AURORA, COLO. — Merrick & Company, a $125 million engineering, surveying, and geospatial services firm, and Ulteig Engineers, a North Dakota-based, $47 million engineering, surveying, and consulting firm, announced a strategic alliance between the two firms to provide engineering services to oil and gas companies involved in projects in the Williston Basin. The teams kicked off their partnership at the North Dakota Petroleum Council annual meeting recently held in Medora, N.D.

The Williston Basin covers a 142,500-square-mile area in eastern Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and into Saskatchewan. Oil was first discovered in the Basin in the 1920s and with current drilling technology, it has come to the forefront of exploration once again.

“We are delighted to combine our capabilities with Ulteig to serve this growth region of our economy,” said Ralph Christie, Jr., P.E., president, chairman, and CEO of Merrick. “Our aerial geospatial mapping capabilities and data interpretation dovetail well with Ulteig's land services capabilities. We’ve been in the oil and gas business, with significant work in process plants and piping in the Rocky Mountain region since 1985 and will bring those engineering skills to North Dakota.”

“Ulteig is proud to have Merrick as a business partner in our region,” said Eric Michel, CEO of Ulteig. “They are a company with a solid and respected national reputation and renown expertise that complements Ulteig’s long-standing service offerings to our North Dakota clients. The world-class capabilities we can offer together through this alliance will have a positive and significant impact on our clients.”

Merrick is an employee-owned engineering, architecture, design-build, surveying, and geospatial solutions firm with 10 offices in the United States, one in Canada, and two in Mexico. Ulteig Engineers is an employee-owned engineering, surveying, and consulting firm with eight offices in the United States.