First of all, I hope none of this comes to fruition. As we said, this pipeline has been approved by the federal government. What we really want is for it to begin construction, because of the interest in our province, in Saskatchewan, and in Alberta, but also because of the national interest this pipeline can bring to our one nation of Canada. So I hope none of this comes to fruition. But with respect to restricting flow of B.C. natural gas through our province, whether that be through the Alliance Pipeline or others, that’s a conversation that we’re not scared to have. We’re not afraid to have that conversation. ► Page A7

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PIPELINE NEWS April 2018

Pipelines impact oil differentials, costing Saskatchewan $150 million per year ◄ Page A6 I think people don’t realize that, it flows both ways, sometimes. We understand that. We have their gas flowing by our front door.

P.N.: The argument Alberta, and now Saskatchewan, are making is that provinces should not be able to obstruct interprovincial pipelines; that they are a federal consid-

Premier Scott Moe visited Panther Drilling in Weyburn last fall during the Saskatchewan Party leadership race. File photo

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eration. Would imposing an embargo on B.C., or taking other measures, be a case of “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander? If they can’t play by the rules, then we’ll show them what that looks like?” Moe: I reiterate that I don’t think anyone hopes it comes to this. But the fact of the matter is, pipelines, rail lines, ports, are under the national responsibility for a reason. It’s so that all of us, as Canadians, wherever we live, are able to get our goods to market and grow our economy, grow our jobs and grow our opportunities. That is why these rail lines, these pipelines, these ports, are under the federal purview. We call on the federal government to step forward. We call on the prime minister to do what is necessary, to engage with the province of British Columbia, to ensure this pipeline is not only built, but construction can start in short order. We will not hesitate, as a province, to take any retaliatory measures,

against the province of British Columbia. They are, in their actions, threatening jobs here in the province of Saskatchewan, and already impacting wealth, here, in the province of Saskatchewan. This is enhancing the oil differential that we have in the province of Saskatchewan. These are jobs that employ real people. People that support real families in Saskatchewan, and their livelihoods depend on construction projects just such as this. It’s time for the prime minister, the federal government, to understand this. It’s time for the government in B.C. to understand this. And it’s time for us to ensure this pipeline starts construction so we can have these Canadian jobs, not Saskatchewan jobs, but Canadian jobs, but ensuring this starts sooner than later. I would put forward that the steel that is going into this pipeline is produced at EVRAZ steel, just north of Regina, and it’s that plant, there, that’s producing steel with an 80

per cent reduced emissions level (compared to) the industry average. We shouldn’t forget what we’re already doing in the way of sustainability, in this industry or any other industry. It’s these people that are waiting to go to work at the commencement of this pipeline construction. P.N.: Let’s talk about Quebec. What happened there, and how does that contrast with what happened to the now defunct Energy East Pipeline proposal? Are there two, or more, standards in this country? Moe: Here we have a case where we’re trying to get the West Coast. Recently, we had a case where the pipeline, Energy East, was pulled by delays. That’s exactly what we’re seeing with this other pipeline. With respect to embargos or other similar action by us, Quebec’s economy is a little different than us. They have manufactured goods as opposed to gas or anything of that nature. They get those goods to market by rail as well as over the highway.

The upstream/downstream emissions that were applied to the Energy East project, one could argue you could do the same upstream/downstream emissions to every time you pave a road in Quebec or fix a rail line in Quebec. Their goods are going over those very same transportation avenues, if you will. That is never the case. One could argue that every time there is an aircraft sold from Bombardier, that the upstream and downstream emissions of that piece of manufactured goods, in that case, an airplane, should be counted in the production of that airplane. This is troubling, when things are being produced, and carried across, essentially from Western Canada, Alberta and Saskatchewan, and the challenges that we’re facing with the upstream/ downstream emissions test, when you compare that to some of the products being produced in places like Quebec, such as cars, such as planes, and they’re not facing that same criteria, if ► Page A8

