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PETROLEUM DIRECTORY: A new era in energy-related construction ASRC Energy Services Pipeline, Power and Communications diversifies its business to meet new market conditions Alan Bailey Petroleum Directory Contributing Writer
In January of this year Houston Contracting Co. became ASRC Energy Services Pipeline, Power and Communications Inc. The renaming and re-structuring took place as part of the rebranding of Natchiq Inc. into ASRC Energy Services. Houston Contracting’s subsidiary Global Power and Communications also changed its name to ASRC Energy Services Power and Communications.
And with the current slowdown in work on Alaska’s North Slope, the rebranding came at just the right time — diversification from oil and gas into broader energy-related construction work within and outside Alaska is enabling ASRC Energy Services Pipeline, Power and Communications to maintain a full order book.
“You can characterize Pipeline, Power and Communications as an energy services company” Warren Christian, company president, told Petroleum News, “Our work is concentrated in mechanical, electrical, industrial projects ... we’ve switched our focus away from just building cross-country pipelines.”
ASRC Energy Services Pipeline, Power and Communications now constitutes one of three business units within ASRC Energy Services, a subsidiary of Arctic Slope Regional Corp. Arctic Slope Regional Corp. is an Alaska Native regional corporation.
As well as broadening the company focus, rebranding more closely identifies ASRC’s subsidiary companies with the regional corporation, Jack Laasch, ASRC Energy Services’ executive vice president for strategic development and external affairs, said. The company re-organization is also streamlining our management structure and enabling more efficient use of personnel, Laasch said.
The three businesses within ASRC Energy Services complement each other as a team. As a result, ASRC Energy Services Pipeline, Power and Communications can enlist expertise such as engineering design from the other businesses. High reputation With its long-serving cadre of dedicated employees, Christian expects ASRC Energy Services, Pipeline Power and Communications to maintain the prominent reputation of Houston Contracting and Global Power and Communications.
“We have a loyal and dedicated workforce. Our superintendents have worked for Houston for years and years — our work crews are superb,” Christian said. “... There are multiple generations of employees working for our company. And, as a matter of fact, our shareholder employment is very important to me personally and our company. One of our core values is to hire, train, promote and retain ASRC shareholders.”
And the company staff has maintained an excellent and enviable safety record.
“Pipeline, Power and Communications has a great reputation with our clients to complete projects safely,” Christian said.
The company also enjoys an exceptional relationship with its unions.
“We are very pleased with our union affiliations — we’re a union company because we want to be,” Christian said. “We get highly skilled craftsmen from the unions ... they’re definitely an important and large part of our success.” Long history As Houston Contracting, the company’s exemplary record in pipeline construction goes back to the 1930s.
“By the ‘60s Houston had projects worldwide,” Christian said. “By 1970 it was active in Alaska and was acquired by ASRC in ‘85.”
The company’s more notable achievements include the first Arctic subsea pipeline for the Northstar field. The Northstar project involved bundling several pipelines together and laying them through the sea ice, Laasch said. The company also handled the construction of the Alpine pipeline on the North Slope — the first pipeline in the Arctic that involved directional drilling.
In the construction of the Badami pipeline on the North Slope the company participated in pioneering the alliance team approach to a project.
“Badami was the first alliance project on the North Slope,” Christian said. “We completed the project on time and within budget.” Recent pipeline work ASRC Energy Services Pipeline, Power and Communications is also continuing Houston Contracting’s tradition of pipeline construction.
“We successfully completed the Kenai Kachemak Pipeline (for Marathon and Unocal) last year,” Christian said.
In another recent Alaska project the company replaced a section of the Enstar gas line that runs from Cook Inlet to the Matanuska-Susitna Valley. The replacement section required a 4,300-foot directional drill under the Susitna River.
The company has extended its business in the Lower 48 — it has offices in the Pacific Northwest and Houston, Texas, in addition to those in Anchorage, Fairbanks and Deadhorse, Alaska.
In the Lower 48, the company is currently working for Williams on an eight-and-a-half mile gas pipeline in Everett, Wash.
In its recent work the company has drawn on its experience of utilizing directional drilling on its projects — most pipeline projects nowadays use directional drilling techniques to string pipelines under natural and man-made obstacles such as rivers and roads, Christian explained.
“There is a very small footprint at the construction site,” Christian said. “They just drill under the river and the drilling mechanism grabs the pipe and pulls it through.” Power and communications The company’s Power and Communications subsidiary builds power transmission lines, fiber optic communications systems, power distribution systems and commercial electrical installations.
“We’ve built electrical transmission projects like the Golden Valley Intertie — that was a rather and unique and challenging project,” Christian said. “We installed the tallest and heaviest structures used in Alaska during the last 10 years, and the span across the Tanana River was the longest during that same time period.” The company also builds and maintains electrical distribution systems including systems for the North Slope Borough and the Department of Defense.
Power and Communications is also the locate contractor for the Anchorage area. Company specialists use utility maps and special equipment to locate buried electrical lines and other utility structures.
Power and Communications has amassed several years of experience in laying fiber optic cable. Although there’s relatively little installation of new fiber optic line at the moment, the company is doing some communications work for the Department of Defense and recently signed a contract for communications work for Copper Valley Telephone Cooperative in Alaska. Diversification As part of its diversification strategy, ASRC Energy Services Pipeline, Power and Communications is performing electrical and mechanical construction for the Department of Defense at Fort Greely, Alaska, and at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
The company is also the maintenance contractor for the trans-Alaska pipeline and the Valdez Marine Terminal.
“We perform maintenance and execute projects along the entire 800 miles of the trans-Alaska pipeline,” Christian said.
Periodically the pipeline is shut down, enabling the company to perform specific maintenance work, which is not possible during normal operations. Careful planning and efficient work minimize down time for the pipeline system.
And so, ASRC Energy Services Pipeline, Power and Communications is using a wide variety of assignments to ride the current dip in oil and gas construction projects in Alaska. However, with plenty of potential for future oil and gas development in the state, Christian and Laasch think that activity in Alaska will return, although not at such a large scale as in the past and with more involvement from the independent oil companies.
“The infrastructure is in place now and the big fields are in decline, so the magnitude of the projects that come up is going to be significantly smaller than what we’ve experienced in the past,” Laasch said.
Meantime, ASRC Energy Services Pipeline, Power and Communications continues to pursue its diversification strategy.
“Right now our focus is going to be mostly on our diversification efforts until the Alaska oil and gas market rebounds,” Christian said. “Ninety-eight percent of our work was on the North Slope six years ago. This year it’s zero.”
In fact, all of the businesses within ASRC Energy Services have positioned themselves to respond flexibly to whatever energy-related services the market needs.
And that flexibility seems to be the way of the future.
Editor’s note: Alan Bailey owns Badger Productions in Anchorage, Alaska
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