With 47 years in the energy industry, OMNI’s Lenny
Dupuis says he has never encountered anything like the
challenges the COVID-19 pandemic has created.
Large companies may sometimes be seen
as slow to adapt to changes in the market
and the environment.
OMNI Environmental Solutions, with
operations in Center, dispels that notion with
quick and decisive action in dealing with the
COVID-19/coronavirus pandemic.
From top to bottom, the nationwide
company’s reaction was rapidly implemented and
continues to evolve as more details and scientific
evidence is revealed on the pandemic, according
to Leonard “Lenny” Dupuis, regional manager
for the company’s Haynesville Environmental
Services division based in Center.
OMNI Environmental Solutions has
historically had a focus on safety, the environment
and taking care of its staff of dedicated workers,
contractors and vendors, he says.
This past March, with the beginning of the
coronavirus pandemic, a whole new approach
to operations was implemented with a focus on
continuing operations for the essential services
the firm provides in a safe manner, Lenny says.
“Our business has changed considerably,”
he says.
Bobby Head, plant manager for OMNI’s
Center operations, said the COVID pandemic and
the potential it held company officials
“We started watching it real close in February
because we heard about it and kept and eye on
it and then it really caught fire and took off in
March,” Bobby says. “We were already taking
some precautions, but at that time we didn’t
expect it to turn into what it has turned into.”
For OMNI, with operations tied directly to
the oil, natural gas and energy industries, about
the same time the pandemic struck oil prices
plunged.
“It was like a slap in the face. When COVID
hit in March, it was like things were clicking
right along. We went home on a Friday, and by
Monday the price of oil had dropped by $25 a
barrel,” Lenny says.
While he has seen a lot of up-and-down
cycles in the energy industry in his 40-plus-year
career in the field, nothing compares with what he
and the industry have gone through in 2020.
“As soon as the COVID hit, with the rigs we
service, we had requests for people to stay home
and do business out of their homes, sales people
had to operate out of their houses,” Lenny says.
“From our standpoint, we took every
employee we had every morning or evening as
they came in and did a safety meeting where they
had to answer questions about whether they’d
been around anyone whose been infected and we
took their temperatures.” he says.
“We’re an oil field service company and and
environmental services company with operations
all over the United States,” Lenny says. “What we
do here in the Haynesville area is service the oil
rigs, we recycle oil based cuttings.”
Those cuttings are a by-product of drilling
for oil and natural as the drilling goes down the
hole with mud, which serves as a lubricant for the
drilling bit, the dirt, the rock, the shale — all of
that comes back up with diesel mixed in with it,
he says.
All that waste material is brought in to the
OMNI plant and processed through a thermal
absorption unit so the diesel is recovered.
“That diesel is sold to refineries or to people
who blend oil-based mud,” Lenny said. A dry
material also comes out of the material being
recycled and used as a backfill for commercial and
industrial projects.
Bobby said the Center operations employ
about 65 people who continue to be checked
every time they report for work.
“We operate 24/7,” he says. Another part of
the Center operations is transportation of moving
the cutting from the rigs to the OMNI plant.
OMNI also operates a vacuum truck service,
which hauls the production waste, the water or
whatever is needed, which is the CHI part of the
location operations.
“The Rig Tools part of our business includes
rentals, frac tanks, pumps, all of the service
rentals a rig needs to operate, we can provide that
on a rental basis,” Lenny said.
Lenny says the firm’s office doors were
locked.
“If we didn’t know you, or you didn’t call or
have an appointment, you didn’t come in,” he
AT A GLANCE
WHAT:
OMNI Environmental
Solutions; CHI; and
Rig Tools Inc.
WHO:
Leonard Dupuis,
Regional Manager –
Haynesville
Environmental
Services; Bobby Head,
Plant Manager
WHERE:
545 Loop 500
Center, TX 75935
WHEN:
Offices open
Monday-Friday
8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
and by appointment
PHONE:
(936) 572-3471
WEBSITE:
omnienvironmentalsolutions.com
Business MATTERS | 2020 Fall Edition 17