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PIPELINE NEWS April 2018

How is a Norquay farmer impacted by pipelines? ◄ Page A7 you will. This is a challenging environment, as we move forward. P.N.: We aren’t seeing it so much in certain parts of Saskatchewan, but crude-by-rail is on the rise again. And it seems that farmers are having a heck of a time getting their product to market. What’s the connection to this, and pipelines? How does a farmer in Norquay be-

come impacted by a lack of pipelines, and what does it do to that farmer’s bottom line? Moe: This is a good question, because this is an indirect consequence, but a direct consequence to the people of the province, and to another important industry that we have; a number of industries. We need that rail. We need the train for our grain, our potash, and even our refined energy

products, as well. We do have some gasoline products that do travel by rail, as well, across Western Canada, all of which are behind in their deliver schedule as we speak. So we need to build these new pipelines, not just for the energy capacity, not just for the benefits we have for the oil differential. We need these pipelines to ensure that we can continue to have the capacity on our rail lines as those prod-

ucts, and the volume of those products continues to rise as well. If not, we increase those transportation costs for not only our Western Canadian oil producers that are on rail, when they should be in a pipeline, but we affect negatively the transportation of these other commodities as well, such as grain, such as potash, such as some refined energy products. This is an indirect consequence that ends up

being a directly negative financial impact on the people of the province of Saskatchewan, far beyond even the energy industry. It’s very troubling, and what you’ve done with this last question is hit on the core of why we are so strong with respect to our advocacy for this safe, efficient, environmentally sustainable pipeline. P.N.: Is there anything you would like to add? Moe: I would just

add this, on the oil differential, we’re losing, in our province, to the royalty to the province, to the people of the province of Saskatchewan, about $150 million each and every year. We’re losing about $1.8 billion to the value to our Saskatchewan oil producers. That’s directly to the GDP (gross domestic product) of the province, just by the oil differential the lack of this pipeline is adding to. It’s an awful number.

Cliff Nankivell Trucking optimistic as things are improving By Brian Zinchuk Kisbey – Things are slowly getting better for Cliff Nankivell Trucking Ltd., said Kalvin Nankivell on Feb. 28. “We’ve picked up a bit. Pricing is started to come back a bit, but it’s bare bones,” he said. Like pretty much every trucking outfit in southeast Saskatchewan, he said, “We haven’t bought any equipment in three or four years.” They had a fairly good stock of trailers before the downturn hit, so that has allowed them

to keep rolling. But he noted that new equipment, since the downturn hit, simply hasn’t been affordable. “I’d probably give it another year before I buy anything,” Nankivell said. If they do have any expansion, it will be via leased operators using their existing trailer fleet. “Our shop, we’re fixing stuff constantly,” he said. That includes five mechanics pulling wrenches. In an effort to deal with the slowdown, two

brothers decided to split a shift, and they like it that way, he noted. They’ve never really had a new fleet, Nankivell added. Nankivell’s office is plastered with photos of 4-H steers purchased over the years. The company would buy as many as two at a time, three or four years in a row. But the way things have been in recent years, they simply can’t do that now. “I’d like to. It helped the local 4-H,” he said. Like most other companies, they’ve had to

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cut back not just on their donations, but on things like benefits and advertising. “We’ve cut all those things out,” he said. The company currently has 40 to 45 people working for them, including administration, shop and leased operators. “At one time, we were sitting at 75,” he said. They’re currently running 26 to 28 units, including leased operators. The work in principally in the immediate area around Kisbey. “I’m optimistic of

Kalvin Nankivell thinks it’ll be a while before they buy any new trucks. Photo by Brian Zinchuk what’s coming up yet. They say things will be improving,” he said, with

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PIPELINE NEWS April 2018

Husky to face multiple charges regarding North Saskatchewan River oil spill in July 2016 By Brian Zinchuk Regina – Husky Energy was scheduled to appear in Lloydminster provincial court on March 29, after press time, to face one charge under the provincial Environmental Management and Protection Act, 2010 (EMPA, 2010), as well as several other charges under federal legislation, according to a March 26 statement from Premier Scott Moe’s office. A release from the federal government stated that, on March 22, Environment and Climate Change Canada laid a number of charges against Husky Energy Inc. and Husky Oil Operations Limited relating to the blended heavy crude-oil spill, in July 2016, which impacted the North Saskatchewan River near Maidstone. The Government of Saskatchewan also filed a charge under the Environmental Management and Protection Act, 2010. These charges result from a 19-month joint federal-provincial investigation.

