♦ May Special Section ♦

Oil & Gas

ConocoPhillips Update
After new oil from Greater Mooses Tooth 2 boosted overall output from the North Slope in 2022, ConocoPhillips is poised to make an even bigger impact with Willow, announcing a final investment decision in December while anticipating drilling this year at Nuna. The company updates us on its exciting developments.

Baseball Cards: Cook Inlet’s Oil & Gas Players
Can’t tell the players without a program, so to help sort out the vital oil and gas fields of Cook Inlet, we once again present a primer in the form of baseball cards. Clip them, trade them, and collect the whole set of onshore and offshore producers.

CNG Vehicle Fuel
In addition to its single gasoline/diesel station, Utqiaġvik has a compressed natural gas (CNG) filling station. Meanwhile, Alaska CNG is the distributor for Norgasco, the Deadhorse-based utility pioneering CNG for ground transport, including Fairbanks North Star Borough buses. The expense of vehicle conversion keeps CNG marginal as a fuel, but the potential is there.

Waste Oil Utilization
By reheating leftovers, waste oil technology extends the life of energy resources. Nenana Heating Services sells furnaces that burn waste oil, and Holland America Princess is fueling tour buses with cooking oil from cruise ship kitchens. Find out about technology that can squeeze energy from a waste product.

TRUapp Energy by Tex R Us
Tex R Us is an Anchorage-based software developer that makes TRUapp Energy, which the oil and gas industry uses to help manage its assets. Get to know the coders behind the app and take a peek at a new software-as-service that will be its next product.

Alaska Oil & Gas Historical Society
The history of oil and gas in Alaska is long, but the history of the Alaska Oil & Gas Historical Society only started in February 2023. What does the society do, and what stories does it have to tell?

Construction: Project-based Joint Ventures
On projects big and small (but mostly big), contractors sometimes team up as a joint venture (JV). For example, ChemTrack and Cornerstone formed a JV when they had to remove a runway in Kaktovik. We look at when competitors decide to cooperate on joint bids and how these partnerships work.

Transportation: Community Winter Access Trail
Full-sized cars and trucks drive the streets of Alaska’s northernmost town, but how did they get there? Discover the state’s other highway system, the Community Winter Access Trail, a seasonal economic asset that connects Utqiaġvik over the frozen tundra to points south.

Tourism: Cross-Gulf Cruises
New for 2024, Princess Cruises is adding a package to fly passengers to see the world-famous bears of Katmai National Park and Preserve. Learn more about the tidal wave of visitor traffic across the Gulf of Alaska and the shoreside attractions off the usual cruise track.

Telecom & Tech: Ethics of AI
Software tools based on machine learning open new possibilities for creative workflow, but what are the ethical implications? As various industries find uses for generative AI, they wrestle with disclosure, transparency, and intellectual property questions.

Fisheries: ALFA BETA
The Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association received a $700,000 federal grant for ALFA BETA, the Boat Energy Transition Accelerator, to replace diesel motors with hybrid and electric ones. How far will the money go toward modifying the fleet, and what kind of sparks fly when electric boats hit the water?

Energy: Railbelt Decarbonization Study
A report by the Alaska Center for Energy and Power at UAF concludes that Railbelt communities could indeed generate 96 percent of electricity from non-fossil-fuel sources by 2050, but there’s a catch. Dive into the Railbelt Decarbonization study and discover how much capital investment would be required to meet the lofty sustainability goal.

Education: Alaska Resource Education
Alaska Resource Education (ARE) is praised for introducing young people to the state’s major industries, including oil & gas. For example, the Pipeline Training Center in Fairbanks hosted a summer camp for school-aged kids, and ARE started a course for teen girls, sending them on field trips to various energy resource sites. What else is ARE up to? What impact does it have?

Manufacturing: Build a Better Bunny Boot
Alaska Gear Company is the new brand for Airframes Alaska, reflecting how the Palmer-based company doesn’t just make bush plane parts and tents for Arctic whalers, but industrial portable shelters through TundraTech Alaska and all sorts of spinoffs. The latest gear is an innovative boot that’s out for field testing. Check out the journey an Alaska-made product takes to enter the market.

