From the initial contract to providing complete project fuel management at the Long Lake megaproject, ERS has attracted customers on other sites in the oil sands region. One is North American Construction Group, and it showers praise on the Van Vliets. “It’s the best company I’ve ever dealt with,” says Sean Mortimer, North American’s Fort McMurray maintenance superintendent.

“We were constantly climbing up and down tanks and dipping tanks. Now, with that GPS, it’s just great. They monitor it. You don’t have to climb up. You never have to run out of fuel.”

Mortimer says there’s never been a problem in the three years he’s been dealing with ERS. “It’s just so nice to have a fuel company to come in and take care of you.” In total, ERS provides North American with about 290,000 liters of fuel on site.

A 240-ton Caterpillar 793 heavy hauler – a giant by urban standards but one of the smaller trucks used in the oil sands – takes 4,353 liters of fuel. The vehicle uses an average of 155 liters an hour. If the going is rough, consumption can go as high as 227 liters an hour.

A reputation for reliability and environmental sensitivity has driven company growth, Todd says. An ERS motto – Not One Drop – conveys the firm’s vow to have zero spills or waste. The operation has a fleet of 70 horizontal fuel tanks ranging in size from 15,000 liters to 200,000. Each one is double-walled, on skids and has three levels of overfill protection. Each has its own power source and meets all government safety requirements.

Scott was the inventor of the first skid-mounted tank – a 55,000-liter affair, which in the scheme of things was too small to meet ERS objectives. “When we started, we had to lobby the government to change the regulations and we got the fire code changed from 50,000 liters to 80,000 liters for retail dispensing,” Scott says.

Fuel storage at an industry worksite typically includes one 75,000-liter diesel tank, one 75,000-liter split gasoline and diesel tank and one 120,000-liter diesel tank. All are plumbed into each other. They are the business end of a long company distribution chain. ERS also has lubricating stations that can be hauled to the sites.

The tanks are all hard-wired with some of the latest technology available to track fuel consumption, bill customers and alert the dispatcher in the Edmonton office when and where fuel is needed. These information flows all happen in real time via satellite, GPS and cell hookups.

ERS has set up a distribution system that allows it to respond quickly to customer needs, Scott says. The fueling stations can be set up in a matter of hours and ERS staff members make the trek to the camps to evaluate the needs.

Todd says, “In order to do a really good job, our people get to know the job. The idea is to respond before the need arises, before the pain hits.” It’s a full-service operation. ERS handles the details of on-site permits, delivers, sets up and tests all equipment.

The up-to-the-minute monitoring and billing technology can even save customers money, Scott says. Unaccounted-for fuel use at worksites has been an expensive problem. ERS keeps track of every liter and can detail which customer’s employee actually pumped the fuel.

ERS technology is proprietary. The tanks are made in Alberta and Saskatchewan, by a manufacturer whose identity is a trade secret. The technology is installed in Edmonton using different contractors and ERS employees do the finishing work.

ERS has contracts with refineries to provide clear and dyed diesel and gasoline. Company tanker trucks haul fuel to a dozen depots around the province. A depot north of Fort McMurray near Shell Canada’s Albian Sands mine, for instance, stores 1.7 million liters of fuel. Smaller tankers distribute the fuel from the depots to customers’ worksites.

“We sell by the liter or contract,” Todd says. “The whole goal is to make it make sense to the customer. If you have a fuel headache, take two ERS and call in the morning.”

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