From Alaska's North Slope to Bermuda.

• Author: Dalby, Ron
• Position: Udelhoven Oilfield System Services Inc. - Company Profile

In 1976, James Udelhoven formed an oilfield service company to capitalize on the boom that was materializing in Alaska as a result of the discovery of the Prudhoe Bay oilfields and the then on-going construction of the trans-Alaska pipeline. This year marks his first appearance on the annual Alaska Business Monthly list of Alaska's 49 largest Alaskan-owned, Alaska-based companies.

Today, the company that bears his name stands at #45 on our annual list, with 1996 revenues of $21.2 million and more than 180 employees nationwide. Yes, nationwide. Udelhoven has expanded over the years from its original Anchorage office to another Alaska office in Nikiski and a Lower 48 office in Bellingham, Wash.

According to Stephanie Klemmer, Udelhoven's vice president of administration, the Bellingham office is fairly small with only about a dozen people working out of it. Technically the Washington office is known as Udelhoven General Inc. in Bellingham. Outside of Washington, the bulk of the operation is still in Alaska, and most of the work falls generally under the heading of oilfield services.

Udelhoven's biggest contracts come from BP Exploration Alaska, Inc. and Arco Alaska, Inc. Taken together, these contracts account for about 60 jobs on the North Slope. And, these contracts are in the area of oilfield service, the business that Udelhoven was originally founded to handle.

Over the years, though, Udelhoven has branched out in general and sub-contracting for plumbing and electrical jobs, and these can be almost...