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Article from the newspaper The Zanesville Times Recorder (1997)

BSI Continues World-Class Oil and Gas Work
By Patrick Johnson

Derwent -- Driving up to BSI Industries, Inc.'s offices here you might not realize you are looking at a world-class player in the oil and gas industries. But appearances can be deceiving.

Since the late 1980s, BSI has become a player in the multi-million-dollar game of developing the former Soviet Union's oil and gas industry.

Although the company's business offices have moved to Cambridge, BSI's design center is still in Derwent along with its sister company, Bi-Con Systems, Inc., which manufactures storage system components.

Currently, the company is working on a $60 million project to design and supply components for a pressurized natural gas system in Khodzhaabad, Uzbekist an. Although Uzbekistan is an oil and gas exporter, the system, which will store up to 350 million cubic feet of gas, is being designed to take care of Uzbekist an's needs. "It's going great," said Carla Lowry, BSI Industries' president and CEO. "We're going to be doing a lot of the shipping in March, April and May. There are going to be Uzbek crews doing the assembly."

During the spring and summer, when gas demand is slacker, the BSI-designed system will inject gas at a pressure of up to 3,600 pounds per square inch into played-out oil and gas wells. When the Khodzhaabad area needs gas in the fall and winter, it is transferred into pipelines serving the area.
"To help you visualize (the pressure)," said Ron Miller, BSI's vice president of engineering, "picture the weight of a car sitting on top of a square inch of space.

Besides the project in Uzbekistan, the company is competing for work in Russia, the Baltics, and Ukraine.
In the case of the Uzbek project, the bank guaranteed 85 percent of the loan Chase Manhattan Bank gave BSI to do the work.

BSI battles with firms from Europe and U.S. energy industry centers, such as Houston, to get its national and international business. But when it comes to doing business in Russia, BSI has a couple of aces in the deck -- U.S. technology and Soviet-trained employees.

"I was trained at the top Soviet design institute and spent 15 years with the Soviet State Oil and Gas Company," said Vladimir Priimatchenko, BSI's technical manager. "I understand the technical details and specifications our customers need."

And, to keep the company's presence out there, Lowry said BSI does the trade show circuit. This year the company had a display in Copenhagen, Denmark, for the international oil and gas industry trade show.

"When potential clients see us there, they know we're serious because we're there competing with the big international companies and companies from Houston, which is the capital of the gas industry in the United States," Miller said. "It's helped us get business and put Derwent on the map."