Acquisition Support for a Petroleum Marketer Acquiring 22 Facilities

An oil and gas client was confidentially acquiring a competitor, including 22 bulk plant and cardlock facilities in two states, and required Phase I and Phase II Environmental Site Assessments as well as limited facility compliance reviews. They needed to identify existing and potential environmental liabilities associated with each facility by the due diligence deadline in the sales agreement to avoid assuming liability from the seller. The client chose Antea Group as the sole provider for the project, based on our expertise and capacity.

Antea Group conducted a total of 22 Phase I Environmental Site Assessments, 17 Phase II Environmental Site Assessments, and 20 Limited Facility Compliance Reviews in two states over a five-month period.

In addition to the volume of work and short project deadline, Antea Group addressed the health and safety challenges in completing the work. Most of the work took place in the deserts of Southern California and Arizona during the summer months, resulting in staff and contractors working in temperatures in excess of 100 degrees Fahrenheit. This required creating specialized work schedules and protocols to minimize the dangers of heat exhaustion while still maintaining the project schedule.

In order to complete the large volume of work, the project management team used resources from Antea Group offices across the country to conduct desktop research and report writing, and local resources to perform site reconnaissance activities and field assessment work, including soil and groundwater sampling. Additionally, Antea Group managed multiple vendors, including private utility locators, drillers, and analytical laboratories.

Antea Group successfully identified significant liabilities related to a subset of the subject properties, including a previously undetected significant subsurface release of diesel fuel beneath a facility. These findings resulted in the environmental liabilities of at least five sites remaining with the selling entity, saving the client hundreds of thousands of dollars in environmental management and remediation costs.