Engineering Alaska's oil and gas industry.

• Author: Swann, Kirsten
• Position: SPECIAL SECTION: Oil & Gas

From permafrost to pipeline corrosion, the engineering firms that work within Alaska's oil and gas industry deal with it all.

They provide environmental services critical to operating in the state's harsh Arctic conditions. They pioneer new processes to meet the evolving needs of Alaska's oil and gas sector and do geotechnical work necessary to energy projects around the state.

In this field, native expertise and a well-rounded portfolio are key.

Great Northern Engineering

Great Northern Engineering does a little of everything. Founded by the late John Riggs more than thirty years ago and headquartered in Palmer, the company handles everything from bulk fuel tank terminal facilities to well design to airport fueling systems.

It designs tankage, secondary containment, fire suppression, transfer piping, and distribution systems for fuel facilities, as well as instrumentation and control systems. It provides computerized project management, critical path analysis, and other services necessary to bring projects from their earliest stages to completion.

The business is a subsidiary of Old Harbor Native Corporation. While it has deep roots in Alaska's oil and gas industry, its projects also span major commercial construction, telecommunications, and government work.

The company's multitalented staff members are certified in Arctic engineering and API 653 tank inspection and support projects with a wide variety of other skills honed over years on the job. But while Great Northern has extensive experience with tried-and-true methods, the engineering firm is also no stranger to more modern technologies.

The Palmer firm is working with sister company Amee Bay to bring a revolutionary new cleaning process to the Last Frontier.

Dry ice cleaning--a process that uses dry ice pellets in a way similar to sandblasting--has promising environmental and economic effects for Alaska businesses.

"It's a much easier, safer alternative," says Gawain Brumfield, Great Northern Engineering CEO. "The applications are endless."

The technology works like this: First, compressed air moves solid carbon dioxide pellets through high-velocity nozzles. The pellets' kinetic energy breaks up some contaminates on impact, and the rest is taken care of via sublimation, when the solid pellets instantly transform into gas. The rapid expansion removes any remaining contamination from the surface being cleaned; the gas disappears and the leftover dirt can be easily swept or vacuumed...