Arctic Directory: With more than 20 years experience, GESI gets the job done

GESI uses innovative technology to reduce disposal cost for the oil and gas industry

Q. What do you most want people to know about your company?

A. Global Environmental Systems, Inc. is committed to a safety work culture across the company as a whole. Our safety culture combined with our high work ethic is for the benefit of the customer.

Q. Where is your company located?

A.We have an office in Kenai, 36370 Bore Tide Ct., as well as a fab shop and equipment yard on the north road.

 Q. What year was the company founded, who founded it, and what was its original name?

A. Global Environmental Systems was founded originally in 1987, by myself, and three other partners. In 1995, my son and I reorganized the company which started the successor company, GESI.

 Q.  Who heads up your company and who is on its senior management team?

A. Our senior management team consists of T.J. Northcott, President; Thom Northcott, Vice-President, Project Management, Consultant and Injection Engineer; Kathryn Thomas, Sales, Special Projects, Public Relations and Legislative Analyst; Paul Vaas, Mud Engineer, Solids Control, Injection Engineer and Consultant; Barbara Nelson, Human Resources, Administrator and Accounts Payable.

Q.  Does your company have any partnership arrangements and when did they become effective?

A. GES, Inc. has completed a multi-year joint venture with a large contractor in the Kenai Gas fields to close out reserve pits, as well as 3500 cubic yards of Norm scale from a pipe yard. GES has also completed a joint venture with ArcTech, testing reserve pit closures and injection.

Q.  What is the company’s primary business sector and what services do you offer?

A. Our primary business is oil field support services. We provide safe recycling, waste minimizations, and disposal of industrial, refinery, and oilfield by-products, on and off-site, dramatically reducing transportation disposal costs and their associated liabilities. We provide G & I plants both mobile and stationary, and rental of oil field equipment. Providing services both “Turn Key” and day rate.

Q.  Who are the company’s main clients?

A. Our main clients are oilfield, construction and engineering companies.

Q.  How many employees does your company have?

A. GIS Inc has a core group of managers and engineers, with employee numbers varying according to project size and activities.

Q.  What essential equipment do you use and are there any purchases planned?

A. Grinding in section, solid classifying, fluid handling, solid control as well as oilfield equipment. Our equipment is portable or stationary oilfield G & I systems, which allows maximum flexibility to custom-fit equipment to the job and location with a rapid response time.

Q.  Is your company expanding any of its operations or locations?

A. We are continuously updating our operations with new equipment and processes to reduce the cost of handling and disposing of solids and fluids.

Q.  What is your company’s main strength or its edge over the competition?

A. We are a private company, and that gives us the ability to react fast and commit resources to our customers. Our design of the G & I system has become the blueprint of all G & I systems. We were first to use the beneficial reuse recovery of drill cuttings, to remove and close out old reserve pits, to test and evaluate grinding equipment both on the North Slope and the Kenai Peninsula, and to be permitted to use G & I sites in a wildlife refuge. Having over 20 years of experience of safely injecting millions of barrels of fluids and solids as well as rental equipment, benefits our customers.

Q.  Has the company invested in any new technology in the last two years?

A. We are constantly engaged in research and development of new and innovative systems and equipment designed specifically for waste stream management. We continuously analyze problem situations then design, build, test, and operate our process systems to obtain the best possible results for our customers.

Q.  What is the most challenging job the company has undertaken? 

A. We cleaned the inner legs of a platform to the depth of 123’ below sea level to remove the scale rust and we pumped the solids 190’ vertically to be treated. We closed out old reserve pits, over 2000 containers, tank bottom sledges from all sources on the peninsula.

Q.   What do you see as your company’s biggest challenge in the next five years?

A. Our biggest challenge will be securing work in the face of uncertain government taxation and regulations to the oil industry. The government does not understand that incentives and tax breaks will increase development of resources.

Q.  What is the most humorous story from your company’s years in business in Alaska?

A. Years ago, the many service companies tried and couldn’t figure out how to break down emulsion left from the oil base drill mud. One day I washed my hands over the emulsion wash pan, using a common dishwashing soap. The next day the emulsion was broke down providing a technological breakthrough; the emulsion breaker was in soap, we found the emulsifier and developed it.

 Q.  Does your company have an anniversary or other landmark eve coming up? If so, describe.

A. We have a 25th anniversary of doing business in Alaska coming up in 2012.

Q.  What is the average length of time employee’s work for the company?

A. Length of our employee time varies with the seasonal workers. On average our permanent management team averages 10-plus years with us.

Q.  What is your company’s safety record?

A. We recently received the: “Alaska Contractor of the Year Safety Award”, from Marathon Oil. GES was also nominated for Marathon Oil’s, Worldwide, “Living Our Value’s Award”, and out of 1500 companies we received the award from President and CEO, Clarence P. Cazaloy, at an awards ceremony in Houston, TX.

Q.  Does your company or its partners or subsidiaries maintain websites? 

A. www.gesi-ak.com