Arctic Directory: Fugro: Global resources backed by local expertise

Company provides a broad scope of onshore and offshore services tailored to meet the challenges of Alaska’s arctic and sub-arctic environments

Q. What do you most want people to know about your company?

A. Fugro is a worldwide leader in the collection and interpretation of data relating to the earth’s surface and subsurface. Our work in Alaska supports resource development, infrastructure and scientific projects with local experience that dates back to the mid-seventies and includes a wide range of onshore and offshore experience.

Q. Where is your company located?

A. Fugro is a publically held company listed on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange. With some 13,500 employees, the company is headquartered in the Netherlands and maintains offices all over the world. Our Alaska office is located in Anchorage.

Q. What year was the company founded?

A. Fugro was founded in 1962.

Q. What are the company’s primary business sectors?

A. Currently, oil and gas, mining and the public sector are our biggest markets in Alaska. Working in Cook Inlet and the Alaska OCS, we provide comprehensive services to support life-of-field activities. These include marine geophysics, seafloor mapping, 3D seismic surveys, geotechnical investigations, metocean services, ice monitoring and precise positioning, among others. For onshore oil and gas projects, we offer geotechnical engineering, engineering geophysics and geospatial mapping.

With regard to mining, we provide airborne electromagnetic surveys, helping clients identify, detect and delineate mineral deposits of economic value. Over the past five years alone, we have flown more than 35,000 line kilometers for mineral exploration.

For the public sector, we work primarily with state and federal agencies to provide onshore and offshore baseline datasets for scientific and resource management purposes, as well as engineering-grade data to support infrastructure development.

Q. Are there important projects the company is currently a part of or has done recently?

A. We remain involved in Cook Inlet and Alaska OCS activities, providing lease holders with site-clearance surveys, geotechnical investigations and 3D seismic studies. Over the past couple of years, some of Fugro’s most important global assets have been used on these projects. For instance, the seismic vessel M/V Geo Celtic was used during the 2010 open water season for a large 3D program in the Chukchi Sea. This year, the M/V Fugro Synergy will mobilize to the same area for a geotechnical soil investigation. The vessels involved in these projects are truly state-of-the-art, providing the best possible technology to support the client’s programs.

Another project involving high-tech assets is the Statewide Digital Mapping Initiative (SDMI). The SDMI is a multi-year effort to update the state’s outdated and inaccurate topographic maps using satellite-based orthoimagery and airborne-based digital elevation models (DEMs). Fugro’s GeoSAR radar mapping system is being used to develop a portion of the state’s DEM. GeoSAR is unique in its ability to penetrate clouds and tree canopy to accurately map the terrain, even in areas of dense forests and extreme elevation. As an offshoot of this project, we are also examining the extent to which GeoSAR can map snow and ice. The results of this research, which is being conducted in part with the University of Alaska Fairbanks, could have important applications to Arctic oil and gas exploration and development.

Q. What has been your most challenging project environment in Alaska?

A. Alaska’s remoteness, weather and lack of infrastructure make nearly every project a challenge. Cook Inlet is probably the most understated marine environment. Despite its close proximity to Anchorage, we deal with extreme tides, exposure to weather and, depending on the season, ice. You’ve got all the challenges of a world-class project in your own backyard. It’s pretty satisfying work.

A. Our Alaska office is a pretty streamlined group averaging about ten year-round employees. These include engineers, surveyors and administrative staff, all well versed in the physical and logistical challenges of Alaska’s onshore and offshore work environments. In addition to this local team, we also provide access to the larger Fugro network, which includes not only high-tech equipment assets, but also a broader pool of well credentialed employees.

Q. What are your company’s main strengths?

A. First is our long record of success in Alaska. We’ve been working in the state—onshore and offshore—for over 35 years. We understand our clients and their data needs; we understand the regulatory environment and its requirements; and perhaps most important, we understand the geography and its many challenges.

Second, is our ability to offer clients the full range of Fugro’s global capabilities through our local office. Fugro’s decentralized organizational structure enables us to deliver the flexible capacity, advanced technology and specialized staff needed to accomplish any number of complex projects.

Third is the fact that we truly are local. The people that work year-round in the Anchorage office are here for the long haul, invested in the community and engaged in our jobs. We are raising our families here, so we want to see Alaska grow and we are proud to be involved in that process.

Q. What are the biggest obstacles to completing work the company undertakes?

A. I would say the biggest obstacles are weather and logistics. When working in some of the most remote places in the world, having the resources and experience to be self sufficient becomes critical.

Q. What is your company’s safety record? What steps does the company take to ensure a safe work environment?

A. Fugro has an excellent safety record. In Alaska, we have designed and implemented a certified HSE program specialized for Arctic conditions. This program incorporates a quality management system meeting ISO 9001:2008 requirements; an occupational health and safety management system meeting OHSAS 18001:2007 requirements; and an environmental management system meeting ISO 14001:2004 requirements. All projects that run through our office follow these same procedures by staff trained in our HSE program.

Q. What is your company’s website?

www.fugro.com