Oil Patch Insider

Wadeen Hepworth

Oil Patch Insider is a column written by Wadeen Hepworth, who until now has been assistant to Petroleum News • Alaska’s publisher, Kay Cashman. The column will appear three times per month. Contributions to this column do not have to be identified, so feel free to call Wadeen with news or tips. She can be reached at (907) 770-3506 or via email at [email protected].

Good news for Alaska’s oil patch: Insiders in Alaska’s drilling industry told our publisher, Kay Cashman, that The Land Rig Newsletter’s drilling activity outlook, which predicts a 30 percent increase in working land rigs over the next 270 days, is probably dead-on for Alaska.

One particularly optimistic executive predicted a 50 percent increase over the next two winter drilling seasons.

But a very reliable insider at BP said he expects drilling activity to remain flat for BP in Alaska in 2002. That’s good news because the word on the street is much grimmer for BP with expectations that mid to long term investments in the Gulf of Mexico are eating up a lot of cash for other North American projects – i.e. Alaska.

Everyone expects the increase in drilling activity to come from Phillips, Anadarko, TotalFinaElf, EnCana and others.

For more information on The Land Rig Newsletter’s 270 day outlook, email [email protected].

No, they didn’t forget to schedule it: The annual luncheon of the Alaska Gas & Oil Association and the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce is set for July 15 instead of its usual May date.

No theme has been decided for the meeting, but several of the oil companies are expected to send speakers. Last year, Phillips Alaska’s President Kevin Meyers announced the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska discoveries at this luncheon, so don’t miss it.

Do you suppose they waited to schedule the meeting for after the June 3 NPR-A lease sale for a reason?

We’ll let you know more as soon as we know. Tickets must be purchased from the Chamber by July 10. The luncheon meeting will be held in the Summit Hall at the Egan Center. Cost is $18.50 per person. For reservations call 272-2401.

Interested in knowing who attended the pre-permitting meetings with Armstrong Resources in Anchorage last week for its wells near Thetis Island? (See cover story in this issue.) Armstrong’s Stu Gustafson was accompanied by Bob Britch, president of Northern Consulting, and John Lewis, vice president of Natchiq Technical Services.

He says there are about 550 retired ARCO employees living in Alaska, about 325 of those in Anchorage.

Jack, who wants to increase the ARCO retiree group’s membership in Alaska, can be reached at (907) 333-2269.

He said BP’s manager of political affairs is coming up from Houston to attend the barbecue. (Jack also sits on the board of directors of the Phillips Alaska Civic Action Group, a grass roots non-partisan political action group.)

Alaska Railroad ordered it, Steelfab built it, Carlile moved it and North Star Terminal and Stevedoring “picked” the bridge for the railroad airport terminal. At 23 feet 10 inches wide, 9 feet high, 128.6 feet long and weighing 209 tons, the bridge is the largest single piece of freight that has ever been moved across Anchorage. (See photo.)

Too heavy to cross bridges, the route Carlile took in the early morning hours of June 13 was from Gambell to 36th and down Spenard Road. Yours truly was there.

Turning the corner from 4th Avenue to Gambell was a work of art and the suspense was too intense to leave my viewing spot, therefore, I am scrambling at 3 a.m. to include this in my column.

Carlile rented two moving dollies (the tires worked independently) from Lampson in Seattle.

North Star will use two 150-ton Manitowoc 4000 cranes and one 300-ton Manitowoc 2250 crane to lift the bridge.

Congratulations to Steelfab, Carlile and North Star Terminal for one great job.

Watch for a complete photo feature on this move in PNA’s Petroleum Directory, which will be inserted in the next issue of the newspaper.

Jim McHale, president and CEO of Alaska Clean Seas will retire for the third time on August 21. Jim said this time he hopes retirement sticks although I wouldn’t place a bet on it.

Jim is one of the players at Prudhoe Bay; in addition to running the oil spill co-op he sat on several boards and an advisory council.

Jim retired from the Air Force in 1980 and again from Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. where he worked 18 years in project and construction management.

His replacement, Brad Hahn from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, will start June 17.

Jim plans on catching fish at his “camp site” on the Kenai River and spending the winters in Florida. He’s too young to leave the oil patch so everyone hopes this is just another temporary retirement.

Did you know…. The commodore of Seward’s William H. Seward Yacht Club is Marty Lemon, drilling manager at Phillips.

Bob Stinson, president of Conam Construction, is a member of the club and recently sailed his 35’ J-Boat, called the Noatak, in the annual boat parade. Bob said that many oil patch workers have boats and second homes in Seward where the winds are perfect for sailing. Saturday, June 15 the club is holding one of their several races each year.

Hats off to Craig Tornga, who received the 2001 Thomas Crowley Trophy last month. Craig is the general manager of oilfield services for Crowley in Alaska and the award is the top honor an employee can receive from Crowley.

Tom Crowley Jr., who presented the award, said “Craig is a person with a can-do attitude who is always looking for new business opportunities, even those that are outside his normal scope of responsibility.”

