A call into the Jay town council on May 4 confirmed that Maverick Natural Resource on Oil Well Road will be temporarily shutting down due to COVID-19 and OPEC oil price decreases.
Austin Tramell, manager of health, safety and environment for Maverick Natural Resource, told council members there will be a pause in services of certain contractors, mainly Jay and area residents who work for Maverick and other companies.
Tramell said the company will be doing proactive work at the facility to upgrade existing infrastructure, bringing in furloughed contractors to do the work.
“It's an expensive field to operate and the plant is larger than necessary to run current operations,” said Tramell. “We shut down about 10 years ago due to oil dropping to less than $40 per barrel. At the beginning of this year we were running this field as both crises, the COVID-19 and OPEC price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia grew, but we took steps to keep the plant open.”
Trammel said the recent negative oil prices changed the way the company can operate the facility.
Jay Mayor Shon Owens expressed concern about a potential emergency situation and what the company has in place to make sure residents in and around the Jay area are safe.
Tramell said the facility is manned 24 hours a day, seven days a week in the control room. He said due to the shut in order, operators are monitoring the field and plant continuously.
“We have a contingency plan approved by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)s, we have a procedure in place for that,” said Tramell. “We have an emergency number 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and we work with law enforcement. They understand the plan in case of an emergency. They've gone through specific training with us.”
Tramell said his company is in constant communication with regulatory agencies in Florida and Alabama and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). He said he has no idea how long the plant will have to be shut down.
“We will be shut down until the plant resumes operations,” said Tramell. “Hopefully, that will be sooner rather than later.”
