Report Volume XX, Number 20, June 15th, 2009

INDUSTRY NEWS (Houston, TX) – Lott Contractors is pleased to announce joining the Southern Gas Association (SGA). A leading natural gas industry association for 100 years, SGA’s broad-based membership includes more than 150 distribution, transmission and gas supply marketing companies serving millions from coast to coast and border to border.

“Due to our current growth rate, membership with SGA will provide us with a forum for sharing safety and business strategies with industry leaders. The volume of market data, gathered and analyzed by the SGA and provided to members will be key to our future business development plans,” says Robert S. Lott, President of Lott Contractors.

Lott Contractors is headquartered in Hamshire, Texas with field offices in Ft. Worth, Texas, Channelview, Texas, Sulphur, Louisiana, and Birmingham, Alabama. Lott Contractors provides a variety of construction and maintenance services to oil and gas pipeline operators. Lott Contractors has a full plant construction division, large pipeline construction division, maintenance division and an electrical division.

INDUSTRY NEWS (Canosburg, PA) – The Piper Bug Pipe Welding System from Bug-O Systems is a digitally controlled programmable welding travel carriage integrated with Lincoln Electric® Invertec® V350-PRO Power Source. The Piper Bug features a positive rack and pinion drive system and a digital control box in which all welding parameters can be programmed for multi-pass, multi-layer welds on process piping and cross country pipe lines. The Piper Bug will increase productivity and weld quality while reducing costs.

Pipe welding requires a high level of welder skill and training, and as it becomes more difficult to find skilled pipe welders, mechanized welding is increasingly being used. Less welder skill and physical effort is required using mechanized welding. Handheld wire welding results in a typical operating factor (or percent arc-on time) of 40-50%, mechanizing increases the operating factor to 70% or higher. The result is that a fewer number of welders and welding stations are required. Also, the precise procedure control and excellent repeatability ensures consistent excellent weld quality around each pipe joint and from one joint to the next.

INDUSTRY NEWS (Houston, TX) – From June 1, 2009 through to September 2009, PipeLine Machinery International (PLM) is offering 0% financing* for 36 months on PL61 Pipelayers.

PLM is offering the PL61 Stimulus Program to introduce this new, technically refined model at the small end of the Caterpillar pipelayer range.

With a 40,000 lb lift capacity, the PL61’s power and versatility, combined with rugged components, are designed for tough and varied conditions while bringing the reliability and durability expected from Caterpillar Pipelayers

INDUSTRY NEWS (Houston, TX) – TransCanada wants to build a natural gas pipeline through Campbell County to transport gas from the Powder River Basin to the Midwest market wants to build a shorter pipeline that will begin in Wyoming, not in Colorado.

The Bison pipeline that will start in Dead Horse west of Gillette was one of the two options that TransCanada, one of North America’s largest pipeline companies, had for the pipeline. The second option was the 673-mile Pathfinder mainline from Meeker, Colo., to an interconnection with the Northern Border Pipeline System in North Dakota.

Additional pipelines in the Powder River Basin are needed to transport natural gas to Midwestern markets. The shortage of pipelines is what creates the differential between Wyoming gas and Henry Hub natural gas spot prices.

“TransCanada presented both projects to the county commissioners when we started to meet with them in 2008 and made it clear that it would be one or the other, not both,” said Beth Jensen, manager of governmental relations for Transcanada.

Construction of the Pathfinder pipeline depended on support from suppliers in the Rocky Mountain Basin. Until this spring, the company was trying to get customer support for the Pathfinder project. It decided to go after the Bison project when a drop in natural gas prices decreased drilling in the Rocky Mountain Basin.

The downturn didn’t affect the need for additional pipelines in the Powder River Basin.

Transcanada has long-term confirmed contracts for the Bison project with four shippers out of the Powder River Basin for 407 million cubic feet of gas a day for 10 years, Jensen said. That’s most of the designed capacity of the pipeline, which will be able to carry up to 477 million cubic feet of gas a day.

If the company was building the Pathfinder project, the Bison pipeline route would become a part of Pathfinder, Jensen said. “The ‘Pathfinder’ name from the TransCanada perspective is no longer being used,” she said. “The project is called Bison. If, in fact, there is customer support that comes back around in the next year or two to build that project from Colorado to Gillette, then it will be an extension of Bison.”

The only thing that changed in the $610 million Bison project is its design. A few miles have been added to the pipeline and its diameter was increased from 24 inches to 30 inches.

The company is waiting to get a permit for the project from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and hopes to get it in spring 2010. Construction of the 302-mile long pipeline would be completed in late fall or early winter 2010. It will likely be built in three spreads — each of which would employ possibly about 400 at peak of construction. But Jensen said it’s still premature to predict the exact numbers.

INDUSTRY NEWS (Chesterfield, MO) – Corrpro Companies, Inc., (”Corrpro”) a subsidiary of Insituform Technologies, Inc., announced today that its Houston-based crew was recently honored with the Houston Business Roundtable Gold Award in Safety Excellence.

The Houston Business Roundtable (”HBR”) has been recognizing Greater Houston area industrial contractors for their outstanding safety performances for over 20 years. Nominations for the award are accepted only from client/owner companies and are evaluated throughout a six-month process that may include field audits.

This is the second year in a row that ExxonMobil has nominated the Corrpro crew for their work at the ExxonMobil Baytown, Texas facility in the “Specialty Contractor Soft Crafts/Environmental Small” award category. The Corrpro crew received the Bronze Award from HBR during last year’s award presentation. This year, in addition to receiving the HBR Gold Award, Corrpro was one of the few contractors selected to participate in a field audit. Field audits are conducted by teams of client/owners and contractors at the nominee’s jobsite. Field audits provide opportunities for team members and nominees to learn and share best safety practices.

“I am very proud of our Houston team for this accomplishment,” said Bill Larkin, President and CEO for Corrpro. “Safety is a ‘core value’ that we aspire to and is highly valued by Corrpro employees at every level.”