Arctic Slope Regional Corporation

The Inupiat people have survived the rigors of the Arctic for centuries, and now they're surviving in the business world. The Inupiat-owned Arctic Slope Regional Corporation (ASRC) was set up to own and manage 5 million acres on Alaska's North Slope after the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act in 1971 cleared the way for oil development in the area. ASRC gets the bulk of its of sales from energy services (ASRC Energy Services) and petroleum refining and marketing unit ( Petro Star). Other operations include construction (ASRC Contruction Holding), governmental services (ASRC Federal Holding), economic development (Alaska Growth Capital), local services (Eskimos, Inc.) and tourism (Tundra Tours).

ASRC represents approximately 11,000 members/shareholders in eight villages on the North Slope of Alaska: Anaktuvuk Pass, Atqasuk, Barrow, Kaktovik, Nuiqsut, Point Hope, Point Lay, and Wainwright. The company seeks to adhere to Inupiat traditional values of protecting the land, the environment, and the native culture while developing economic programs.

ASRC has its head office in Barrow, with a major administrative office in Anchorage. It has other subsidiary offices in the Lower 48 states.

To raise cash, in 2010 the company sold oil sands engineering unit Tri Ocean Engineering to Japan-based Toyo Engineering. Tri Ocean specialized in the design and construction of production equipment and plants and had annual revenues of about $32 million.

In 2010 ASRC protested the US Fish and Wildlife Service's designation of Alaskan North Slope oil-producing areas as a critical habitat for endangered polar bears, claiming it would cost ASRC millions of dollars in lost oil revenues. In 2011 it led a coalition of Native groups to sue the Department of the Interior over this issue.

Higher oil prices helped to lift ASRC's revenues in 2010 and 2011.

In 2012 ASRC Construction Holding expanded into southeast Alaska with the acquisition of native-Alaskan owned McGraw's Custom Construction.