The release also states there are a total of 10 charges which include one charge under subsection 36(3) of the federal Fisheries Act, one charge under subsection 38(5) of the federal Fisheries Act, six charges under subsection 38(6) of the federal Fisheries Act, one charge under the federal Migratory Birds Convention Act, 1994, and one charge under Saskatchewan’s Environmental Management and Protection Act, 2010. All charges stem from the spill of a 225,000 litres of oil from a Husky pipeline near Maidstone in July of 2016. That spill saw some of the heavy oil and diluent find its way into the North Saskatchewan River, spawning a substantial cleanup effort. Contamination was reported several hundred kilometres downstream, past Prince Albert. Several communities, including North Battleford and Prince Albert, had to take emergency measures to find alternate safe drinking water supplies until the river water was considered once again

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The investigation report led by the Ministry of Energy and Resources will not be released until all prosecution processes and any appeals have been concluded, the premier’s office said, adding, “As this matter is now before the courts, the Government of Saskatchewan will not be

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PIPELINE NEWS April 2018

Kelly’s Hotshot and Trucking will find a way Carlyle – Family owned and operated Kelly’s Hotshot and Trucking Service, and sister company Carlyle Rental Centre got going in 2003. The companies are headed by Kelly and Susan Rekken, and their sons Kaylan, Kelsey and Bjorn are all part of the operation. The Rental Centre fired up first, in June 2003, followed by the hot shot in November of that year. Susan explained that their oldest son, Bowan, and Kelly saw a need for the hotshot. But night of their very first hotshot,

Kelly’s Hotshot and Trucking Service, and sister company Carlyle Rental Centre, are a family-owned and operated outfit, located on the west side of Carlye. Here is one of their pickers. Photo submitted Bowan passed away due to unforeseen circumstances. Susan said they are still

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in court, fighting with the health care system regarding Bowan’s death. The trucking side fired up with a single oneton and a trailer. The next year, they got two semis, and it progressed from there. “We now have two pickers, a winch truck, three highway tractors and two one-tons with

gooseneck trailers,” she said on Jan. 12. A lot of their trips involve heading to Alberta, especially with the small trucks. They’ve hauled lots of drilling bits and rods. Some of those would be middle of the night runs, picking up a bit at the rig at 5 a.m., hustling it to Alberta, get a hotel, then

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business, as Susan noted how many of his connections led to various longterm business for them. “Our philosophy all these years has been, whatever you need, we’ll accommodate. We’ll find a way to our customers’ needs. Same with the Rental Centre. If we don’t have it, we’ll get it for you,” she said. Kelly noted a fertilizer company in Brandon needed a large electric motor shipped to Ohio as soon as possible. It took two guys running around the clock, but they were able to do it. “That’s what we do,” he said. Problem solving They’ve had their fair share of unique loads. “We’ve never turned one down,” Kelly said. ► Page A12

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bringing it (or another bit) back. Sometimes it’s multiple bits. With their semis, they have hauled a lot of dry vans filled with drilling product. They have five dry van trailers. Kelly said, “We’ve hotshotted everything from bits, interprovincially to semi loads.” To that end, they are pro-rated for their insurance and can work in the United States as well, with interprovincial and international papers. Susan noted that their adaptability has kept the business going over all these years. “We have never shut down through breakup yet,” she said. “We still have jobs to do.” Bowan’s legacy has had a long impact on the

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PIPELINE NEWS April 2018

USTOMS ROKERS “A little luck and good people with you” ◄ Page A10 “We get the proper permits, we get the proper licensing, we do it,” Susan said. One unique load involved hauling mobile kitchens from Ontario. They’ve moved boathouses for cabin owners, or picked up sheds. “I don’t know if the bigger companies would consider that. But because the community knows us, they know we have that ethic and way

of thinking, let’s work it out and see what we can do,” Susan said. The outfit employs about 10 people on average, including the ownership. Kelly said, “This fall, everyone said we’d be busy next year. A lot of that was positive affirmation, or speculation, call it whatever you want. I think the reality is there’s a good chance it’s going to be. Oil’s up, everything’s kind

of settled into place, and here’s what we’ve got to deal with. Hopefully, it is.” The trucking is 90 per cent oilfield related, and the Rental Centre is 80 per cent oilfield. Kelly’s background is many years of oilfield trucking, and Susan used to work at the nursing home. They also farmed up to 300 sheep at a time. Susan does the books, Kelly’s the manager and

president. As for the boys, she said, “They’ve always been involved with the Rental Centre, whether counting bottles after school or whatever. They’ve always been around. They all helped after school, and on weekends, and on the farm. As they got older, they started doing hotshots, or whatever is required. Kaylan has been our picker operator for almost 10 years.” “I’ve been a journey-