Craig helped Crowley secure the Orlan tow contract last year, a mammoth project utilizing two Crowley business units and selling not only Crowley’s skills in ocean towing, but its health, safety & environmental programs as well. The tow involved moving a huge concrete island drilling structure (CIDS) from the North Slope to Sakhalin Island.

Becky Gay, BLG Group, has thrown her hat into the political arena and is running for State House in District 26. Although formerly registered as a non-partisan, she will run on the Republican ticket.

Becky, a 33-year resident of Anchorage, is blessed with a high-energy level (and a degree in economics) that has kept this gal in unique jobs all over the state.

Most Alaskans remember her as the executive director of the Resource Development Council, a position she held for 13 years. During the Hickel administration she managed the state’s effort to open the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas exploration and development. From 1997 to 1999 she served as the government affairs administrator for Mayor Ben Nageak of the North Slope Borough.

Anyone who knows Becky knows she doesn’t back away from a challenge and digs in her heels for what she believes. So hang onto your hat folks, this should be one fun race to watch.

The rig was shut down in February 1999 for $1 million worth of conversion work.

Nordic/Calista has joint ventured with Schlumberger and together they are doing the work on rig No. 2 at Prudhoe Bay.

Lynden Transport will move a new derrick, built in Edmonton, Canada, up the Alaska Highway in July.

The derrick will make it easier to handle coiled tubing and can be lowered so the Nordic/Calista rig can move under power lines more easily, Phil said.

The rig will drill for BP at Prudhoe Bay, Milne Point, EOA and WOA.

Another merger has taken place in the oil patch but this time it is two Japanese trading companies. Marubeni Tubulars, Houston, a key player in the Alaska pipe business in the 1970s through the early ’90s has merged with Itochu Tubular America Inc. in Houston, Texas.

The new company is called Marubeni-Itochu Tubular America Inc.

Allen Eckhardt, a vice president at Marubeni, who shipped thousands of tons of tubular pipe over the Seward dock will now sell line pipe including up to 64 inch outside diameter gas line pipe.

On his trips to Alaska, Allen made some pretty hairy drives to Seward in near white-out conditions with an Alaskan who was dumb enough to ride with him. He speaks German and Texan and some other interesting languages during white out conditions.

He can be reached at (281) 368-7032.

If you have dirty pipe protectors lying around you might want to call Astech in Kenai.

Astech – which is spelled with all capital letters when you don’t have to follow AP style — is the new kid on the block of innovative new businesses. The company opened their doors in April and outgrew their plant so fast they moved to a new location on June 1.

Companies ship their pipe protectors in state transportation department approved bags or boxes to the Astech plant to be cleaned. The specialized bags ensure no oil or grease escapes into the environment.

For those not familiar with the term pipe protectors, they are the steel or plastic caps placed at either end of tubular pipe to protect the pipe threads from damage. The lubricant used inside the pipe protectors to insure they screw onto the pipe correctly is called “pipe dope” which is simply a form of grease and oil.

Astech has a filter system that cleans the protectors, removes and burns the lubricants in an environmental incinerator that turns the product to ash. An environmental impact study was done by IT Alaska based on info provided by Astech. The study determined the ash is not hazardous but the company decided to handle it as a hazardous material because of the uncertainty of future environmental rules.

After the protectors are clean the company determines which protectors need to go to the dump and which can be salvaged, sold or returned to their owners. Some are shipped back to the pipe mills.

Donald Parker of Petroleum Equipment & Supply is general manager of Astech. Al Hull is the facility manager.

Al can be reached at (907) 394-0957.

Harold Heinze and his wife Cheryll have thrown two hats into the political arena.

Harold has filed for the Alaska Senate in District L that covers downtown and mid-town Anchorage. His wife Cheryll has been working on her campaign for State House in District 24 in Midtown. You may remember they tried life in Talkeetna but found they missed the city and moved back to Anchorage.

Surprise — they too are running as Republicans. Are there any Democrats left in Alaska?

Harold said he is the only Republican running in his district against one Democrat so their race will be decided on Nov. 5. While he has not put his platform together it will include the economy and working with industries and state government to create more jobs.

New people in the oil patch may not know that Harold was president of ARCO Alaska from 1983-87, president of ARCO Transportation from 1987-90 and commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources from 1990 to 1993.

Do you think he misses the rain of Juneau and wants to return bad enough to seek political office?

I’ll ask Cheryll when I interview her next week.

Oil & Gas Supply has moved its headquarters to 6108 McKay Street in Anchorage from Kenai. But the company will also keep its Kenai office open.

Oil & Gas Supply sells industrial hydraulic hose, fittings, repair gasket material, sheet rubber, stainless steel valves, fittings, tube and hose.

The company’s phone number in Anchorage is (907) 344-2512 or (888) 266-2512 if you’re calling from outside the area.

Laurie Gray, CN Aquatrain agent, and his wife Karen have recently returned from a two-week vacation in Peru. Laurie said it was everything he hoped to be and even more.

Pictures Laurie, bring in those pictures so we can travel in our armchairs.