With this summer’s extremely wet weather conditions across the country, building access roads is a major challenge. Muddy, soft ground is causing construction delays when it comes to moving heavy vehicles and equipment over the soft soils.
Presto’s GEOWEB® Soil Stabilization System offers a way to build roads even with these site challenges using low-cost, local fill—and has been doing so for over 30 years. In fact, the GEOWEB system is the go-to solution for many oil companies in remote areas like the Canadian oil sands and the Amazon basin. Recently, EnergyNow Media featured an article on GEOWEB roads addressing the latest access challenges in the energy sector. The EnergyNow article is republished below.
Reprint of recent article written by “EnergyNow Media” (North American Energy Magazine)
Presto Geosystems: Bringing Stability to an Unstable World
Oil and gas is a tricky business. Everything from resource extraction to site management to processing is fraught with difficulties, challenges, and trials. However, one often-overlooked aspect within this industry is that of simply being able to access the resource site in the first place. Once access is established, it’s crucial that there is a clean, stable platform to work on and transport resources back out. As anyone familiar with the industry knows, energy resources are rarely discovered in local, easily accessible areas. Rather, oil and gas drilling most often takes place in the most far-flung reaches of wilderness imaginable, where even constructing safe, reliable roads and working platforms can be a near-insurmountable challenge.
In these situations, Presto Geosystems truly excels.
Established in Appleton, Wisconsin, Presto Geosystems specializes in soil stabilization and cellular confinement technology. In 1978, Gary Bach developed the Presto Geosystems crowning achievement: the 3D geocell. Since then, Presto Geosystems has lead the way in their field, culminating with the most recent iteration of their flagship soil stabilization product: GEOWEB®, which offers the highest and longest-lasting performance of any geocell stabilization system on the civilian market today. The GEOWEB product is designed to handle the abuse from repeated heavy truck and equipment loading over some of the worst, wet soft soils. Able to use local on-site fill – even sand – makes the 3D geocell system the quickest way to build roads and platforms in remote areas with limited aggregate resources.
“It’s critical that the weld is consistent so that you can count on the strength of these systems, and know how much load you can carry,” Presto Geosystems Director, Bill Handlos, explains. “The tensile strength of the strip is important so that it’s not too stiff, or too soft…there’s a blend that’s just right. This is what we’ve perfected.” It’s this dogged pursuit of excellence that has made the Presto Geosystems name synonymous with quality and stability when it comes to building site access roads, oil pads, work platforms, surface pipeline protection, construction mats, and much more.
In addition, Presto Geosystems works to provide project support from the very inception of an endeavour all the way up to the completion of a satisfactory installation. “We shine because we’re willing to start during the project conception and vision,” Handlos states proudly. “We do a lot of work with engineers to define the problem and give them evaluations to get them started. As (loadings) become more defined, we often refine and revise designs. We take a journey with our clients without asking for a dime. As they purchase the material, we go to the site with them to give them tips and tricks to help lay down the product faster.” It takes an incredible amount of commitment and dedication to provide so much hands-on assistance even once the product has been sold and shipped out the door, but for Presto Geosystems, that’s simply another part of day-to-day operations.
Providing outstanding levels of client support is one thing, but that doesn’t amount to much if the end product isn’t up to standard. As in all things, however, Presto Geosystems holds itself to an exceptionally high level of excellence and quality when it comes to the materials it develops and advocates for. “We’ve proven that our products work for almost four decades,” Handlos confidently states. “The fact that we invented the product speaks volumes as well. Our models are spot-on in forecasting how the product will hold up, and we have the experience and knowledge to quickly get the product in the ground.”
More than that, Presto Geosystems is made up of team members who have a profound level of respect for the environment, and encourage green practices and policies whenever they are able to. “Our most successful people are those who value the lower carbon footprint that our product creates,” Handlos tells us. “You’re using less natural resources, and saving money all around. We are the green solution, and that matters quite a bit to oil and gas companies, as they are trying to do things with as little impact as they can. We play a role there.”
Ultimately, everything circles back to the outstanding, innovative line of products and services that Presto Geosystems has created and continues to offer to the world stage. “We’re in 60 countries with our products, and are proud to offer free designs for our customers, as clients see the value in these savings,” Handlos lets us know. “We stabilize an unstable world. We are a solution when others won’t work, or are too expensive to deploy. We make it easy to design and construct. We stand behind our product. We’ve set the standards for our industry.
For more information on the pioneering services and products offered by Presto Geosystems, visit them online at www.prestogeo.com, or contact Bill Handlos at 1-800-548-3424 or [email protected].
800.548.3424
