(Riverton, Wyo.) – Work on the Wind River Job Corps Center is progressing at a rapid rate with walls of the 60,000 square foot education building taking shape and foundations being prepared for the Administration/Medical Center building and the north and south dormitories. A pad has also been prepared for a field production unit to be located on the east side of the site where students will have the opportunity
Members of the Fremont County BOCES Energy Partnership met Thursday afternoon and toured the site. The partners assembled earlier in the day to continue working on equipment acquisition plans for a simulated Oil and Natural Gas Production Field at the center. The field will contain the production and support equipment for two separate wells, one for natural gas and one for oil. The natural gas production train would uncle a wellhead, a production unit, compressor, a dehydrator, controls and a flare stack. The oil production train includes a well, a pumping unit and a heater/treater. Two tanks, one for oil and one for water, would also be placed in the production field, which will be 100 feet wide by 250 feet long. The production field is located on the east side of the Job Corps construction site.
The energy industry partners on the project include Encana Natural Gas USA, Devon Energy, ConocoPhillips, and Marathon Oil. The partners also supported the formation of the FC BOCES Energy Exploration Program and are supporting the Second Wind Energy curriculum at Central Wyoming College. Since the Wind River Job Corps Center will be the only one in the nation with an energy industry emphasis, support of the partners was critical in development of the curriculum.
The field production units will include actual equipment used in the day to day operations of producing natural gas and oil, but they will not be operating units. Student will be able to work with the production trains to become familiar with industry practices and learn how to operate the units. Other components of the industry will be taught in classroom settings, and the shops at the Job Corps Center will be equipped with tools used in the industry.
Each of the energy partners will be obtaining equipment from the “bone yards” to be placed at the field production facility, and vendors serving the industry will be asked to provide other supporting equipment and tools.