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man for four years and I apprenticed for five years before that,” Kaylan said. Kelsey works with another oilfield company, but Susan said, “He’s here when we need him.” Susan added Bjorn is now working on his picker apprenticeship. Downturn Asked how they’ve survived the downturn, Kaylan said, “Barely.” Susan said, “You keep your nose to the grindstone. There’s work out there if you look for it. There is, you just have to look harder. “We’ve survived with that philosophy. We don’t turn anyone away. If there’s any way we can do it, we do it. We find a

way to do it.” Jim Skuce, their foreman and mechanic, said they survived through “tenacity.” Activity has picked up slowly. It’s not crazy, but it is slowly turning around, Susan said. Like nearly other oilfield services company, they had to cut wages and worked with the bank. A few people left with the slowdown. They had a few workers from Quebec that went home. “At the end of the day, you have to have, and were for fortunate to have, employees who stuck with us,” Kelly said, attributing their endurance to “a little bit of luck and good people with you.”

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PIPELINE NEWS April 2018

Trudeau visits EVRAZ Regina in support of steelworkers Regina – “The Trans Mountain Pipeline is going to get built. It’s a project in the national interest,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters at Regina’s EVRAZ steel mill on March 14. The prime minister was in Regina as part of a national tour in support of the aluminum and steel industries which had been threatened by tariffs from the United States government. Those tariffs have been held off, for now, for Canada, Mexico and Australia, pending ongoing negotiations on the North American Free Trade Agreement. The EVRAZ steel mill in Regina produces both steel and steel pipe. It has been the primary producer for steel pipe for almost every major pipeline in Saskatchewan and Western Canada since the early days of Inter Provincial Pipe Line, when its second pipeline was built in the 1950s. The pipe was made by what was then Prairie Pipe Manufacturing Co, later IPSCO, then EVRAZ. The company also supplies pipe to the United States, and

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Head Office: Estevan, SK Tel: 306-634-3411 Fax: 306-634-7310 Ray Frehlick, President Cell: 306-421-1880 This is the slab caster in the EVRAZ Regina steel mill. This file photo was taken in 2009, when Pipeline News did a special on the facility. File photo trainloads can routinely be seen passing through Weyburn and Estevan on its way south on the Canadian Pacific Soo Line. “It is part of our approach on a national climate plan, because we’re going to be getting our resources to market safely, securely, through this new pipeline. We’re going to create new markets for it across the Pacific, which is important to not be uniquely beholden to the American market for our oil. At the same time, we’re moving forward on worldclass oceans protection and we’re moving forward with a national price on carbon. These are all things in the national interest, and they go together. We have a

national price on carbon across the country so we can get a pipeline built to get it to markets across Asia. Those things go together, and we’re going to stand up for the national interest across the country,” Trudeau said. While in Regina Trudeau met with Mayor Michael Fougere and steelworkers at EVRAZ. “We know a good deal is possible. We won’t accept a bad deal, but, because we know a good deal is possible for everyone, we know we’re going to get there,” he said about the NAFTA negotiations, which the Donald Trump administration has tied to potential tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

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PIPELINE NEWS April 2018

Custom Truck Sales moving into new Estevan location By Brian Zinchuk Estevan – Custom Truck Sales Ltd. is in the final stages of preparing its new home in Estevan. The Kenworth dealer for Saskatchewan and Manitoba first established a presence in Estevan in 2001, with a 7,600 square foot building on Escana Street. In 2008, that building was expanded to 15,700 square feet, according to Josh Leach. Leach is the fourth generation working in the company, which was founded in 1965 by his great-grandfather, Arnold Leach, and grandfather, Don Leach. His father, Brent Leach, is the current president, while his brother, Daniel, works in accounting.

