Doyon expands, remains at forefront of drilling tech
December marks the 50th anni- versary of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, or ANCSA, a congres- sional act to settle long-standing ab- original claims to Alaska lands. AN- SCA resulted in 44 million acres of land returned to Alaska Native own- ership a $962 million cash set- tlement that was seed capital for Native regional and village cor- porations formed under the act. Today many of those cor- porations have grown to multi-billion-dollar businesses, many which have also led to an “Alaskanization” of the state’s oil support industries. When Alaska’s oil industry began in the 1960s and 1970s most of the support companies were based in the Lower 48. ANCSA helped change that. With the support of major North Slope producers, Doyon, Arctic Slope Regional Corp., NANA Region- al Corp. and Ahtna Inc. formed companies to do drilling, oilfield and pipeline construction, and facility services including secu- rity and food service. Calista Corp., Bristol Bay Na- tive Corp. and Kuukpik Corp., the village corporation for Nuiqsut, near the Alpine field, followed also formed drilling companies and, in the case of Bristol Bay, firms doing specialized services like corrosion inspection and ice road construction. Although Calista (through Nordic-Calista), Kuukpik and Chugach Alaska (through its Great American Drilling Co.) are in drilling, it was Doyon that led the way, forming Doyon Drill- ing in 1982. Doyon was first in joint venture with Nugget Alas- ka, a company affiliated with Brinkerhoff, a legacy drilling company. Doyon eventually bought out its partner and has since devel- oped Doyon Drilling into a major company operating at the fore- front of technology, particularly in precision horizontal drilling.
What Doyon is most proud of its recruitment and training of its Atha- bascan shareholders, mostly Interior Alaska residents. Many shareholders have been with the company for years and advancing into senior positions on rigs and in management.
Like other Alaska Native corpora- tions Doyon has been able to diver- sify from its base in drilling and oil services. Doyon Utilities, for example, now operates power plants and utility systems on Alaska military installa- tions.
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Changing the way business is done in Alaska
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Fall 2021
The Alaska Miner
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