Oil & Gas Fabric Buildings

Oil & Gas Buildings, Pipeline Fabrication Structures & Warehousing Facilities

Alaska Structures^® — the world’s premiere fabric building manufacturer since 1975 — provides rugged fabric structures used in the oil & gas industry. Alaska Structures expertly engineers its pipeline enclosures, pump station enclosures, construction camps, remote camps, and facilities for workforce housing to the latest IBC Building Code, ASCE/SEI 7, and AISC standards of design and construction.

Our tension membrane structures for the oil & gas industry are:

• Engineered and tested to meet specific winds and snow loads
• Proven in extreme climates and inclement weather
• Easy to install, highly portable and offer incredibly versatility
• Available in hundreds of sizes and configurations

The GTX Series of gable truss buildings are Alaska Structures’ largest fabric tensioned structures. Ranging from 16 feet to 150 feet wide and any length, GTX Series buildings are uniquely suited for use as warehouses and other large-scale applications.

The revolutionary Denali Series of fabric buildings allows oil and gas companies the ability to quickly establish construction camps with on-site facilities for field offices, workforce housing, and hygiene facilities. The Denali Building System can be equipped with hard-wall systems for greater comfort and privacy. MTX Series buildings are uniquely suited for on-site maintenance and repair facilities and workshops.

Possible applications of Alaska Structures fabric buildings for the oil & gas industry include:

• Construction Camps (from 10- to 5,000-persons)
• Workforce Housing
• Pipeline Enclosures
• Drilling Enclosures
• Frac Sand (Proppant) Storage
• Pump Station Enclosures
• Power Plants and Oil & Gas Refineries
• Emergency Shelters
• Equipment Storage Facilities and On-Site Warehousing
• Dining Facilities
• Health Clinics
• Mobile Kitchens
• Recreation Centers
• Airplane Hangars

Alaska Structures offer incredible longevity because they’re 100 percent made in the USA from the highest-quality materials. Our architectural membranes and high-strength frame  systems require little to no maintenance and can last for decades in any environment. Alaska Structures manufactures its framing systems using lightweight aluminum or galvanized steel.

Design Options for Oil and Gas Buildings

Easy installation and incredible portability make Alaska Structures fabric buildings superior alternatives to wood, steel or brick-and-mortar structures. Our tensioned membrane structures also offer a wide range of other benefits, including:

• Low-Cube Shipping
• Field and Laboratory Tested Designs
• Custom Build Structures to Meet Specific Building Requirements
• Free Span Interiors
• Shorter Build Times and Lower Construction Costs
• Project Management Services
• Minimal Foundation Requirements
• Secure Anchoring to Any Surface
• Door and Window Packages
• Optional In-House Powder Coating for Corrosive Environments

Alaska Structures offers a large selection of design options to increase energy-efficiency including translucent skylight material to utilize natural light and reduce energy usage for lighting during the day. Propriety insulation systems can be added to any Alaska Structures building system to meet any R-value of thermal resistance, reducing heating and/or cooling costs. Our engineered fabric structures can be equipped with plug-and-play lighting and electrical systems, as well rugged environmental control units and HVAC systems.

Pipeline Enclosures

Since natural resource exploration, extraction, processing prices and environmental concerns have seen a staggering increase in demand since the worldwide supply crunch, it's necessary to take every step possible towards protecting both the pipeline and what's inside.

In order to minimize equipment wear and ensure long-term pipeline integrity, our pipeline enclosures maintain a natural fit with the ability to shelter and seal overland transmission lines, gathering lines, or distribution lines, in any remote terrain or extreme weather.

Alaska Structures works with some of the industry’s top leaders to provide best-in-class technology and engineering, design services, and products in addition to being voluntarily reviewed by a third-party engineering team. That's why our pipeline enclosures can protect pipelines transporting crude oil or natural gas from the Midland Basins or the Delware Basins of the Permian to the Cushing, Oklahoma storage hub or transmission lines transporting refined liquefied natural gas or other petrochemical feedstocks to power plants across the Sunbelt and East Coast.

Pipeline enclosures from Alaska Structures have been used all over the world.

And since these rugged industries work in extreme weather conditions, they need an enclosure that can perform at the highest level. Alaska Structures can customize a pipeline enclosure for your operation. We have hundreds of standard options starting at six feet wide and reaching any length to protect your enclosure from extreme conditions, including harsh elements, accidental damage, and unwanted intrusions.

In 1991, we completed a conveyor enclosure at Red Dog Mine, a zinc mine above the Arctic Circle. The enclosure exceeds one mile in length and is currently the longest fabric building on the planet.

Power Plants, Conversion Facilities, and Oil & Gas Refinement

Whether you use brown or black coal for the gasification process, it’s generally a wise move to use fabric structures to help you with this process. You can even use this type of structure for on-site housing and office space as needed.

Fabric structures for power plants can provide the facilities you need for several uses during the gasification process. These uses include on-site fabrication plants, maintenance facilities, and equipment storage.

Portable Oil & Gas Structures

The truth is, a building made from brick and mortar isn’t cost-effective and cannot be easily relocated. However, a fabric structure meets these demands. At the same time, it still offers the reliable coverage that traditional buildings do.

