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Providing coverage of Alaska and northern Canada's oil and gas industry
September 2006

Vol. 11, No. 36 Week of September 03, 2006

PETROLEUM DIRECTORY: Acuren provides comprehensive integrity management services

With expert skill, Acuren engineers test performance of polymers, metals, ceramics and composites for Alaska clients

Q. Where is your company located?

A. Acuren has 60 offices throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. Its headquarters are in Greenwich, Conn.

In Alaska, Acuren functions as an independent company within the group with operations in Anchorage, Prudhoe Bay, Kenai and Fairbanks. Our Alaska headquarters office is at 7911 King Street in Anchorage. The telephone number is (907) 569-5000, and our fax number is (907) 569-5005.

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

A. Original companies which now constitute Acuren are Canspec Group, founded in 1973 in Alberta, Canada, by Ken Stankievech, and Longview Inspection founded in 1980 in Texas by Jim Treat. Canspec and Longview combined operations under the new name of Acuren in 2005.

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

A. Ken Stankievech, president, and Tal Pizzey, vice president, operations, lead the international operations. The senior management team in Alaska consists of Kim Harker, managing director; Nelson Perrin, operations manager; and George Bryant and Kevin Deutsch, alternate project managers, Prudhoe Bay.

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

A. Industries served include oil and gas, power, pipeline, mining, fabrication, petrochemical, pulp and paper, aerospace, railroad and automotive.

Services include the full range of conventional non-destructive testing (NDT) including ultrasonic, radiographic, liquid penetrant, and magnetic particle inspection; advanced NDT services including various automated ultrasonic, phased array ultrasonic, eddy current examination, digital radiography; pressure vessel and tank inspections, positive material identification, visual inspection, guided wave ultrasonics, and more. Materials engineering services include materials analysis, failure analysis, welding engineering, fitness for service assessments, corrosion engineering, quality assurance and visual inspection.

Q. Who are the company’s main clients?

A. In Alaska, Acuren mainly serves the oil and gas industry including BP, Chevron, Forest Oil, Flint Hills, Tesoro and Pioneer. We also serve the mining, fabrication and power industries in the state.

Q. How many employees does your company have?

A. Acuren has 2,400 employees globally and 146 in Alaska.

Q. Describe your essential equipment in general terms.

A. Our primary equipment arsenal consists of:

Industrial radiography equipment and mobile darkrooms

Real-time radiography equipment

Manual, automated and phased array ultrasonic equipment

Magnetostrictive guided wave ultrasonic equipment

Non-destructive testing and inspection equipment

Q. Is Acuren expanding any of its operations and/or locations?

A. We recently opened an office in Fairbanks to provide services to the oil and gas and mining industries in central Alaska.

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

A. Acuren is the only national materials engineering and non-destructive testing company with a strong presence in Alaska. We have tremendous depth in technology, experience and people that is unmatched in the industry. Whether an oil pipeline or a roller bearing, Acuren engineers respond quickly with cost-effective, concise and objective answers. Our engineers work at client field sites or they can examine components in company laboratories.

Q.What new markets, clients and/or projects did your company attract in the last year?

A. We opened new offices in Kenai and Fairbanks in the past year to meet the needs of the oil and gas industry and Alaska’s growing activity in its mining sector.

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

A. During the past two years in Alaska, Acuren has invested in the following new technologies:

Computer radiography system

Real-time digital radiography (hand-held and crawler units)

Magnetostrictive guided wave ultrasonic system

Phased array ultrasonic system

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

A. Providing on-going NDT and inspection services to the Greater Prudhoe Bay and ACT fields on the North Slope — it is the size of the project (120-plus technicians and inspectors) and the variety of services that provides the on-going challenge.

Q. What are the biggest obstacles to completing work the company undertakes?

A. Our biggest obstacle is a shortage of skilled and experienced technicians. This is a problem throughout North America.

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

A. Recruiting, training and developing enough qualified people to meet the demands of our customers.

Q. What do you see as future trends or opportunities for your company from events such as long-term weather fluctuations, resource development, etc.?

A. The development of the natural gas industry in Alaska would provide new opportunities for our services both during construction and in providing on-going maintenance and reliability services.

Q. What is the average length of time employees work for the company?

A. Most of the employees we hired when we came to Alaska in 2002 are still with us. During the past year, our labor force has grown by almost 50 percent.

Q. What is your company’s safety record?

A. During 2005, Acuren had an injury frequency rate of 0.9.

Q. Does your company maintain a Web site?

A. For an overview of services provided by Acuren, we encourage companies with analysis, inspection, or other integrity management needs to visit our Web site at www.acuren.com.






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