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PETROLEUM DIRECTORY: LCMF positions itself for the future The company is building on its reputation for efficiency and Alaska expertise Alan Bailey Petroleum Directory Contributing Writer
If you’re facing the challenges of a construction or surveying project in Alaska you need local knowledge, flexibility and cost efficiency. With 20 years of Alaska experience, LCMF LLC brings all of these benefits to its customers.
LCMF started up in 1982, when a group of enterprising Alaska engineers and surveyors pioneered their services in the remote areas of Alaska. The company later became a subsidiary of Ukpeagvik Inupiat Corp., or UIC, the Barrow village corporation. The company now provides engineering, architectural and surveying services throughout Alaska from offices in Anchorage, Barrow and in the Alpine oil field.
Last year LCMF reorganized, forming a new parent company, Barrow Technical Services. This allowed the creation of a sister company called BTS Professional Services LLC, an 8(a) certified federal contractor. Both LCMF and BTS Professional Services are wholly owned subsidiaries of Barrow Technical Services Inc., a subsidiary of UIC.
“They’re licensed to do similar services (to LCMF), but predominantly the Professional Services is going to concentrate on federal civilian agency and DoD work,” Steve Chronic, general manager of LCMF, told Petroleum News.
LCMF has also restructured its surveying department into separate industrial and non-industrial sections. Each of these sections will be able to focus on its customers’ specific needs, Chronic explained. “We did that to give additional attention to clients on both sides,” he said.
Community relationships The people in LCMF feel particularly proud of their relationships with Alaska Native communities.
“LCMF is strategically positioned for the westward expansion of the North Slope oil fields with its connection to the Barrow village corporation and a joint venture with Kuukpik Corporation, the village corporation of Nuiqsut.” Wiley Wilhelm, engineering manager for LCMF said.
These community links provide unique benefits for customers, because of LCMF’s ability to deal with local community issues.
“LCMF can offer services beyond typical engineering, architectural and surveying. We have a lot of people who are bilingual,” Chronic said. “They can go in and give community presentations, opening up lines of communications that somebody else is not going to be able to.”
And LCMF fosters community support for industry through initiatives such as providing personnel for oil spill response through Alaska Clean Seas, simultaneously helping Alaska Chadux Corp. (non-profit) establish an oil spill response hub in Barrow.
“The staff in Barrow manages and maintains a roster of people with various levels of training that can be called in to respond to a spill, if one should occur,” Chronic said. “It helps (industry and community) when villagers know that their own trained people are on call — what better way to know than if you’re one of them.”
Arctic expertise In addition to its relationships with the communities, LCMF brings benefit to its customers through its specialized knowledge of the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. The company has amassed years of experience of infrastructure engineering and site investigations throughout the state.
One specialty that the company has developed working on the North Slope is in finding and establishing gravel mining and dredging programs for infrastructure development. A significant past dredging project was the construction of the Nuiqsut runway from material dredged from the Nechelik Channel of the Colville River. This project was one of the first runways to be developed by direct dredge discharge fill placement.
“We’ve been developing dredging and gravel mining programs for 20 years,” Chronic said.
In another niche business, LCMF has been successful with bulk fuel storage and distribution system projects. These projects range from the North Slope to a new facility for Crowley Marine Services in Bethel. In addition, LCMF has been working with the Alaska Energy Authority designing upgrades and new community bulk fuel facilities throughout the state. “Recent Denali Commission funding has expanded LCMF’s role designing bulk fuel systems and new power plants in rural Alaska with more than two dozen projects completed to date,” according to Wilhelm.
Utilizing unique approaches to problems is one of LCMF’s strong points. For example, in areas of the state that lack local gravel resources, LCMF has found that the most cost-effective way of building a rural community tank farm is to use pile supports with integral secondary containment systems.
“We have practical, adaptable design for pile-supported tank farms and other infrastructure ... for permafrost soils and poor conditions,” Wilhelm said. The Alpine-Nuiqsut gas line In another example of Arctic engineering, LCMF has designed the pipeline for delivering natural gas from the Alpine oil field to the village of Nuiqsut. The pipeline includes both above ground and below ground sections.
In a construction job like the gas line, LCMF prepares the designs and then oversees the construction.
“We do the engineering and then work with the client through a management role,” Chronic said. “... we bid the project for the owner, we evaluate the bids and work on the owner’s behalf to make sure that the construction’s done in accordance with the specifications and budget.”
LCMF sometimes partners with a construction company to carry out a complete design and build project, often working with a sister company in UIC, Richard Rearick, LCMF’s architectural manager said. In other assignments LCMF may just do the project management or quality assurance. For example, the company is currently managing some construction projects for the Municipality of Anchorage, including various upgrades to the Performing Arts Center, Rearick said.
Rearick attributes LCMF’s success in its construction project management to high-quality services and the company’s ability to respond quickly and flexibly to customer requests.
Surveying LCMF enjoys extensive experience of surveying in remote areas, using both global positioning system technology and traditional ground surveying. LCMF maintains the Alpine Survey Office for ConocoPhillips and is active in NPR-A exploration.
LCMF goes offshore too — surveys of riverbeds and the seafloor, including the transitions to shorelines, has become a specialty expertise for the company.
“We’re doing a component of the NOAA ... re-charting of a significant amount of Alaska waters,” Chronic said. “Prior to that ... we did a lot of just diverse hydrographic work throughout the state ... we’ve continued to do that for industry, (including) river crossings.”
Surveyors also work with aerial mapping companies to validate elevations and locations on maps.
“A lot of times, even with the newer GPS airborne control systems, they still need ground controls to truth those positions, both vertically and horizontally,” Chronic said. “We’re very familiar with all different kinds of GPS survey.” Reputation With its reputation for efficiency and flexibility, LCMF experiences little difficulty in attracting new business.
“We’ve got a long history with most of our clients,” Wilhelm said. “Many of our clients find us by word of mouth — people just call us.”
Compared with larger engineering companies, LCMF can operate with minimal overheads — the small size of the company also enables it to react nimbly to short lead-time requests from its customers.
“We’re small enough I think that we can focus on the needs and not get lost in a lot of management bureaucracy,” Rearick said.
And the company culture encourages a hands-on approach to management.
“The managers are also a lot of times directly involved in the design and the field work on the projects,” Chronic said. “I think by having those people involved it gives the client a little higher level of service and also helps with the development of junior staff.”
So, LCMF, with its sister company BTS Professional Services, has positioned itself for a future of steady growth, continuing its unique blend of technical expertise and Alaska knowledge.
Editor’s note: Alan Bailey is with Badger Productions in Anchorage, Alaska.
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