Storage Tanks Expert Witnesses: 4

Florida Office:
Andrew Avalon, PE, PSP
Chairman & CEO
8633 Willow Kane Court
Orlando, FL 32835
aavalon@long-intl.com
T: (407) 445-0825     F: (407) 650-3399

Long International provides expert engineering and construction claims analysis, expert testimony, project management consulting, and insurance claims analysis services. We focus on projects in the following industries: building and construction; gas, gasification, GTL, LNG, and NGL; industrial and manufacturing; mineral and mineral processing; offshore oil and gas; oil sands; pipelines and utilities; power; refineries, petrochemical, and chemical; transportation; and water, wastewater, dams, and marine. We analyze claims, not limited to, disputed change orders, schedule delay, acceleration, time extensions, liquidated damages, loss of productivity, defective specifications, and deficient project management performance.

Richard J. Long, P.E., P.Eng., Founder of Long International, has over 50 years of U.S. and international consulting experience involving construction contract disputes analysis and resolution, arbitration/litigation support and expert testimony, project management, engineering/construction management, cost and schedule control, and process engineering. As an internationally recognized expert in the analysis and resolution of complex construction disputes for over 35 years, Mr. Long has served as the lead expert on over 300 projects having claims ranging in size from US$100,000 to over US$2 billion. He has presented and published numerous articles on claims analysis, entitlement issues, CPM schedule and damages analyses, cumulative impact claims, and claims prevention.

Rod C. Carter, CCP, PSP is President of Long International and has over 20 years of experience in construction project controls, contract disputes and resolution, negotiations, mediation, arbitration support, and expert testimony on scheduling, loss of productivity, and quantum issues.  He has experience in entitlement, schedule, and damages analyses on over 30 construction disputes ranging in value from US$100,000 to US$7 billion, related to oil and gas, oil refinery, LNG, heavy civil, nuclear, environmental, chemical, power, industrial, commercial, and residential construction projects. Mr. Carter specializes in loss of productivity, cumulative impact, and quantum calculations, and had a lead role in assessing damages on more than a dozen major disputes.  In addition, Mr. Carter has developed cost and schedule risk analysis models using Monte Carlo simulations to address the uncertainty of estimates and claims.

Scott M. Francis, P.E., PSP is a Vice President of Long International and has over 20 years of experience in project management, contract disputes analysis and resolution, CPM schedule preparation, execution, and analysis, productivity analysis, contract administration, design engineering, construction management, and government contracting.  He provides schedule development and assurance services, cost estimating, and claims analysis services on projects for both owners and contractors.  Specific responsibilities include CPM development and reviews, CPM schedule delay and acceleration analyses, change order impact analysis, issue identification, correlation of impacts to schedule activities, and productivity evaluations.

Dr. James J. Connors is a Professional Hydrologist, certified by the American Institute of Hydrology, and a licensed Professional Geoscientist in several states. He has more than 38 years' experience working on projects and legal cases involving groundwater, surface water, stormwater runoff, and environmental contamination. His career includes extensive bodies of work as an award-winning academic, a private-sector consultant, and a testifying and consulting expert witness. Dr. Connors has performed hundreds of environmental and hydrological consulting projects across the U.S.; taught university-level hydrology and hydrogeology; and has been designated as an expert witness in more than 50 legal cases in 12 states and New Zealand (in both state and federal courts). 

Areas of Expertise

View Dr. James J. Connors' Consulting Profile.

Reese Energy Consulting (REC) has a suite of energy expert consultants with over 250 years of experience in all phases of the Oil, Gas, NGL, and LNG Space. The Reese brand is globally recognized, and the team has worked in virtually every US oil and gas basin, with clients ranging from small independents to major energy firms.  

Litigation Support - The team at REC has decades of experience in expert testimony, contract negotiations, and commodity marketing. Services are available to attorneys representing plaintiff and defendant and include document / site review, thorough reporting, depositions, and trial testimony as needed.

Areas of Expertise:

Steve Reese, CEO - As President of Reese Energy Consulting, Steve Reese leads his executive team from offices in Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Houston and Austin. He offers more than 40 years of experience in Upstream and Midstream Processes, Energy Marketing, and Energy Research Projects, and is one of the industry’s leading authorities in Crude Oil, Natural Gas, NGLs, and LNG.

Steve's expertise spans every major U.S. producing basin and is sought out by the nation’s leading independent producers and midstream firms. He has managed literally thousands of natural gas transactions involving hundreds of million dekatherms in the Mid-Continent, Permian and Rockies basins and South Louisiana.

Steve also is President of Reese Energy Training, a nationally recognized energy education firm. His courses in Natural Gas Basics, Gas Midstream and NGL Basics, and Gas Processing Agreements have been shared with more than 10,000 industry professionals. Prior to launching Reese Energy Consulting and Reese Energy Training, Steve held positions with Getty and Texaco. He is an in-demand speaker and lecturer with recent engagements for The Oklahoma Marginal Well Commission, The National Royalty Association, the Kansas Independent Oil and Gas Association, The Natural Gas Society of Oklahoma, the Desk and Derrick Club, The Oklahoma Law Review, and The Permian Basin Gas Society. 

Phil Nickle, Director – Producer Services - Phil brings a wealth of expertise and talents to his role at REC that include all phases of the Value Chain in Natural Gas, Oil, and NGLs in all major producing basins. As Director-Producer Services, he offers a proven track record of successes across the energy spectrum.

Phil's knowledge and know-how are industry recognized in the areas of oil and gas marketing, midstream contract negotiation, gas gathering and processing, business development, and all phases of producer services. Phil’s career-scape includes positions with Candor Midstream, Cimarex Energy, ONEOK Field Services, and DCP. 

Rick O'Bannon - Chief Commercial Officer - Rick’s experience and knowledge of Oil and Gas Producers and Midstream Companies are widely known in the energy industry and include more than 40 years of successes throughout Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and North Louisiana. His impressive career comprises numerous high-profile positions with Enbridge, Coastal Corp, KN Energy, Texaco and Union Texas Petroleum.

Rick offers a breadth of expertise in a wide range of capacities to our Texas-wide clients, including marketing and transportation, acquisitions and divestitures, asset development, auditing, contract reformation, hedging, and gas accounting. 

View REC's Business Consulting Profile.

I bring diverse, combined education, licensing, and credentialing in geology, biology, and hazardous materials management. Indoor air quality as related to asbestos, mold, lead, building hazards, vapor intrusion, OSHA worker and occupant complaints.

I manage a firm of environmental and industrial hygiene professionals while serving as an expert in my diverse field; I have over 70 retained cases complete. I can cost effectively support engagements that may require extensive data gathering across an expanded time frame. I apply my capabilities and credentials across commercial, industrial, and oil & gas settings, with a technical focus on highly regulated industry and real estate.

I have been steadily retained for expert witness services since 1995.

I specialize in structural fire forensic investigation and testing, routinely leverage post-flood emergency response expertise in buildings, specific to microbial disinfection, mold mitigation, and source mold under forensic methods of investigation that may exist under alleged building construction defects. I possess expertise in building systems and mitigating hazards from structures in advance of demolition for asbestos, lead, and other regulated materials.  I prepare, implement (and/or critically review) asbestos specifications, mold remediation protocols, OSHA-driven lead specifications, and remediation soil management plans.

I have evaluated diverse workplaces following loss reports due to alleged safety and public health concerns and offered mitigation strategies for worker safety under OSHA complaints, especially regarding respiratory protection. I have served as an expert for multiple worker injury and wrongful death allegations within the context of environmental exposure.  

View Ms. Franks' Consulting Profile.