NGC Compression Solutions Ltd.
For many years, the energy industry had assumed North America’s natural gas reserves had peaked. As a result, prices of the commodity dropped significantly as producers and explorers alike poured resources into more profitable sources of energy.
However, the natural gas industry has returned full force with the discovery of shale plays throughout the United States and Canada. Innovative new techniques to access this resource combined with the volatile prices of oil has created a robust future for natural gas. NCG Compression Solutions of Calgary has been growing and adapting to these market changes since its inception in 2003.
“We’re starting to build infrastructure to export liquefied natural gas because the industry has turned on its head, the market has completely changed from where it was 15 years ago,” President Shane Guiltner says.
NGC is a leading provider of natural gas compression solutions to producers in western Canada. The company’s primary business segments are compression optimization, reconfiguration, fabrication, packaging and field service. In addition to its manufacturing facilities and head office in Calgary, NGC has field service and parts distribution branches located throughout Alberta and British Columbia including Medicine Hat, Drumheller, Stettler and Fort St. John.
Adjacent to the head office is NGC’s 15,000-square-foot assembly plant where complete packages are manufactured. The company elected to utilize lean manufacturing concepts to design a seven-stage assembly line with sub-stations supporting the main line.
One block away from this location is NGC’s 10,000-square-foot, ASME-certified U-stamp, pressure vessel fabrication facility. This is where the company manufactures pressure vessels such as scrubbers and process-piping spools.
Higher Expectations
Guiltner says customers expect companies like NGC to serve more as a partner instead of a supplier. “This type of collaborative customer relationship allows NGC to utilize the latest technological innovations to cut cost,” he says.
One way the company reduces costs for clients is by designing a scheduled maintenance program. This reduces the overall number of trips NGC must make in response to upkeep requests.
“We’re scheduling and planning their maintenance requirements to allow us to avoid emergency call-outs,” Guiltner says. “Instead of visiting one location at a time, we can visit two or three in a single trip.”
NGC also provides creative solutions on ground-up projects. On a recent project for Conoco, the cost of construction on location was well over what it could be done for at the fabrication shop. Through value added engineering and with prefabricating a larger portion of the project’s components, NGC brought the overall cost within budget.
Ongoing Expansion
NGC is evaluating international opportunities while continuing to expand domestically. It acquired a Stettler-based service operation in February, which brought increased capabilities in service and remanufactured screw compressors. NGC extended its product line to include larger horsepower equipment. The expanding global natural gas market requires additional product offerings.