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PETROLEUM DIRECTORY: ASCG’s innovation and technology help keep the cost of oil production in line The first to use digital radiography and other techniques, ASCG saves customers money and time while developing expertise for the global market Dawnell Smith PNA Contributing Writer
ASCG Inspection Inc. has significantly cut costs for North Slope operators by using digital technology to inspect pipelines and other oil industry facilities. The technology also eliminates the film and hazardous chemicals required for traditional radiography.
“Anything we can do to get a savings for our customer through technology, we go for it,” said Jeffrey Smith, business development leader for the Anchorage-based firm owned by ASCG Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Arctic Slope Regional Corp.
In the old days, companies relied on manual radiography — the production of images on sensitized film or plates — but the cost of labor, supplies and equipment added up. With digital technology, ASCG Inspection can cut the price and generate images in a tenth of the time. It takes seven seconds for the digital screen and camera to provide the image, Smith said.
ASCG Inspection is one of only a handful in the state and one of only a handful in the world using this technology for production, he said.
“We’re one of the premier company in the world doing digital radiography,” Smith said. “I get e-mails regularly from companies all over the world asking about whether we can do them.”
ASCG Inspection also does plenty of work in more traditional techniques, handling general inspection services and non-destructive examinations for industries that deal in oil and natural gas, construction, nuclear power and other fields. Setting the pace ASCG Inspection developed and fielded the first functional real-time radioscopy system in the world. The company has used it since 1986 to inspect more than 2 million feet of piping, including the trans-Alaska oil pipeline. In another first, the company created an automated corrosion inspection system in 1992.
Essentially a crawling robot with components similar to those used in the Mars rover, the device shoots images of the internal and external structures of a pipeline. Early on, the company used a local fabricator to build the machines but now makes them at its own facility in Anchorage. Although the robot requires little sophistication to build, the custom software is unique and specialized.
The robot is just one type of service offered by ASCG Inspection. The company also inspects pressurized vessels and piping, as well as marine and mobile cargo tankers. It also offers such non-destructive services as visual inspections, digital and manual radiography and automated radioscopy. Other testing methods include magnetic flux exclusion, automated ultrasonic, magnetic particle and liquid dye penetrant.
What's more, ASCG Inspection provides corrosion engineering and project management support along with welding, crane inspections and training, as well as civil, mechanical, electrical and third-party inspections. The company's principle work comes from Alaska’s oil industry. Training, training and training ASCG Inspection trains its employees in a variety of skills, demonstrated by a high number of certifications held by its staff. With a worker roster of 100, ASCG is probably in the top 2 to 3 percent in the nation for companies of its kind, Smith said. At times, the company's workforce has topped 200, depending on its project load.
Many companies have only a few certifications within an entire work force. ASCG Inspection has hundreds of certifications. NDT Level III certifications alone number 19.
This emphasis on national certifications and training keeps ASCG Inspection on top of the curve technologically, said Smith. Part of the package ASCG Inspection is a subsidiary of ASCG Inc., which provides engineering, architectural, surveying and inspection services through its headquarters in Anchorage, with offices in Denver, Colo., and Albuquerque, N.M.
Founded in Alaska in 1981, ASCG Inc. has worked on a wide range of projects, including airports, industrial buildings, water/sewer facilities, roads and highways, landfills, schools, refineries and pipelines. Clients have included the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Federal Aviation Administration and various oil companies.
ASCG Inc. is consistently ranked among the top 500 design companies in the nation by Engineering News Record, an industry publication. It is the largest Native American-owned engineering/architectural firm in the United States.
Meeting the need for higher engineering ASCG Inc. founded Managed Integrity Services Inc. a year ago to provide specialized engineering services to the marine, oil and natural gas industries and other fields. With 15 employees, Managed Integrity Services picks up where ASCG Inspection leaves off, specializing in corrosion and high-end system design engineering.
“They are closely related in the services they do, but they’re also far apart in their approach to providing these services.“ Smith said.
While ASCG Inspection provides general inspection services, Managed Integrity Services consolidates the elements needed to deal with corrosion management, engineering and assessment, as well as lift planning, management and inspection, chemical supply and production chemistry, and support inspection and testing.
The two companies work in complementary ways, but the ASCG leadership looks at Managed Integrity Services as a means of gaining more experience and busines outside the state, said Smith.
“We want to be one of those companies where when you mention the name, people know it," said John McClellan, ASCG President/CEO. “It’s our company strategy to expand operations globally.”
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