Josh Leach is manager of parts and service operations for Brandon, Swift Current and Estevan. He met with Pipeline News at the new location on March 19, as contractors were putting the last items into place. Commitment to providing the Estevan community and surrounding area with the best parts and service facilities was the reason for the expansion, according to Leach. Our slogan is ‘Your success is our business,’ and this new facility exemplifies our commitment to our customers Leach said. “The Estevan market is an extremely important part of our business,” Leach said. New facility Estevan has been

There will be room for eight bays and 13 trucks in Custom Truck Sales’ new Estevan home. Photo by Brian Zinchuk

primarily a parts and service location, as there was no room at its current facility for display of new or used inventory. That soon won’t be the case, as the new location, on Shand Road, is nine acres in size. Considerable volumes of fill were brought in when the facility was built for it is initial occupant, Millennium Stimulation. However, that company, a fracking operation, went bankrupt in 2016 when the downturn pummelled pressure pumping services in southeast Saskatchewan, and indeed, the entire industry. As a result, the Shand Road facility was vacant for over a year and a half. The location is just off the start of the Estevan truck bypass, conveniently accessibly for highway traffic in addition to local business, much of which is in the oilfield. Substantial renovation of the existing facility began last fall, converting it from a frac operations shop to a heavy truck dealership. A 6,000 square foot addition was built on the south end of the building, providing a new front door, sales office, drivers lounge and parts and service counter. It Includes

a 4,000 square foot parts warehouse immediately behind the parts counter for an increase in parts inventory levels. Some reconfiguration took place inside, as well. Masonry walls partitioning the interior bays were removed, allowing for a much more open service area. There are eight bays with room for 13 trucks. The pre-existing offices will be used internally, with the new northeast entrance as the public entrance. Their sales person, Lenny Janz, comes to Estevan several times a month, and will have an office in the new area of the building, beside the parts department. The importance of inventory Like many other companies in the oilpatch, Custom Truck Sales noticed a lull in sales when oil prices dropped. “We definitely saw it in the slowdown. You could feel it,” he said. Many trucking firms have told Pipeline News that they have held back on new purchases of trucks during the downturn. The result is a growing pent up demand for new equipment once these companies can afford

In addition to a new facility in Estevan this year, Custom Truck Sales set up a totally new location in Swift Current in 2015. Photo submitted it. That’s something Leach said they are prepared for. Their sales staff, for instance, has a keen sense of what’s going on in the industry. When sales do pick up, having inventory in place will be important. “When there’s a run on equipment, you have to have it on the ground. The customer can’t wait,” Leach said. “People still come in, saying, “I need to have this, now,’” he said. Thus, it’s important to have inventory on the ground. “I think we’ve done a good job preparing ourselves in having the inventory, not just in trucks, but in parts, too,” Leach said. While in Manitoba, quite a few of their new trucks are custom orders, specific to fleet require-

ments, in Saskatchewan he noted that about half their sales are from inventory, and the other half are custom orders. As such, Leach said they’ve been looking back at popular oilpatch configurations that have sold in the past, and have those in place today for the new opening. In the oilpatch, he noted the Kenworth T800 and W900 are predominant when it comes to popular models they sell. “They’re built so well for the oilpatch,” he said. The decline in new truck sales conversely meant that trucking firms were needing more parts and service. While some companies parked equipment, especially if a service issue had come up, many have ► Page A16

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tory venn USESDEDInIn ve tory U ry le a vtetnSto In n e SipED m u EqU Equipmen Sale

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A16

PIPELINE NEWS April 2018

Kenworth dealer sees inventory as key when things pick up ◄ Page A14 since been bringing those idle units back into play. And when they do, there’s work to be done on them. While Custom Truck Sales covers the entire trucking industry, from

agriculture to highway hauling, Leach said the oilpatch, for them, is huge. “Not only for our business, but for the entire province and Canada,” he said. At their Regina, Swift

This area will soon be the new parts warehouse in Custom Truck Sales’ new Estevan location. It was an addition to the existing building, which used to house a frac company. Photo by Brian Zinchuk

Current, Estevan and Brandon branches, the oilpatch is predominant. In fact, the Swift Current location of Custom Truck Sales opened in 2015, a totally new facility, in part to service the patch in southwest Saskatchewan. That location also sees agriculturerelated business and significant highway traffic. Currently they have 12 people working in Estevan. “They’re excellent people,” Leach said, noting that in a smaller city, you get a real sense of community. “Everyone knows each other. Our staff at the Estevan location fully embody that,” he said. For instance, Curt McWilliams, the service manager, has been in Estevan since they first opened 17 years

ago and has been with the company for over 20 years. Jennifer Prybylski, Blaine Boyle and Charlie Johnston, who are all involved on the parts side, have over 35 years of combined years in service with Custom Truck Sales. The entire Estevan team provides this same level of dedication with a combined 80 years of service to the dealership and serving the Estevan community, Leach said. When asked if they would be hiring more people, Leach responded, “We’re always looking to hire. “The more, good, qualified techs we can get, the more we can service our customers.” The renovation is expected to be finished in late March, and they