When it comes to cost, fabric structures don’t require the high upfront material and construction costs associated with traditional buildings. In addition, you don’t have to worry about high property taxes, maintenance costs, and energy costs with fabric structures (more on maintenance and energy costs later).

Temporary Flex Space for Oil & Gas Operations

Fabric structures are also versatile for any industrial application. That’s because with these structures, you can arrange several of them or use one of them to meet your operational needs. You don’t have to house your operations all under the roof of a single traditional building. With fabric structures, you can furthermore expand your operations over time. That’s because integrating a new fabric building into your existing site is easy.

Custom Engineered Oil & Gas Structures

In addition, your chosen fabric structure can fulfill your specific height and space needs. And you can do this without having to pay the astronomical expenses associated with similarly sized traditional buildings. Fabric structures also offer the added bonus of being very mobile and thus flexible and convenient to use.

With the help of a reputable fabric structure provider, you can get an engineered fabric structure that will meet your regional or international building codes' requirements. Gain peace of mind by investing in an engineered fabric structure and having the assurance that your structure will withstand your area's weather conditions, such as snow and wind loads.

At the same time, fabric structures can be designed to include translucent fabric material. This allows natural light to enter the structures during the daytime, reducing energy costs associated with lighting. An engineered fabric structure can also be insulated, heated, or cooled just like a traditional building, allowing you to create a comfortable work environment protected from the elements, or keep sensitive equipment at the optimum temperature.

Durable Fabric Structures for Oil & Gas Refinement & Conversions

Another major benefit of custom fabric structures is that they are highly durable. A common misnomer is that if you want to save money on your building, you have to compromise on the building’s structural integrity. This isn’t the case with a fabric structure. And that’s especially invaluable on sites like power plants. After all, on these sites, you can’t afford to have infrastructure that is unstable or not able to withstand the wind and snow loads for the power plant’s location.

More expensive fabric structures can even be engineered to meet specific site challenges and provide a safer space for workers and equipment.

Efficiency and Sustainability

Industrial fabric structures additionally offer many eco-friendly benefits compared with traditional construction methods.

Engineered fabric structures are designed to have minimal foundation requirements, reducing the need for expensive and time-intensive site preparations to begin construction. This can have a major benefit on the environment.

Prefabricated building solutions like engineered fabric structures have lower weight and shipping volumes than traditional building materials, drastically reducing the logistics and costs associated with transporting building materials to the site.

Once delivered, an engineered fabric building is designed for rapid setup, translating to a much shorter construction schedule. This means you’ll need less equipment and expensive labor crews working for weeks or months to construct a power plant building.

In addition, because engineered fabric structures are virtually maintenance-free, maintenance crews won't need a lot of equipment or to spend a lot of time to keep them operational.

As a whole, these structures are long-lasting, energy-efficient, and environmentally responsible. And because fabric structures help to boost your operational efficiency, they can increase your business profits long-term.

All in all, they offer the sustainability you need to advance in the years ahead.

Frac Sand Storage

With the boom in production of proppant, or frac-sand, used in the hydraulic fracturing process for oil and natural gas extraction, railroads are having a hard time keeping up with the demand for transporting this essential ingredient. Prices of frac-sand continue to rise even as the proppant industry sees double-digit annual increases in production.

Hydraulic fracturing has been a boon to domestic energy production in the United States. The price index for frac-sand reached its highest level since 2012 in October, according to a Moody’s Investors Service report cited by Oil & Energy Insider. Moody’s said proppant production could be slowed if the price of oil stays below $80 a barrel, but other groups are forecasting continued robust growth in North America.

Alaska Structures MTX Series fabric structure

Oil & Energy predicted annual double-digit increases for the foreseeable future because of increased demand abroad and fracking processes that are using an extra shot of frac-sand to increase oil and gas extraction. PacWest Consulting Partners expects 23-percent annual growth through at least 2016.

As a consumer, transporter or producer of proppant, are you equipped to meet your frac-sand storage needs?

At Alaska Structures, we have the fabric building industry’s top engineers and designers, and the proof is in our products. Click to learn more about the technology and engineering that goes into every Alaska Structures portable building. Or click to learn more about our valuable design services.

Other Industry Examples

Oil & Gas Exploration

Fabric Structures can be useful in all stages of oil & gas exploration operations and have several benefits for the oil & gas industry, including reduced costs, offering protection from the elements, portability, and limited foundation requirements.

Oil & Gas, Mineral Exploration and Mining

The engineering and construction of Alaska Structures' fabric buildings provide the protection needed to keep oil, gas, and other mineral assets safe. Each structure's operating systems and portable capacity extends the applications for these fabric structures.

Oilfield Pipeline Enclosures

Civil, petroleum, and mining industries require specialized systems for protection of their assets. From pipeline welding enclosures to overland, portable, and bulk handling conveyors, these systems must perform to a high standard in any climate.

Frac-Sand Production

The proppant industry is looking at annual production increases in the double digits, even while frac-sand prices rise. As production increases, suitable storage facilities will be necessary to protect and maintain quality throughout the transportation process.