PETROLEUM DIRECTORY: Company news in brief

Arctic Controls hires Connally

Anchorage-based Arctic Controls Inc. has hired Peggy Connally as its new administrative assistant.

Connally comes from Crosby, Texas and has “excellent skills in computer networking and administrative skills,” Arctic Controls President Scott A. Stewart said.

“I have done research for many years for the place I would like to call home and raise my children. When I researched Alaska I knew it was going to be here. I moved to Alaska in October 2005. This is a beautiful state and many people here have been a great influence to me. I feel comfortable that this move was a wonderful choice,” Connally said.

Arctic Controls is an Alaskan-owned and operated firm. Since 1985 the company has been a manufacturers’ representative in the process and control instrumentation field. Its principal customers are in the petroleum, mining and municipal markets.

CFMA Alaska chapter wins national awards

The Alaska chapter of the Construction Financial Management Association has received the association’s Chairman’s Excellence and the New Chapter of the Year Awards. According to a CFMA press release, the association is the only non-profit professional association dedicated to serving the construction industry, with a general membership open to financial employees of general contractors, subcontractors, developers and special trades.

The Alaska CFMA chapter, known as the Last Frontier Chapter, consists of a group of Alaska-based construction financial professionals. ASRC Energy Services’ Ron Jones is president and Alaska USA Insurance Brokers’ Kelly Layman vice president of the Alaska chapter.

For the 2005/2006 fiscal year the Last Frontier Chapter earned 102 ACMP accomplishment points, well in excess of the 60 points needed to gain the Chairman’s Excellence Award for a chapter the size of the Alaska organization. The Chairman’s Excellence Award is the highest honor in CFMA’s annual recognition program.

The New Chapter of the Year Award recognizes the chapter’s progress during its first full year in existence.

CFMA has 84 chapters in the United States, with a membership of more than 7,000.

Sister companies share booth at Global Petroleum Show

Det-tronics shared a booth with its sister company Engineered Fire & Safety at the Global Petroleum Show in Calgary this past June. Engineered Fire & Safety is the exclusive Det-tronics representative for Alaska.

Since Calgary is home to many engineering firms either bidding or conducting engineering for many Alaska projects, the show “provided the opportunity for networking opportunities for our representatives Engineered Fire & Safety and Spartan Controls to discuss current projects,” Garry Peterson with Det-tronics said in a news release after the mid-June event.

During the show Det-tronics Regional Sales Manager Garry Peterson presented Don Maupin of Engineered Fire & Safety in Anchorage with an Outstanding Sales Performance award for 2005.

“Since bringing Engineered Fire & Safety on as our local representative for Alaska we have been successful in growing the Alaskan business and have sold EQP solutions to Unocal, Tesoro, XTO Energy and Chugach Electric. EFS’s local presence and ability to provide sales and service support for our products has been instrumental in regaining our foothold in Alaska as this is a critical element required by our customers in the Alaskan marketplace,” Peterson said.

The Global Petroleum Show attracted more than 50,000 attendees from 85 countries and more than 1,500 exhibitors, Det-tronics said.

More than 550,000 square feet at Stampede Park, both indoors and outdoors, accommodated the exhibitors showcasing their technological innovations, products and services for onshore and offshore exploration, production and transportation.

It show also provided sessions on strategic planning for the world’s energy sector, from the ground to the consumer, and is a premier networking event, Det-tronics said.

“As Canada’s fastest growing city, Calgary is home to the majority of Canada’s oil and gas production companies, major pipeline operators, oilfield service companies, equipment manufacturers and energy-related engineering and consulting firms.

“Many of these companies have significant international operations which are directed from their Calgary headquarters,” Det-tronics said.

Calgary has the second largest concentration of employment and expertise in the energy sector in North America. The city is also considered one of the most advanced centers for energy research and innovation in the world and the technologies developed in Calgary for Canada’s challenging geological and environmental conditions are deployed globally, Det-tronics said.

ERA Aviation achieves Medallion Shield award

The Medallion Foundation Inc., a non-profit Alaska aviation safety organization, has awarded its highest honor, the Medallion Shield, to Anchorage-based Era Aviation. Achievement of the award involved completing the Medallion Foundation’s rigorous programs of safety-related training and evaluation. The Foundation’s standards mostly exceed those required by government regulation, Era said.

