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PETROLEUM DIRECTORY: An ounce of prevention: helping the oil industry protect the environment, its own productivity MIAC’s expertise ensures that industrial equipment is safe for the people who operate it and the environment where it lives Mara Severin PNA Contributing Writer
Marty Anderson, president and founder of MIAC, has a pet peeve: “I can’t stand hearing people, usually in the Lower 48, accusing Alaska oil companies of not caring about the environment.” The truth is quite the contrary, he says. “I don’t know of another industry that spends millions and millions of dollars for proactive and preventative actions to protect the environment.”
What do these millions of dollars buy exactly? In part, they pay for the services of MIAC, which is in the business of providing corrosion prevention consultation, inspection and quality-control services that ensure safe and effective use of industrial equipment in Alaska’s oil companies and beyond.
In this industry, says Anderson, “safety is first and productivity is second.” A set of priorities rarely attributed to big oil, says Anderson.
Going solo — 20 years in the business pays off Few people better understand the importance of equipment integrity in the petroleum industry. Anderson graduated from Soldotna High School in 1982 and immediately began a career as a welder for such companies as Agrium when it was known as Colliers Chemical. In 1990, Anderson’s field expanded when he began working for Udelhoven in the quality assurance and inspection department. By 1995, Anderson had joined Polar Supply Co. as vice president and started its Corrosion Prevention Division. In 1999, with the BP-ARCO merger and the changes in the oil industry including the threat of layoffs, Anderson, who had long considered striking out on his own in Alaska, decided that if he was going to begin his own business, it was now or never.
He started small, working in an office in his own home. But his timing was right. Years of developing relationships in the oil industry and years of respected work as a welder and a corrosion expert paid off. “The industry really supported me,” says Anderson.
His success as an independent Alaska businessman is easy to trace. He recently completed a year as president of the North Peninsula (Nikiski) Chamber of Commerce and just submitted his application to run for a District 5 seat on the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly.
The economy of decay — three reasons for corrosion There are three major reasons for corrosion on industrial equipment, according to Anderson. First is inadequate fabrication and application. “Jobs are given to the lowest bidder,” explains Anderson. “Contractors are under pressure to make money. They want to do a good job but may still cut corners.”
Second is inadequate design which, Anderson is pleased to say, has become a smaller problem over the years. “In some cases,” he says, “we’re dealing with facilities designed in the 1950s and ’60s. They simply didn’t have the best technologies and materials at the time they were built.”
Third is a lack of adequate oversight and inspection. Sometimes equipment is failing and no one knows it, says Anderson. “Smaller oil companies are under pressure to stay within budgets and so they spend less on inspection services.” This was a huge issue 10 years ago, he says, but companies are becoming much more educated about the issues of corrosion. “NACE (National Association of Corrosion Engineers) is doing a wonderful job in educating the industry,” he says.
Qualified applicants only need apply While there are only three basic reasons for corrosion, there are countless methods to prevent, detect and treat it. Staying on top of these methods and maintaining the required certifications to apply them is a constant challenge.
Coating inspections, welding inspections, tank inspections and non-destructive testing are just a few of the services offered by MIAC and require personnel with an arsenal of qualifications, says Anderson. All of MIAC’s inspectors are certified with the American Welding Society, level-one NACE trained coating inspectors, API 653 certified which is required to inspect above ground tanks. This is no small feat. “It requires a minimum of five years’ experience and then you have to undergo a lengthy examination,” he explains. And then there’s certification maintenance.
Among the certifications that Anderson maintains in addition to the ones listed above are AWS Certified Welding Inspector, API 570, which certifies an in-service piping inspector, and a level 3 NACE coating Inspector as well as a NACE corrosion technologist. “As the owner of the company, I still have to do many of my client’s inspections in order to stay current.”
High-tech corrosion prevention meets low-tech customer service Considering the high-tech nature of the petroleum business, and the business of inspecting its equipment, Anderson’s customer service philosophy is remarkably homespun. “In the world of e-mail and voice-mail,” he says, “we believe in speaking face-to-face. If that means getting on a plane to be in a customer’s office, then that’s what we do.”
It’s this extra step, says Anderson, that allows MIAC to serve their customers in a unique way. Most companies that provide inspection services, he says, are utilized by companies that know exactly what they want and require little in the way of creative problem solving. “It’s usually a question of, ‘I have this pipe, come and X-ray it,’” says Anderson. “They want problems identified, but not solved.” MIAC, on the other hand, prides itself on finding solutions to problems they identify and on preventing problems to begin with. “We’ll have an engineer call up who is working on a project and he’ll say, ‘Here’s my scenario. I have a pipe that will be splashed on by salt water. Can you help me find a product? Can you write up an inspection plan? Can you arrange the inspection?’” The answer, says Anderson, is a resounding yes. “We’ll build a package that’s just right for him,” says Anderson. “We don’t just create one widget. We mold a widget to fit our customer’s needs, any way we can.”
This philosophy of low-tech customer service and high-tech service must work — on the list of companies for whom Anderson has done inspection work for are ARCO Alaska, ARCO Pipeline, British Petroleum, Shell Western, Conoco, Marathon, Alyeska Pipeline Company, Tesoro and Unocal.
Asking the right questions and finding the right answers MIAC is involved from the get-go. When a company is constructing new equipment, MIAC is there, to ensure that the contractor is building it according to regulatory standards and to those set by the company itself. “We ask all of the essential questions and other questions that are not so obvious. We’re the ones asking, ‘Why is that pipe leaking? Why is that paint falling off?’”
Once construction is complete, MIAC maintains it, subjecting it to constant inspection. “We do ultrasound, thickness readings and proactive work,” he says. Replacement and repair is the final and perhaps most essential stage of service that MIAC offers. “If we find any sign of corrosion, we recommend mitigation procedures to the owner,” says Anderson. Ultimately, he says, the trick is to fix corrosion before it becomes a problem, instead of waiting for an incident to occur.
Smooth sailing — MIAC faces new horizons In an ever-changing industry with ever-changing regulations, MIAC is constantly evolving and developing new expertise. Lately, they have expanded their focus to include work in transportation. Currently, they have a contract with the city of Sacramento to perform quality-assurance services for welding as the city undertakes a nine-year plan to update its light rail system. MIAC has also expanded its services to the cities of Memphis, Pittsburgh and San Jose. In addition, they have taken on some marine and aviation projects both in the state and nationally.
However, while MIAC’s vision broadens along with its range of services, Anderson remains steadfastly dedicated to the petroleum industry of Alaska.
“It’s our bread and butter,” he says. “We’re never leaving petroleum — it’s what got us here in the first place.”
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