PETROLEUM DIRECTORY: Worley Parsons acquires Colt Engineering, half owner of NANA/Colt Engineering, LLC

With 20,000 employees, international firm Worley Parsons gives NANA/Colt access to worldwide capabilities and resources in the oil and gas, energy, and mining industries

Q: Where is your company located?

A: NANA/Colt Engineering’s main office is located in downtown Anchorage, Alaska. We also have a fire & gas team branch office in midtown Anchorage, a plant engineering branch office in Kenai, Alaska, and 150 staff located in client facilities on the North Slope of Alaska.

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

A: The company began engineering in 1992 with the creation of NANATest. This small, multidiscipline engineering firm with aUL-listed electrical-panel shop focused on serving the oil and gas industry. From NANATest came NANA Technical Services in 1996, which continued to grow and provide multi-discipline engineering support to the oil and gas industry.

On November 1, 1997, NANA Technical Services joined forces with Colt Engineering of Canada to become NANA/Colt Engineering, LLC. This company was formed to provide a broader range of engineering capabilities serving Alaska’s petroleum, mining, government and utility industries. NANA/Colt Engineering, LLC has a 50/50 ownership between NANA Development Corporation and Colt Engineering, a Worley Parsons company.

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

A: NANA/Colt Engineering’s president and general manager is John Minier and his senior management team consists of Craig Morrison, manager of projects; Jim Steward, engineering manager; Dianna McDowell, manager of business services; Mike Irmen, manager of plant engineering; Stuart Parks, manager of business development and strategic planning, and Bryan Clemenz, manager of project services.

Q: Describe any partnership arrangements and when they became effective.

A: NANA/Colt Engineering has excellent partnership arrangements including work/resource sharing and high-value engineering services with many of our Colt Engineering and Worley Parsons sister companies in Canada, in the lower 48, and at other worldwide locations. Resource sharing has been ongoing with Colt Engineering since NANA/Colt Engineering, LLC was founded. It is difficult to find enough skilled engineering resources in Alaska, and we find that this work and resource sharing has been key in helping us supplement our workforce.

Q: What is the company’s primary business sector? What services does the company offer?

A: NANA/Colt Engineering is a multi-discipline firm providing engineering, procurement and construction management services across a spectrum of markets, primarily in the arctic and sub-arctic regions. Projects are managed from conception through construction, project startup and operations support.

Significant engineering services are provided for major and smaller oil and gas producers in Alaska. We have provided engineering support to all producing fields on the North Slope and several in the Cook Inlet area. Our oil & gas expertise includes feasibility and conceptual engineering studies, oil and gas transportation and distribution systems, project/facility development, procurement and construction management and facility engineering.

NANA/Colt Engineering also provides traditional multidiscipline design services and EPCM services to the utility and mining industries. Markets served include power generation, transmission and distribution, cross-country pipelines, water and wastewater distribution, fire-gas detection and suppression systems and industrial process control systems.

While NANA/Colt Engineering strives to provide the highest-quality services with best value in meeting our customers’ needs, we continue to live by our core values. Our core values are: “Honesty and integrity shall govern our activities, commitments made will be fulfilled, and all individuals will be treated with dignity and respect.”

Q: How many employees does your company have?

A: NANA/Colt Engineering is in a significant growth period and currently employs over 450 engineers, designers, and support personnel.

Q: Describe your essential equipment in general terms.

A: To meet our client needs and to be a premier engineering contractor within Alaska, we continue to invest in capital, maintenance and upgrade costs for business and engineering tools and software. These systems include a Deltek Enterprise System, PrimaVera Project Management System, AutoCAD, Bentley Auto Plant, and many other discipline-specific design software.

Q: Is your company expanding any of its operations and/or locations?

A: The simple answer is “yes.” Colt Engineering, Inc., a 50% owner in NANA/Colt Engineering, LLC was recently purchased by Worley Parsons, an international corporation that is a leading provider of professional services to the energy, resource and complex process industries. Worley Parsons currently has over 20,000 employees. This recent acquisition provides NANA/Colt Engineering with access to worldwide capabilities and resources in the oil and gas, energy, and mining industries.

Q: Is NANA/Colt changing any of its services?

A: We aren’t changing services, but we are expanding both services and markets. We will continue to focus on our strengths and capabilities in the engineering sector, and look forward to expanding our activity in the utility related industries.

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

A: NANA/Colt Engineering believes it is our employees who give us the edge over our competition. Our employees provide the high-quality skills and expertise required for NANA/Colt Engineering to provide the highest-quality products, excellent service and best value to meet our customer needs.

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

A: Over the last year, NANA/Colt Engineering has implemented a new Deltek ERP system, which positions us for future expansion and growth. Additional investments have been made in software that utilizes the Deltek platform, thus enhancing our cost recording, reporting, and earned-value management approach.

Additionally we have invested significant resources in our IT infrastructure and collaborative tools like SharePoint.

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

A: Currently, our biggest obstacle is attracting enough high-quality, skilled employees who want to live in Alaska. With the predicted work in Alaska over the next 10 years, this will be a long-term problem for many Alaska employers.

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

A: The same as the previous question – attracting the people we need.

Q: Does your company have an anniversary or other landmark event coming up?

A: In November 2007, NANA/Colt will celebrate its tenth anniversary.

Q: What is the average length of time employees work for the company? Are you hiring for any positions?

A: We focus on making NANA/Colt Engineering a place that our employees want to work. This shows in that we have several employees who have remained since inception and many others who have returned. NANA/Colt Engineering has been fortunate to see recent growth. We continue to?recruit for all of our designer and engineering disciplines including civil/structural, electrical/instrumentation, fire and gas, mechanical and process (chemical) engineering. Additionally, we are recruiting for key roles in project management, project controls, records information management, material procurement, information and communication technology, travel coordination, health, safety and environmental, and business development.

Q: What is your company’s safety record?

A: In today’s industry, safety is a key element to being a successful company. At NANA/Colt, we are committed to providing a safe and healthy work environment for our employees, our customer and our contractors’ personnel. NANA/Colt has a comprehensive safety program with active participation by all members of our staff. We foster a culture of immediate reporting and an open door policy for reporting any and all safety and health-related near-misses, observations and incidents.

Currently, NANA/Colt has maintained an incident rate of less than .8 over the past 4 years and has achieved over 2 million man-hours without a lost-time injury.

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

A: We do, and we encourage people to check us out at: www.nana-colt.com, www.nanA:com, www.colteng.com or

www.worleyparsons.com.