Josh Leach stands before one of the walls that has been partially opened up during renovations to the new Custom Truck Sales location in Estevan. Photo by Brian Zinchuk intend on moving into the new facility in April. Leach said they’re looking for an early May start in the new facility. “It all comes back

to this: we owe it to our customers and our staff to have the best facilities, and to make sure they’re taken care of,” Leach concluded.

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A17

Things are looking up for Streamline Oilfield Services By Brian Zinchuk Weyburn – Streamline Oilfield Services Ltd. has seen the ups, the downs, and now the ups again in the oilfield trucking business. Coming off a busy first quarter, the company is looking to add a few leased operators. Kelly Brady and Jason Peterson are the two operating partners in a fourpartner ownership. The pair, both from Midale, grew up in the trucking industry, with Brady’s family having owned and operated Brady Oilfield Service of Halbrite. Peterson had been a leased operator with Brady’s, and he worked with his own family had owned and operated produced water disposal company, Palko Energy Inc., before it was sold to Gibson Energy. They both call Weyburn home now, and in 2012 they decided to fire up their own fluidhauling trucking business. While the downturn has been tough, to say the least, things are starting to bounce back. Pipeline News spoke to the pair on March 8. “Even over the last four months, we’ve seen pricing come back,”

Brady said. “Ever since the New Year, it’s been a struggle to find guys.” Peterson said they were trying to hire people now. The company has roughly 50 people employed, running 30 to 35 units. It’s 100 per cent fluid hauling; produced water, emulsion and oil. “We started in the spring of 2012,” Brady said. “We had a couple of good years before it hit the fan.” The company built its shop in the fall of 2013. They added a new office to the shop, with construction starting in the fall of 2016. They moved into the office in the spring of 2017. The company’s operating area is from Minton in the west, north to Weyburn, east to Carlyle and south to Frobisher. Their fleet of tankers is about 50/50 between aluminum and stainless steel. Aluminum trailers used in southeast Saskatchewan have been found to be susceptible to corrosion if their internal lining fails, resulting in the sumps sometimes looking like Swiss cheese. Knowing this, Brady said, “We started with a good preventative

maintenance program.” Peterson added “The lining in the aluminum trailers is a big part.” Stainless steel trailers, on the other hand, are not susceptible to the same corrosion issues. When they were firing up the company, aluminum units were what was available. Peterson said there were no used stainless steel units to buy, adding that used stainless steel units were very rare. “We have our own trucks, but we have lease operators,” Peterson said. That split is now roughly 80 per cent company trucks, 20 per cent leased operators. That ratio used to be the other way around. Now they are trying to add more leased operators (and their respective trucks), looking for about a half-dozen. Despite that, they say the company is not in growth mode. “I think we want to maintain,” Peterson said. Brady said the rates oil companies are paying aren’t where they need to be to reinvest at this point. Additionally, diesel has come up in price, 20 to 25 per cent, compared to its recent low

Kelly Brady, left, and Jason Peterson are the two operating partners in a four-partner ownership behind Streamline Oilfield Services Ltd. in Weyburn. point. The result is they’ve instituted a fuel surcharge. The company hasn’t bought new units in the last few years, instead using the strategy of buying used units. Their last new truck was in 2012. The fleet is heavily weighted to Kenworth, but they have a little bit of everything. Their oldest trucks are four to five years old. Local pipeline constraints means there is still hauling to various terminals from the field, the pair noted. This past winter, Brady said things were a little slow from October to December, but that changed for the

first quarter of 2018. “It’s been bananas,” he said. “This is the first time in three years you heard a rumor the rigs were firing up Jan. 3, and it actually happened.” That said, they noted its harder to find people, as many people have left the industry since the big money disappeared. “That’s the biggest hurdle,” Brady said. He has buddies who work in the rigs who are experiencing similar staffing difficulties. For the rest of 2018, Brady said, “We’re hearing from our customers, it’s going to be steady. We’re a lot more optimistic from 2016-

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A18

PIPELINE NEWS April 2018

Camion Trucking is working on expansion By Brian Zinchuk Estevan – “You just bought a trailer.” That’s what Jesse Schlingmann told his dad, Ken Schlingmann, after a tense few moments taking part in a Ritchie Bros. auction online. The Schlingmann family, which also includes Shelli, Ken’s wife, own and operate Estevan-based Camion Trucking Ltd. With things picking up in the oilpatch, they’ve been on the hunt for right-priced equipment to expand.

