During a turnaround, the refinery fence line fills with cranes, scaffold, tool trailers and a few hundred people who all need the same gate. We build the ground-side support that makes that possible: laydown yards, trailer pads, access roads, fab-shop buildings, equipment foundations and tank-farm site work along East Highway 20-26.
The Casper refinery at 5700 East Highway 20-26 has 30,000 barrels per day of capacity and runs mainly Wyoming and Rocky Mountain sweet crude for markets across the region. A refinery of that size is a standing source of shutdowns, tie-ins and small capital jobs, and every one of them starts with a permit to work.
We plan around that permit. Our people attend your safety orientation, we write the job hazard analysis with your lead, and we stay out of any area the permit does not name.
Safety orientation comes first
Nobody on our team touches ground inside a refinery boundary until they have been badged, oriented and listed on the permit to work. We check that gas testing is current, that the hot work permit is signed for the day and that the lockout points on adjacent equipment are verified. If any of those are missing, we wait.
We carry the same discipline outside the fence. Contractor yards beside a refinery see heavy traffic, forklifts and cranes. We set marked walkways, spotters and a speed limit, and we keep tool trailers and welding machines out of travel lanes. We have a stop-work rule that any crew member can invoke, and a supervisor who treats a stop as a good call every time. Near-miss reports are written the same day, not at the end of the week.
Planning toward the shutdown date
A turnaround date is fixed long before the first contractor arrives, and it drives everything else. The pre-turnaround window is the time for grading, laydown, trailer pads and the foundations that must cure before equipment sets. The turnaround itself is a crowded period when we stay in our lane. The weeks after are for demobilizing, restoring ground and finishing site work.
We build a backward schedule from the shutdown date: when the foundation must be poured, when it must be cured, when the equipment arrives, when the inspection is done. Long-lead items such as anchor bolts, embeds and structural steel are ordered early, and we track the dates against the owner's own turnaround planner. If something slips, the owner hears about it the same day.
What we manage closely here
We closely manage equipment pads and foundations, pipe-rack and pipe-support footings, containment slabs, sump pits, access roads and metal buildings. We sequence the work so the concrete pour and the anchor bolt setting follow the same template, and the bolts are checked against it. A bolt off by half an inch is a day lost in the middle of a shutdown.
For a contractor who needs space to prepare work, we also build maintenance shops and service bays with overhead cranes, welding bays and storage racks. A fab shop near the refinery lets pipe spools be built off line and moved in on the schedule, which is safer than welding in a congested unit.
We also build the hardstand around those shops. Spool trucks, boom trucks and pipe trailers turn tight, and a thin base rutted by a loaded trailer becomes a trip hazard and a drainage problem in a week. We size the section to the heaviest trailer, slope it to a controlled inlet and mark pedestrian routes at the edge.
Reading the ground and the plant
Refinery ground is crowded below the surface. Pipe, cable, drains and old foundations run in all directions, and records are not always complete. We locate and hand-dig before we machine-dig. When the dig meets something unmarked, we stop, record it and talk to the owner's engineer.
In October 2016 the refinery's roughly $200 million, two-year modernization was reported complete, with a new crude unit replacing units built in 1928, 1948 and 1955, new tanks and a gas-fired heating plant. Plants with that kind of history carry old foundations next to new ones. We plan demolition and new work together so old concrete is removed cleanly and new footings sit on sound ground.
Services that tie in
Turnaround support often needs more than a slab. We install fire water loops and hydrant systems to the owner's spec, yard lighting and electrical site work for night shifts and underground conduit for temporary power. We coordinate with the plant's electricians and with the fire protection engineer on every tie-in.
Temporary facilities are part of the picture. Turnaround contractors need trailer pads, portable restrooms, laydown containers and parking close to the gate. We grade and surface these areas ahead of time, run power and water where allowed and restore the ground afterward, so the owner gets the land back in the condition it was lent.
When the work is done, commissioning, turnover and closeout matters. We hand over as-built drawings, concrete test reports, inspection records and a punch list tracked to zero. A clean closeout lets the owner start up the unit without waiting for a missing document.
The corridor east of the city
US 20, US 26 and US 87 leave I-25 at Beverly Street (exit 186) and run east along Yellowstone Highway through Evansville toward Glenrock, and Wyoming 258 on Curtis Street gives access back to I-25. The refinery district sits on that corridor, about five miles east of downtown Casper.
That position makes East Casper a base for the contractors who service the plant and the oilfield around it: fabricators, scaffold companies, pipe suppliers and heavy-haul operators. Many need a yard, a shop or both. We build to a short lease or a long one, and we price the work so a tenant can see the cost of a month's delay.
Because the land along that highway is used for heavy industry, we expect trucks, noise and long working hours, and we plan the access to match. Driveways onto the highway get proper turn lanes and sight lines, gates are set back so a long trailer clears the road, and the drainage leaves the lot where it is allowed to go.
Have a turnaround date on the calendar?
Send the scope and the dates. We will tell you what has to happen first. See Evansville for neighboring work and the metals and heavy industry sites we plan.
Common Questions
Can you work inside the refinery during a turnaround?
Yes, if the owner approves our scope and our team. We attend the turnaround orientation and follow the permit system. We schedule heavy site work before the outage when we can, because gate time and laydown space are scarce during it.
How do you protect buried lines when you dig?
We request locates, review the owner's drawings, hand-dig or pothole near expected lines and mark everything. We do not machine-dig inside the marked zone until the line is exposed and verified. Anything unmarked stops the work until the owner confirms.
What do you need to price a laydown yard?
Acreage, the heaviest load, the duration of use, drainage direction and any environmental limits. We then propose a base section and a surface, and we price removal and restoration if the yard is temporary.
Do you build fab shops near the refinery?
Yes. We build metal buildings on reinforced slabs with crane runways, ventilation and power for welding. We design the layout with the shop's workflow and the delivery of pipe and steel in mind.
How early should I involve a contractor before a turnaround?
As early as the scope is known, ideally six months or more before the outage. Concrete and long-lead materials need time, and permit approvals take time. Early contact lets us tell you what the schedule really needs.