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Conam meets economic and technical challenges of construction work in Alaska Stinson says firm’s success due to its track record of quality delivery on the most demanding of construction projects Alan Bailey PNA Contributing Writer
Survival as a construction contractor in Alaska’s roller-coaster oil economy requires flexibility, the ability to find creative opportunities for new work and the consistent delivery of high-quality services.
Conam Construction Co., an Alaska pipeline and oil field facility construction contractor, has thrived through diversification into work ranging from shoreline protection to building a village water and sewer system. It has also maintained a track record of successful delivery on the most demanding of construction projects.
Conam came into existence in late 1984 as an open shop contractor, following the termination of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline project labor agreement.
Conam, an affiliate company to H. C. Price Co., focuses on heavy industry work in remote areas and on open shop markets.
In 1985, its first year of operation, Conam enjoyed a full order book, with work ranging from oil well piping to building oil storage tanks. Bob Stinson, president of Conam, said, “We got into civil projects, pipe projects, electrical projects, anything that the oil field needed up on the North Slope.” The 1986 downturn The 1986 oil price crash caused a severe downturn in activity in the oil fields. Although Conam managed to hold onto a small amount of work in Prudhoe Bay, the downturn forced the company to seek more varied assignments.
Stabilizing the Endicott Causeway breaches proved one of the more notable and unusual assignments at that time. Current and wave action were eroding the two sea channels that breach the causeway between the Endicott oil production island and the mainland of the North Slope. In order to protect the breach openings, Conam laid concrete filled mats.
With oil prices recovering in the late 1980s, oil field work took off again.
In one of its more notable projects of that period, Conam relocated the flare stack at the Central Gas Facility in Prudhoe Bay. “It was a project that required the complete demolition of the flare pit at the Central Gas Facility and the installation of a new flare system,” said Stinson. Timing was critical.
By the early 1990s, Conam had increased the scale of its capabilities. For example, the Produced Water Handling Expansion for BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. in 1990 involved 550,000 man-hours of work and cost $25 million. Yet Conam undertook 15 other significant construction projects in Prudhoe Bay in that same year.
Between 1987 and 1989, Conam also undertook $29 million worth of pipeline rehabilitation work for ARCO Alaska Inc. ‘There were several years of programs to take up and replace pipelines that had been corroded,” Stinson said. Working with the Native community In 1993, when BP and ARCO decided to contract through strategic alliances, the oil companies did not include Conam in their contractor alliance. The result was the exclusion of Conam from work in Prudhoe Bay between 1993 and 1998.
Conam again had to survive by demonstrating its versatility.
One of the most rewarding and positive outcomes of this crisis turned out to be the development of a working relationship with the Native communities of the North Slope.
In late 1994, Conam formed a joint venture arrangement with Tikigaq Corp., the Native corporation of Point Hope in the North Slope Borough. This arrangement led to a series of public works projects, in which Conam was able to employ and train people from the local villages.
One project was the laying of a six-mile gas pipeline for the town of Barrow. Another major undertaking for the North Slope Borough was the construction of a modern water and sewer system for the village of Point Hope. This $65 million civil engineering project took four years to complete and involved planning, design, procurement and construction.
The local population provided 67 percent of the workforce. “We were working that job in 35 to 40 below weather with the wind blowing a lot,” Stinson said. Recent assignments In 1998, Conam returned to oil facility construction work at Prudhoe Bay. In its first assignment the company hooked up some new oil wells for BP in the Milne Point field. Through its joint venture with Tikigaq, Conam was able to employ North Slope villagers for this work.
In another major piece of concurrent work for Milne Point, Conam installed a water alternating gas compressor module.
Conam’s most recent project is the construction of the jet fuel pipeline between the Port of Anchorage and the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. “If you had a signature job for Conam, that would probably be the one,” Stinson said. “We permitted it, and designed it and built it for our client.”
Although Conam’s core business remains pipeline and oil field facility construction, the company will continue to seek innovative ways to maintain its business through diversification.
“Surviving in Alaska means diversification, and not relying on the ups and down of the oil industry,” Stinson said. “We pride ourselves in being able … to do any kind of work anywhere in the state.”
Editor’s Note: This is an abbreviated version of a story about Conam that appears in PNA’s special publication, “Partners in Development.”
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