O'Connor

Distrigas
High Pressure Expansion Project (HPEP)
Everett, Massachusetts

This complex project involved the installation of a High Pressure Expansion unit at the Liquid Natural Gas Terminal in Everett, Massachusetts. One of only two operating facilities of its kind in the United States, this facility receives, stores and distributes a unique form of natural gas, called LNG. The gas is chilled to -260 degrees changing it from its natural vapor form to liquid, reducing its volume 600 times. This allows for economical transportation from its source in the island nation of Trinidad to the Distrigas facility. There it is stored in liquid form and eventually reheated to vapor in order to be distributed by pipeline, in this case to fuel the adjacent Mystic River Power Plant's two new 800MW units.

O'Connor Corporation, already well known for providing mechanical construction and instrumentation services in the power industries, was selected by Distrigas of Massachusetts and the parent company, Tractebel, for this project for many reasons. One is O'Connor's dedication to making each site safe for workers and the public. At the start of the project, O'Connor designed and implemented a project wide safety program and worked 700,000 man-hours without a lost time accident. O'Connor has a proven track record of managing and understanding complex project schedules with a multitude of trades and international vendors. In addition, O'Connor's ability to self perform concrete, mechanical and instrumentation work allowed added direct control over two thirds of the project - all of which Distrigas found vital.

During construction, the existing plant was fully operational which made the project especially challenging. At the project's most demanding time, there were approximately 500 workers performing tasks on different levels in a project footprint area smaller than a football field. Trades included electricians, boilermakers, pipefitters, iron workers, insulators, carpenters and laborers all working per a computer generated 3-dimensional model of the project. Throughout the 18-month project, O'Connor met every obligation date, many of which had commercial consequences tied to the testing, start up and commercial operation of the Mystic River Power Plant.