Energy Industry Intel & Commentary
Few sectors have ever fallen farther over an extended period than oilfield suppliers have since the current industry downturn began in June 2014. Relative to the broader market, the sector’s decline may be unprecedented.
Continue reading “Can Oilfield Suppliers Save Themselves?”
Over the years, technology has played a heralded role in the oil and gas industry. It still does today. Pick up any trade publication and chances are you’ll find at least one well-worn tribute to its importance.
Yet, the fixation on hi-tech hasn’t been without problems. It’s even been value-destroying at times. We’d argue the industry’s intractable struggle with financial returns is due, in part, to spending on technology that isn’t justified. Continue reading “Surviving the Promises of Technology”
This post was updated on June 24, 2019.Â
This post was updated on June 26, 2019.Â
Oil prices have rebounded from their 2014 collapse. Yet for upstream suppliers, it’s hard to tell.
It’s going to take more than crude in the $60s to rebalance the oilfield. The problem remains structural. In short, there are too many players chasing too little demand. Continue reading “For Oilfield Suppliers, It’s Adapt or Die”
It is said what CEOs most enjoy is a challenge with outsize reward. If so, Mark McCollum should be ecstatic. As the incoming CEOÂ of Weatherford International, he is tasked with resurrecting one of the more perennially promising, yet frustratingly underachieving, companies in the oil patch.
McCollum’s predecessor, long-time CEO Bernard Duroc-Danner, built an organization with a global presence and broad portfolio. However, the company found itself adrift in recent years as a string of financial losses and shifting strategies undermined employee morale and depleted investor confidence. Continue reading “Fulfilling the Promise of Weatherford”
EnergyPoint Research’s customer satisfaction ratings are unbiased and aggregated opinions of the marketplace. They are differentiated tools for evaluating the quality and performance of energy industry suppliers.
Our ratings are not intended to be a prognosis or recommendation (that’s not our role). Rather, they are intended to measure the perceived performance and quality of suppliers. This includes tracking trends over time.
Continue reading “A Guide to EnergyPoint’s Customer Satisfaction Ratings, Grades and Trends”
Like many suppliers in the U.S. oilfield, Basic Energy Services has been badly beaten up. The culprit is a once-in-a-generation downturn that engulfed the entire industry, pushing Basic’s latest quarterly revenues down 70% compared to their peak just 18 months earlier.
It recently culminated in the company’s announcement that it will pursue a prepackaged bankruptcy and recapitalization plan. Continue reading “Basic Energy Services: The Opportunity after the Storm”
Achieving sustained performance in the oil and gas industry can, quite frankly, be a challenge. A primary reason is cyclicality. For suppliers, the task of continually scaling one’s organization to match market temperament can prove especially tricky.
Numerous factors lead to the swings in demand that define the oilfield. Mercurial commodity prices top the list. Fluctuating exchange rates, capital availability, seasonality and weather, government policy, and geopolitical events also play their part. Continue reading “Succeeding in a Cyclical Industry”
