From Alaska's North Slope to Bermuda.

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 anywhere. "We had some guys in Bermuda," Klemmer said, "but they're not there now."

Udelhoven does have people working on the Kenai Peninsula and on the offshore platforms in Cook Inlet. Again, this is consistent with the original mission of the company to provide oilfield services.

Udelhoven mostly contracts to handle such things as functional check-outs, quality assurance, quality control, electrical and instrumentation installation, industrial and modular fabrication, piping and plumbing, although they will take on other projects if they feel it within their expertise.

Noteworthy projects during 1996 included extensive quality assurance and functional check out contracts with Arco and BP, a major portion of the construction of the new headquarters for the First National Bank of Anchorage, and the Chevron Tank Farm.

James Udelhoven remains president and CEO of the company he founded 21 years ago during the excitement that permeated Alaska as part of the oil boom. His key assistants are Leland Daigle, senior vice president, James Gilbert, vice president and manager of FCO/QA, and Stephani Klemmer, vice president of administration. The main office is located at 11401 Olive Lane in Anchorage.