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PETROLEUM DIRECTORY: Service provider for energy industries ASRC Energy Services has the resources and expertise to deliver comprehensive oilfield, other energy related services Alan Bailey Petroleum Directory Contributing Writer
It's been just a few months since Natchiq Inc., the oil services subsidiary of Arctic Slope Regional Corp., reorganized itself as ASRC Energy Services Inc. The reorganization is giving the company a clearer identity as part of ASRC and is enabling some streamlining of the company's operations.
"We're two months into it now, so we've pretty much established our identity," Jack Laasch, executive vice president for strategic development and external affairs for ASRC Energy Services, told Petroleum News in June.
ASRC Energy Services represents about 40 percent of Arctic Slope Regional Corp.'s billion dollar a year operation and is one of the largest oilfield and energy service companies in Alaska. The company now consists of three distinct business units: Operations and Maintenance; Pipeline, Power and Communications; and Engineering and Technology. Together, these three units provide a complete range of energy-related services.
"'From formation to pump station', that's our slogan," Laasch said. "We've basically got everything covered from initial exploration to delivery ... we can provide all the front-end planning for field development all the way through to the construction of facilities. And we get into the operations and maintenance ... after it's up and running." Field development and drilling support The Engineering and Technology business unit supports exploration and oil field development by providing technical expertise in geology and geophysics, drilling engineering and operations.
The company has achieved an enviable record of drilling services for all of the major players in the Alaska oil and gas industry. These services include well planning, well stimulation consulting and well testing.
Geology and geophysics services range from frontier exploration to field studies involving expert interpretation and evaluation of well logs and seismic surveys.
"That's actually one of the newest expansions of our core competencies, so we're really excited about that," Laasch said.
ASRC Energy Services subsidiary, Tri Ocean Natchiq Engineering out of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, designs oil and gas facilities and provides project management services. Tri Ocean Natchiq offers engineering services all the way from conceptual design to construction and startup.
"They did the design of the Alpine modules and they've also done quite a bit of design for Sakhalin Island, in addition to a long list of other projects" Laasch said.
Omega Natchiq, ASRC Energy Services' subsidiary in Louisiana, also provides a wide range of engineering and construction services, including the design of oil facility control systems and the fabrication of oil platform topside facilities. Operations and Maintenance The Operations and Maintenance business unit of ASRC Energy Services complements the engineering and technology unit by constructing, operating and maintaining oilfield facilities.
"Operations and Maintenance provides oil and gas services here in Alaska and in Sakhalin Island," Laasch said. "They also provide industrial construction; operations and maintenance; module fabrication, assembly and project management."
The company's fabrication facilities in Anchorage and Nikiski, on the Kenai Peninsula, produce a variety of industrial structures.
"In our Anchorage facility the operations and maintenance business unit fabricates structural steel and piping components, in addition to assembling truckable modules — they're modules up to 100 tons that can be transported down the highway," Laasch said.
Access to a deepwater dock at the Nikiski facility enables that facility to fabricate larger modules requiring sea lift transportation.
ASRC Energy Services' long list of fabrication and construction projects includes work for many of the Alaska oil fields.
"Operations and Maintenance’s largest (project) so far is the Alpine project," Laasch said. "... we constructed a large portion of it in both Anchorage and Nikiski, and then performed installation on the North Slope."
The company also fabricated structural steel and piping components for the Northstar field.
"We've also done a lot of construction work at Kuparuk and Endicott on the North Slope, in addition to the platforms in Cook Inlet," Laasch said. In addition to constructing facilities, the Operations and Maintenance business unit provides extensive maintenance services for several of the oilfields on the North Slope and in Cook Inlet. Pipeline, Power and Communications ASRC Energy Services' Pipeline, Power and Communications business unit focuses on the construction and maintenance of pipelines and power distribution systems, and on the installation of fiber optic networks.
The pipeline component of the business, Houston Contracting Co., is one of the oldest union pipeline companies in the United States, Laasch said. Houston Contracting has amassed an extensive experience of building Arctic pipelines. The company pioneered the use of Arctic directional drilling in the Colville River crossing for the Alpine pipeline, for example.
In another pioneering project, the company laid the Northstar pipeline — the first subsea pipeline ever laid under the Arctic ice.
"That hadn't been done before — there is no other pipeline buried underneath the ice," Laasch said. "The pipeline was welded on the ice and installed into an excavated trench in the ocean floor through a slot cut in the ice."
Houston Contracting Co. is also involved in constructing facilities for the National Missile Defense System at Fort Greeley in Delta Junction, Alaska.
Houston Contracting Co. Western States division in Olympia, Wash., provides pipeline maintenance and construction services in the Lower 48.
Global Power and Communications, another part of the Pipeline Power and Communications business unit, specializes in constructing high-voltage power lines, commercial electrical installation and the installation of fiber optic communications lines. This ASRC Energy Services subsidiary has recently completed the electricity intertie between Fairbanks and Nenana. Fiber optic installations have included a major network on the North Slope and several fiber optic networks in Fairbanks and Anchorage.
As in the Operations and Maintenance business unit, maintenance services go hand in hand with the construction services. Houston Contracting Co. has achieved 20 years of experience in maintaining pipelines and facilities. Houston/NANA LLC, a joint venture between Houston Contracting Services and NANA Development Corporation, provides maintenance services for Alyeska Pipeline Service Company.
"They provide maintenance and warehousing for the 800 mile (trans-Alaska) pipeline and the Valdez Marine Terminal and maintain a fleet of over 2000 pieces of heavy equipment and vehicles" Laasch said. Positioned for the future With ASRC Energy Services' teams of experts ready to assist customers with almost all aspects of energy production, Laasch thinks that the company has positioned itself especially well for Alaska's evolving oil industry. The oil companies operating in Alaska increasingly value the flexibility of contracting specialist services of the type that ASRC Energy Services can offer, Laasch said.
"The independents definitely don't have the same infrastructure that the majors have, so there's going to be more of an opportunity for contractors to provide services," Laasch said.
And a mature oil province such as Alaska requires specialist expertise and local knowledge.
"As a field declines you need people who can bring expertise in to make wells last longer, making a field last longer in a declining situation," Laasch said. "We've got a very capable workforce — a lot of people have been with us for a long time. In all of our operations, we've hired the highest caliber of people."
So, Laasch sees a bright future for his company.
"We're optimistic about the future... It's just that it won't be the same scenario as it was during the development of Prudhoe Bay," he said.
Editor's note: Alan Bailey owns Badger Productions in Anchorage, Alaska.
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