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PETROLEUM DIRECTORY: Ice road pros diversify for next round Peak Oilfield Service Co. — staying strong, year after year, job after job Susan Braund Petroleum Directory Contributing Writer
In the realm of super heroes like Masters of the Universe or X-Men, Peak Oilfield Service Co. would probably be dubbed the Ice Road Master.
Peak has built more ice roads and pads than anyone on the North Slope. For more than two decades, the company has been a leader in Arctic ice road construction using specialized techniques to create a base for use as a transportation route or drill pad on the tundra.
The environmentally sound method works. Trucks travel the roads in chilling winds and minus 60 degree weather, transporting drill rigs, modules, supplies and personnel — loads up to 2 million pounds — all without damaging the environment. In the spring, the ice simply melts, leaving no trace.
Biologist Jay McKendrick of Lazy Mountain Research is impressed: “The whole process of using ice roads and ice pads is quite remarkable; I’m sent out to look for damages and there are none. No recovery process is needed. During the ‘40s and ‘50s before the environmental movement, the old style roads left ruts that will be here a long time. But, the newer ice roads preclude damage to the tundra; I do not have a job to fix broken tundra when they use ice roads.”
“Our company takes an aggressive approach to contributing to a cleaner safer world,” says Bill Stamps, Peak Oilfield Service manager of business development and external affairs. “We take care of the land.”
Tough and tenacious: Prudhoe Bay, Cook Inlet, Valdez Peak is built tough, having a history of working from 89 below in the Arctic to 117 above in Texas in hard-hitting industrial scenarios. “Temperatures do not affect us,” says Stamps. We’re there around the clock, 365 in Alaska and other challenging environments, yet we have one of the best safety records for the industry.”
Peak has one of largest and most diversified equipment fleets in Alaska and maintains large numbers of pieces of equipment for major oil producers. “We can mobilize quickly; we keep the fleet ready for work at job sites in Prudhoe, Fairbanks, Valdez, Kenai and Anchorage,” says Stamps. “We spend millions on maintaining and upgrading, consistently pulling old equipment to surplus and replacing it with new.”
In Alaska, Peak maintains a permanent camp facility at Prudhoe Bay, offers construction and maintenance services to the Kenai-Cook Inlet oil and gas and industry and provides tank cleaning services to the Valdez area oil industries.
At Prudhoe, Peak’s facilities include a 200 man camp, office, materials warehouse, steam cleaning, wash and fueling facilities, portable buildings for off-site work and an abundance of repair, fabrication and maintenance shops. Peak provides equipment support to North Slope exploration, production and service companies as well as those in Cook Inlet.
Since 1991, Peak has provided maintenance services to the platforms in Cook Inlet, plus 10 onshore facilities. The company’s 6.5 acre Nikiski site is conveniently located within two miles of the Nikiski Dock which services Cook Inlet's offshore platforms and facilities on the west side of Cook Inlet and is also well situated to service the oil and gas fields located on the east side of Cook Inlet.
The site includes a maintenance shop, 5,300 square feet of covered storage space, office space and conference room, and a 4,800 square foot fabrication shop with top-of-the-line fabrication services, including wire feed welding machines, plasma cutter, stick welding machines and a five-ton overhead bridge crane.
In Valdez, Peak maintains a fleet of late model equipment: DOT certified vacuum trucks, roll-off trucks, high/low pressure washers, pipe cleaners and other assorted pumps and cleaning equipment. Peak is proud of its ability to respond to the needs of its clients with little or no notice.
“From top management to the tank cleaning technicians, Peak always has taken the can-do attitude when it comes to performance,” says Dick Dore, Valdez project area manager. “Peak has one of the safest tank cleaning systems suited for cleaning oil tanks where hazardous atmospheres may exist or where a gas-freeing atmosphere is required.”
Utilizing a variety of cleaning processes, Peak performs Alyeska Pipeline Service Co.’s aboveground storage tank cleaning process along the trans-Alaska pipeline and at the Valdez Marine Terminal
And in the past two years Peak has added pipe cleaning to its line of services. “Through research and acquiring some high-tech equipment from England, we’re performing this service even more safely and efficiently,” says Dore. Seamless service — facility construction and maintenance “We’re the only contractor you need to upgrade and maintain your industrial facility,” states a company brochure. “Peak has the capacity and expertise to not only design and construct or modify your facility, but also will maintain your new or upgraded facility on a contract basis to keep your plant operating safely and at maximum performance.”Inside the company In its 16th year of partnership, Peak is owned 50 percent by Cook Inlet Region Inc. and 50 percent by Nabors Industries Inc., the largest land-based oil and gas drilling contractor in the world. CIRI is an Alaska Native regional corporation with holdings in real estate, construction, heavy equipment, oilfield services, communications, tourism and natural resource development.
“The combined financial strength of Nabors and CIRI enables us to stay at the advancing edge of technology and to field the qualified professionals who can assure superior service,” says company President Mike O’Connor. “Peak provides quality driven, cost effective construction, maintenance, industrial cleaning and transportation services to resource development companies.”
A high percentage of Peak employees are Alaskans, circulating dollars back into the state economy. Through job fairs and other recruitment efforts, both rural and urban, the company makes a special effort to hire locally.
As a corporate citizen, Peak stands tall, supporting various agencies and non-profits through volunteerism and financial donations.
Dore attributes the company’s success to its continual management support. “It’s the safety support, the hands-on support and the financial support that makes it all work. Peak gives us the right tools and equipment to get the job done.” Precision Power A company division started in 1999, Precision Power specializes in the sales, installation and maintenance of AC and DC power systems and standby generation systems in remote locations. Using new technology designed in-house and built in Anchorage, the engine units are long-running, requiring no maintenance for up to a year.
Precision Power also constructs ETL listed modular power plants that conform to UL STD 2200, NFPA STD 37 and NFPA STD 70. Other services offered include industrial batteries, uninterruptible power systems, DC power equipment, parts and accessories.
“With our in-house engineering and skilled labor force, Precision Power can design, build and install complete power generation systems to suit all needs,” states Stamps. Bright future Facing recent cutbacks and changes in long-term contracts, Peak is bouncing back through diversification.
“We took a bit of a hit but are already coming out of it and rebounding well,” says Stamps. “We’re still strong, moving in different directions, looking onward and upward, looking at other areas of opportunity in and out of Alaska”
Already invested in working in Russia at Sakhalin Island, the company is hoping to add some work in Western Siberia soon. New projects are expected to come to fruition in the near future according to the optimistic Stamps — “projects that will be a real pleasant addition to the business!”
Peak is not going away, it’s just getting stronger and stronger. “These setbacks have just made us more efficient and strengthened our method of operations,” Stamps says. “We’re not looking back — with our can-do attitude and resilience, our people-driven company is a survivor.”
Editor’s note: Susan Braund owns Firestar Media Services in Anchorage, Alaska.
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