Arctic Slope Regional Corporation.

• Author: Berger, Michael
• Position: Company Profile

Barrow-based Arctic Slope Regional Corp. (ASRC), second on Alaska Business Monthly's 1993 New 49ers list, is the largest Alaska Native corporation in revenues and number of employees. Centered in the oil-rich North Slope Borough, ASRC took advantage of the area's potential and diversified into almost every area of crude oil production and related services.

Arctic Slope's mission statement clearly underlines its principle goal of furthering Native cultural interests and maintaining a positive status in Alaska's business community:

"The Arctic Slope Regional Corp. is a special corporate body established for the benefit of its Inupiat shareholders. ASRC's uniqueness is based on the ancient spiritual value of protecting the land, the environment and the culture of our people. Our charge is to conduct commercial, industrial and other economic activities to enhance Inupiat culture and economic freedoms."

These values and management practices enabled ASRC to earn $27 million in net income for 1992, with total operating revenues reaching $254 million.

ASRC holds nearly 5 million acres of surface and subsurface lands located on the North Slope, including 92,000 acres on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Coastal Plain. Corporation lands contain some of the state's most valuable natural resources, and have been the focus of several exploration programs launched to pinpoint possible commercial oil finds.

ASRC vice president of international development John McClellan says in the short run, Arctic Slope is concentrating on oil and gas development on the North Slope. Of the 13 oil wells on ASRC property, 12 have no commercial value.

"We hope our lands contain oil, but it takes big dollars to prove it," says McClellan. "Right now all we lack to be a vertically-integrated oil company is production capability."

North Pole based Petro Star, a wholly-owned subsidiary of ASRC, is Alaska's only locally-owned, independent refining and fuel marketing company. Founded in 1984 to start a small petroleum refinery near Fairbanks, Petro Star now refines and delivers the finished product.

On the North Slope, Eskimos Inc. is a distributor of fuel and petroleum products to gas stations, tank farms and airport refueling facilities. In 1992, Eskimos reached a five-year agreement to furnish diesel fuel to the North Slope Borough.

Other ASRC subsidiaries are: oilfield service company, Natchiq Inc. and its affiliates VRCA Environmental Services, Alaska Petroleum Contractors...