“The Medallion Shield confirms the company’s commitment to safety, the credibility of our employees and especially the trust of our customers,” said Era President and CEO Paul Landis. “There were over 80 employee interviews throughout the Era stations that helped validate this high award. Era is only the third carrier in the history of the Medallion program to be awarded the Shield.”

According to the Medallion Foundation, an evaluation for a Medallion shield determines, among other things, that the company has developed a safety culture that holds safety as its core value; has focused on establishing and maintaining a sustained elevated level of safety performance; has top level management commitment to safety; and that the management commitment has a positive impact on the company’s safety culture.

“Congratulations to Era for their hard work and for raising the bar of safety,” Medallion Foundation Executive Director Jerry Dennis said. “We look forward to working with Era to continue that level.”

Era operates scheduled and charter air service between cities, towns and villages in southern and western Alaska, using a fleet of deHavilland Dash 8 and Twin Otter aircraft.

VECO, Udelhoven named exporters of the year

Gov. Frank Murkowski honored two Alaska companies, VECO and Udelhoven Oilfield System Services, with Exporter of the Year awards in May.

The awards are based on 2005 activity, and are accepted at the annual export banquet organized by the Export Council and held at the Hotel Captain Cook.

“The awards recognize the important contribution that exporters make to our state’s economy,” said Murkowski. Lieutenant Governor Loren Leman presented the awards to company executives on behalf of the governor.

VECO provides engineering, procurement, construction, project management and operations and maintenance services to mining, oil and gas, petrochemical, refinery and pharmaceutical industries in more than 30 countries. The company was awarded a consulting contract in 2005 with Rosneft, a Russian oil company, for a multi-billion-dollar Siberian field development and export pipeline.

VECO also developed a new procedure in 2005 to construct and design modular buildings. The new construction technique allowed the company to lease a $144 million prison facility to the government of Barbados over a 25-year period and export a team of 20 people to work the project.

Udelhoven Oilfield System Services has been in business for more than 35 years, with employees in Anchorage, Nikiski, Prudhoe Bay, Houston, Tennessee, Louisiana, Beijing and Tbilisi, Georgia. Alaska-based employees market the company’s services to potential overseas customers, and are stationed overseas to support new projects.

Udelhoven continues to provide construction supervision on ongoing projects in China, developing gas field quality assurance and audit programs in 2005 for Royal Dutch Shell’s Bohai Bay project.

International Trade Director Margy Johnson stated, “These are outstanding Alaska companies, representing the best of our state around the world.”

Moody and Hawk group awarded BP contract

Hawk Consultants LLC of Anchorage and Moody International Group, based in Houston, have won a contract to provide agency personnel for BP’s Alaska operations.

The Moody/Hawk group will supply professionals for BP’s projects on the North Slope and for other Alaska initiatives. Terms of the agreement weren’t disclosed.

Principals of Hawk Consultants are Mike Jens, Dave Norton and Maynard Tapp.

Moody International Group is a large technical services group that provides construction/project management, procurement control, quality assurance and system/product certifications.

BLM’s Colleen McCarthy joins CH2M Hill

Colleen McCarthy has joined engineering company CH2M Hill as a senior project manager and industrial business development leader for the company’s environmental services, energy and industrial systems clients. McCarthy will serve as the company’s primary contact for industrial clients in Alaska, CH2M Hill said.

McCarthy has worked in a variety of positions at the U.S. Bureau of Land Management over the past 10 years, most recently as the deputy state director for the Division of Energy and Solid Minerals.

Prior to joining BLM McCarthy worked as a petroleum engineer for the U.S. Minerals Management Service in Anchorage and as a civil engineer for the Bureau of Reclamation in Billings, Mont. She holds a B.S. in geological engineering from the Montana College of Mineral Science and Technology.

Northern Air Cargo running new flight schedule

Anchorage-based Northern Air Cargo is running a new flight schedule. The changes, which were effective July 24, reflect the growing needs of clients and new Chief Operating Officer Dave Karp’s commitment to customer service, the company said.

NAC has targeted specific are