Energy Industry Intel & Commentary
Customer satisfaction can be a valuable tool for energy industry suppliers, as it provides providers and customers with both qualitative and quantitative insight.
Continue reading “Customer Ratings — Global Energy Industry Suppliers”
GE Oil & Gas and Baker Hughes shocked the oil and gas world with the announcement they will come together to create the industry’s number two supplier. From a financial standpoint, the transaction is effectively an acquisition of Baker Hughes by GE. In practical terms, it’s more like a merger.
Both companies will contribute their respective businesses to a new publicly traded entity (“New” Baker Hughes). GE Oil & Gas will also contribute $7.4 billion in cash, which in turn will go to Baker Hughes shareholders in the form of a one-time dividend. GE will own 62.5% of the new company and run the overall show. Baker Hughes shareholders will own the remaining 37.5% and be represented in the boardroom with four of nine director seats. Continue reading “GE Deal Offers Baker Hughes a New Beginning”
In the 1980s and 1990s, the oilfield equipment sector, for all intents and purposes, neglected the customer. Since then, a select group of companies have successfully kept the focus of their efforts on satisfying customers with dependable products. They have coupled this with responsive service.
The results are impressive. In fact, they’ve played critical roles in advancing the industry’s capabilities. Horizontal wells are now drilled as adroitly as vertical wells. Offshore operations are carried out at previously unimaginable water depths. High temperatures and pressures are routinely brought to heel. Better bit designs save Continue reading “Oilfield Equipment: Let Gaps Guide Investment”
Changes in the outlook for the upstream oil and gas industry have led Schlumberger to launch a convincing bid for Houston-based oilfield equipment supplier and current joint-venture partner Cameron Int’l. The richly valued deal implies a price for Cameron’s stock of just over $66 per share, a 56% premium over its pre-announcement close. With the assumption of $1.1 billion of Cameron debt, the deal’s total price approaches $15 billion.
This is not the first time in recent memory Schlumberger has sought to acquire an existing partner. In 2010, it purchased Smith Int’l to gain needed Continue reading “Schlumberger Angles for Growth with Bid for Cameron”
In 2004, EnergyPoint Research first set out to discern which oil and gas equipment suppliers and service providers work best for their customers and to quantify their experiences. A decade of collecting and analyzing the relevant data has established EnergyPoint as the resolute voice of the oilfield consumer and the only curator of independent customer satisfaction ratings in the industry.
EnergyPoint started its surveys with the assumptions that customer focus drives best practices and satisfied customers feed growth. Those facts held steady. And as we culled more industry wisdom from end users, we shared with our readers and subscribers a clearer picture of the critical variables companies can focus upon to create satisfied repeat customers. We also offered insights into how customers can influence the performance of their suppliers. Continue reading “The Customer Has Spoken: A Decade of Appraisals”
FMC Technologies, a leading oil equipment company, consistently outranks its peer-group average in EnergyPoint Research’s customer satisfaction surveys. The company has grown into a dominant player over the years partly on the strength of a vigorous research and development program that began bearing fruit in time for today’s exuberant revival of subsea drilling and development.
Not a pure customer satisfaction winner, though, FMC’s ratings fall more in line with its oil equipment company cohorts in the subsea segment. Like many of its peers, the company draws lower ratings from some customers for both organizational and equipment performance. And in what might come as a surprise to some, the company rates lower in shelf and deepwater wells, which account for about two-thirds of its business, than for onshore applications. Continue reading “FMC Technologies An Oil Equipment Company To Watch”
National Oilwell Varco (NOV) operates just about everywhere oil and gas is extracted, enjoying a hearty share of the market for integrated oilfield equipment. Yet global reach and a wide-ranging portfolio of products do not necessarily translate to a better customer experience—for NOV or its competitors.
EnergyPoint’s most recent survey data suggest NOV’s customer satisfaction ratings, while certainly competitive within its peer group, have slowly trended down as the company logged lower scores in various segments. To be fair, ratings for manufacturers of capital drilling equipment remain below average industry-wide. However, NOV has been sliding from its previous perch. Continue reading “NOV Closes the One-stop Shop”
Conceptualizing, fabricating and installing the labyrinth of integrated systems and equipment required for today’s massive subsea projects are some of the most complex tasks in the oil and gas industry. Without question, the daunting challenges at these depths contribute to the historically low customer satisfaction ratings for subsea products we have observed in our surveys over the years.
Although not the market-share leader in the space, Cameron International has recently been dynamic in its efforts related to increasing the profile of its subsea offerings, most notably advancing the depth and breadth of its capabilities via its OneSubsea joint venture with Schlumberger.
Continue reading “Cameron Int’l Making Its Way To New Depths”
Part 1 of this article discussed background issues at play for the companies in GE Oil & Gas‘ purchase of Lufkin Industries, including the uncharacteristic decline in Lufkin’s customer satisfaction ratings in 2011 and early 2012. It also took a look at the strategic rationale behind the deal.
This second part focuses on what the GE-Lufkin combination prospectively means for customers, with particular attention paid to the perceived cultural fit between the two companies. Continue reading “Sizing Up GE + Lufkin Industries – Part 2”
With so much at stake in today’s oil and gas industry, customers are looking for both measured authenticity and established competence in their oilfield suppliers. The ability of the current group of top-rated suppliers to perform so consistently well in EnergyPoint’s customer satisfaction surveys is a testament to their commitment to, and talent for, providing a superlative customer experience.
Three of the recently finalized 2012 survey’s four main segment leaders are repeat winners — Helmerich & Payne in onshore drilling, Derrick Equipment in oilfield products, and Ensco in offshore drilling. Newpark Resources captured the top overall ranking in the oilfield services segment for the first time.