Media & Arts: Music Census
Whether as a serious hobby or as a profession, Alaska musicians keep busy on stages and in recording studios. Who gets into this business? How far does their talent take them? And how can event organizers hire a music act that’s right for them? A recent census by the nonprofit Alaska Independent Musicians Initiative begins to answer those questions.

♦ July Special Section ♦

Best of Alaska Business

Best of Alaska Business Winners
Alaska Business honors dozens of companies selected by readers through a write-in survey as the best in categories ranging from General Contractors and Tattoo Shops to the Best Places to Work. The list stays fresh with new categories this year, including Best Tacos, Best Thrift/Antique/Secondhand Store, Best Snow Removal Company, and more.

BOAB Dynasties: Repeat Winners
Year after year, they reappear. Having cracked the code to BOAB success, a select few consistently rank among the best. These champs reveal their secret strategies for earning a loyal following, and they preview what they have in store to remain one step ahead of the competition for next year.

Best and Brightest: Startup Winners
The only category that a company can never win twice is Best Startup. Meet the winners who made the biggest impression during their first year of operation.

Best of Tomorrow: Kids Business Fair
The Workshop, a nonprofit community center in South Anchorage, hosts regular craft classes for kids. Those handiworks graduate to the sales table at the Kids Business Fair, an event for supporting aspiring entrepreneurs. Today’s tiny tycoons are on track to become tomorrow’s BOAB winners.

Professional Services: Brokering Business Sales
When an owner wants to sell their company, or a buyer is looking to acquire, someone steps in to facilitate the transaction. Starting with the professionals who obtain an accurate valuation of the enterprise to the real estate brokers who handle business deals on the side, learn how to shop for a shop.

Government: Why Business Licenses?
Vendors at the Alaska State Fair are sometimes surprised to learn that, to do business at the Palmer fairgrounds, they need a license from the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, in addition to city and state licenses. Proposals to eliminate that layer of regulation raise the question: what’s a business license for, anyway? Every business needs one, so this article discovers why.

Media & Arts: Publishing Services to Make Writing Pay
Everyone, it seems, has an idea for a book, but making money as a writer takes more than talent and dedication. Publishing involves a network of support services that connect writers to readers, from freelance editors to agents and printers. Enter the authorial ecosystem, from “once upon a time” to “happily ever after.”

Small Business: Directories and Business Finders
To sift through local markets and bazaars, Makayla Gallagher invented the Mat-Su Events and Food Trucks app. She’s not alone; vendors have multiple channels to market their wares through a searchable index, such as the Buy Alaska website.

Insurance: The Commercial Providers Market
The market for commercial insurance providers in Alaska is challenging. Why go through form filings and every other hurdle when carriers can tap a larger population anywhere else? Local carriers typically join larger Outside organizations in order to expand product line offerings and access to reinsurance options.

Healthcare: Specialists
Specialist physicians make a career by doing one thing very well. From neurologists who operate on certain brain injuries to docs who know everything about feet and ankles (but nothing about hands and wrists, and vice versa), these experts have chosen a very narrow lane. What attracts a specialist to a particular niche, and does the job ever get boring?

Construction: Specialists
Specialty contractors make a career by doing one thing very well. From installing doors (never windows) to cutting or edging concrete (never simply pouring a slab), these experts have chosen a very narrow lane. What attracts a specialist to a particular niche, and does the job ever get boring?

Oil & Gas: Outfitting
Norwegians say, “No bad weather, just bad clothes.” With the right gear, even the weather on the North Slope can be… tolerable during the winter work season. Corporate outfitters are an essential support service, tailoring products to the industry’s needs to keep them safe.

Environmental: Natural Burial and Water Cremation
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust… tend to expend a lot of energy and chemicals to dispose of the deceased. Get to know the owner of Flameless Cremation Services, an Anchorage business that bids beloved pets a final farewell with a mixture of potash and water.

Tourism: Dive Shops
Life is the bubbles under the sea—and visitors to Alaska’s cold, clear waters want a closer look. Local dive shops have the equipment and know-how to take tourists on an aquatic adventure.