On this day, March 16, the target was trailers to use for their pickers, and they nailed two from the Grande Prairie, Alta. sale. The company operates two pickers, one tractor semi and a one-tonne hotshot. They are based on the east side of Estevan, on Jahn St. “There’s six of us right now,” Ken said earlier, as he was waiting for the desired trailer lots to come up. “I’m hoping to grow during road ban.” “We’ve gotten busy

enough over this last year,” he said, adding he was hoping to get his hands on another picker and a few more trailers, possibly a Texas bed and another tractor. They’ve got one tank mover, and would like to add a second. If successful, the aim is to double their fleet, and would bring with it three or more employees, hopefully. Ken’s been around the oilfield trucking business for a large chunk of his life. “I ran Viking Truck-

Camion Trucking Ltd. of Estevan picked up tubing from a service rig working near Lampman on March 14. Photo by Brian Zinchuk

fired up, OPEC opened the floodgates on Nov. 26, 2014, and oil prices haven’t been at that level since. “It was a hard time.

We had a couple of loyal customers,” Ken said. He said they worked with the bank, and added more ► Page A19

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ing for a number of years,” he said. He spent 16 years working for the Viking Surplus, and then a further eight years managing Viking Trucking. “I started running picker 35 years ago,” Ken said. He has journeyman tickets for boom A and hoisting. “I ran pickers and winch trucks for 10 years with Ron Wanner with Viking Surplus. After that I was offered an office position, doing dispatching and purchasing for Viking Trucking,” he said. During that time he became the general manager of Viking Trucking. He left in April 2014, and sold cars from May until September of that year. But it wasn’t for him. “I couldn’t get oilfield trucking out of my blood. Me and another guy started Camion in October 2014,” Ken said. Doug Franklin was his partner. Initially, the two of them alternately ran their first picker and swamped for each other. The company started as oil was beginning its downward spiral in the second half of 2014. Just a few weeks after they

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A19

Hoping to grow during road ban season ◄ Page A18 equity. Basically that meant throwing everything possible into the company. “She was going to be make or break for me,” Ken said. “It put a lot of stress on my wife, put it that way.” The company started

with a 30-ton picker and a trailer, renting a spot from Wanner at the old brick plant. They moved into their current shop, where they also manage the building for the owner, in February 2016. Also that year, they

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added the one-ton hot shot truck. “We had a couple of our customers who said we should get one, and we’ll use you. And they did,” Ken said. Camion saw things start to pick up in early 2017, and it improved

Ever wonder what it looks like on a suspended load? Here the camera was mounted on a bundle of tubing being lifted onto a catwalk by Camion Trucking. Jesse Schlingmann can be seen in the cab. Photo by Brian Zinchuk

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moreso after the 2017 spring road ban. While rates are still low, the work has picked up. Like many others who’ve spoken to Pipeline News over the last year, he’s hesitant about testing the waters on rate adjustments. “As long as we

keep working, we’ll get by,” he said. The Schlingmanns bought out Franklin in December 2017. Jesse came on board in August 2017. He had worked with Ken at Viking Trucking, and had worked

with another trucking firm in town. He also has a picker ticket. “We’re looking to grow. 2018 is looking good. There’s a lot of optimism out there now. It seems like it, from the customers I talk to,” he concluded.

Camion Trucking loaded tubing to be taken into Estevan for inspection on March 14. Photo by Brian Zinchuk

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Tim Fedyk of TSB Oilfield takes his shot.

Curling for Reliance, Stuart Kaip, left, and Jason Thompson, right, sweep while Tony Sernick, centre, follows.

Estevan OTS 59th Annual Open Bonspiel

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MARCH 23-24 Photos by Brian Zinchuk

Trent Romman, left and Tim Plemel of Penta Completions sweep hard.

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