A Nine Mile Falls man who worked for 24 years primarily on the development of highly specialized machinery for Rahco International Inc. has left that Spokane manufacturer to form his own companyand now is consulting on one of the worlds biggest proposed projects, a multibillion-dollar natural gas pipeline in Alaska.


Within two days of leaving Rahco on June 9, Martin Col was in London meeting with representatives of British Petroleum Co., one of the worlds biggest oil and gas producers, to discuss ways to reduce costs on the proposed $17 billion to $20 billion pipeline project.


The long-planned pipeline would connect natural gas fields on the northern slopes of Alaska all the way to Calgary, Alberta, and on to Chicago. That total distance would be about 3,500 miles.


Col says he also is working with BP to design new technology to help that company cut costs on an estimated $120 billion worth of other pipeline projects it foresees in North America, Europe, and Asia over the next 10 years.


It feels good to have a part in the lowering of costs to bring energy to millions of people, says Col.


His introduction to BP initially came when that large company approached Rahco about possible work while he was employed there.


Cols work with BP is an example of how Inland Northwest companies might find opportunities in the billions of dollars of energy-related work being done and planned to the north.


Big players


An 800-mile pipeline in Alaska, the famed Trans-Alaska Pipeline, was built earlier, from above the Arctic Circle to the port of Valdez, on Prince William Sound, at a cost of about $8 billion, but that pipeline primarily carries crude oil. Other projects long have been proposed to pipe what is estimated to be 35 trillion cubic feet of natural gas located in underground reservoirs near Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, but, to date, says Col, Theres no way to deliver it to market.


The state of Alaska is contemplating three proposals to make the valuable natural resource available to consumers, and an arm of British Petroleum, BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc., is one of three big gas and oil companies that has rights to most of that natural gas. BP Exploration, ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc., and ExxonMobile, own much of those rights and have jointly proposed the construction of a pipeline along the Trans-Alaska Highway, then to Calgary, with the option from there of using existing pipelines to transport gas to the U.S., expanding those existing pipelines, or building an additional pipeline, probably to Chicago.


One of the biggest pipeline users in North America, TransCanada PipeLines, has submitted a competing proposal to the state of Alaska requesting that it be allowed to build what is basically the same pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to Calgary, and then buy the natural gas from BP Exploration, ConocoPhillips, and ExxonMobile.


A third proposal, presented by the Alaska Gasline Port Authority, would pipe natural gas from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez, where a refinery would be built to convert it to liquid form to be shipped to other ports.


This would be the largest private project in the history of North America, says Daren Beaudo, a spokesman for BP Exploration.


Says Wayne Stevens, president and CEO of the Alaska State Chamber of Commerce, Its big, and the governor is carefully studying which proposal would provide the biggest benefit for the state of Alaska before making a recommendation to the Legislature.


Cols new company


Having formed a business called LaMar TEK Inc., of Nine Mile Falls, in May, Col has assumed a role with BP Exploration that includes developing a new generation of large pipeline-building equipment to address the environmental challenges of building a far-northern pipeline in the winter, mostly at night, and at temperatures of 60 degrees below zero.


Mine is only one of a couple of international firms being used to develop this equipment concept, says Col.


He anticipates about $50 million will be spent in the creation and development of new machinery before reaching a stage at which that equipment is commercially viable.


That investment, says BPs Beaudo, would be part of an estimated $1 billion thats expected to be spent overall on engineering and planning of the pipeline before construction begins.


Innovative construction systems can save up to 20 percent to 25 percent of the cost of such a project, says Col, who ended his career at Rahco as director of conceptual engineering and new technology.


Col envisions that his role as a consultant to BP Exploration eventually also will involve helping to present the conceptual design of the pipeline equipment to potential investors in the pipeline project.


He says it will take about three years to develop and prove a new construction system, and maybe two more years before construction of the 48- inch to 52- inch-diameter natural-gas pipeline would begin, says Col.


Once work is started, it will take only about two years to build the entire pipeline, Col says.


Beaudo estimates it will take 10 years before natural gas is delivered to the ultimate end-point of the project, three years beyond Cols projection.


Work at Rahco


While at Rahco, Col had a hand in the design and construction of many innovative machines for companies around the world, most related to the mining industry. Included in that list are such machines as salt harvesters designed to retrieve brine sediment for potash beneath shallow lakes; equipment to extract coal from the high walls of mining pits that otherwise would have been exhausted; machinery that lines canals with concrete; and massive conveyor and stacking systems for copper mines.


Col most recently was Rahcos project manager on a conveyor system that is part of a massive oil-sand project under the direction of Calgary, Alberta-based Suncor Energy Inc., in the oil sands of Northern Alberta, Canada. He asserts there is as much recoverable oil in the oil sands of Northern Alberta as there is in Saudi Arabia.


Safety will be a major focus for Col as he designs new equipment for the northern pipeline project, which will include fully mobile work platforms for skilled laborers to protect them from the harsh environment there. He also will try to ensure that the equipment can use as little space as possible as it operates, noting that much can be saved by decreasing the amount of right of way needed for the project.


Another consideration will be keeping to a minimum the number of skilled workers required to run the equipment, Col says.


He says the potential for local contractors and equipment manufacturers, such as Rahco, to receive work from future BP projects depends on their willingness to become part of an investment consortium. He says BP wants such companies to invest in its projects.


The number of high-tech welders and construction workers required to build the pipeline will be massive, and could require bringing workers in from as far away as Australia and Great Britain, says Matt Morrison, executive director of Seattle-based Pacific Northwest Economic Region. He says the possible development of feeder lines off of the main pipeline also could generate many additional years of work for highly-skilled laborers, some of whom who could possibly fly from Spokane or other Northwest cities to Alaska for 10-day work jaunts, then fly back home.


For now, Col is working out of his home. He travels much of the time, works extensively on the Internet and telephone, and has no employees.


Much of the conceptual work he is preparing is being subcontracted to engineers, designers, and drafters he has worked with previously while at Rahco, says Col. Drawings and 3-D models and animations are being subcontracted to a company in Spokane and elsewhere.


Although BP Exploration will probably consume much of the time of Cols new venture, he says he expects his work wont be limited to just one project. He also expects within five years to hire some employees.


There is a large pool of talented individuals in Spokane and around the world, and I know where they are and how to get them, he says.


The basic focus of my company is to do studies for mining and construction companies who need to reduce operating costs, Col says.


A member of the Washington state District Export Council, Col says he has an interest in creating jobs in the region through exports. Ill work with small and medium-sized companies to help them reach out internationally, he says.