Sea-lift modules create jobs, boost economy.

• Author: Sullivan, Patty
• Position: Alaska Petroleum Contractors - Industry Overview

Though oil prices are down, new field developments on the North Slope are fueling the economy. In fact, this year marks the first year that sea-lift modules are constructed in the state. Alaska Petroleum Contractors is the largest among fabricators creating these immense transportable facilities.

Welding sparks shower to the floor in brief, fiery flight. Overhead, cranes ockey equipment into position in bays below. Band saws, grinding and groaning, sink their teeth into structural steel.

It looks like business as usual as 80 men in hard hats move about Alaska Petroleum Contractors' fabrication shop, a pale metal-sided building down a dirt road on E. 100th Avenue and King Street in Anchorage. But inside this 60,000-square-foot plant, a revolution among frontier fabricators is taking shape-the sea-lift module.

Small truckable modules with weights up to 105 tons have been assembled in the state and driven up to oil fields for the past 10 years. In fact, APC, a subsidiary of Natchiq, Inc., the 15th largest petroleum contractor in the U.S. and largest subsidiary of Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, has built more than 100 truckable modules, totaling more than 4,000 tons. But never before have Alaska companies fabricated, assembled and barged the sea-lift module, a transportable facility for North Slope oil production and processing. These giants can push the scale to 5,000 tons.

This year oil-company giants like BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc., Arco Alaska, Inc. and Exxon Corp. decided to create an alliance to fabricate in their own backyard rather than continue to rely on companies in the Lower 48. Oil companies on the Slope want Alaska fabricators to succeed partly because it means keeping logistics local. Project teams, once sent to a far-away state, can be positioned in Anchorage at on-site trailers, saving hundreds of thousands of dollars on a single development. And with Alaska wages now more comparable to those in the contiguous states, there is more incentive to hand out contracts to local fabricators. Plus, building locally provides a healthy boost the economy.

Alpine, located 34 miles west of Kuparuk, is the largest of several new oil fields under development on the North Slope. The Alpine field project, which involves the fabrication and installation of 16 sea-lift modules and 32 truckables, alone adds $200 million in revenue to the Alaska economy, said Ted Stinson, manager of special projects with APC.

Approximately 800 to 1,000...