Tag: Baker Hughes

Posted on

Integrated Oilfield Suppliers Plot Divergent Paths

Integrated Suppliers Plot Different Paths - Featured Image

As the oil and gas sector stirs with a hopeful sense of purpose, several of its largest and most influential suppliers are pursuing distinctly different strategies. It’s not just about which products and services will propel the industry forward. To some extent, the balance of power between providers and customers is at stake.

On one end of the strategic spectrum sit Schlumberger and GE Oil & Gas. With the help of recent acquisitions, both companies hope to meld oilfield equipment and services into a new seamless network, one capable of generating and interpreting streams of data for use in improving performance across all phases of a well. If successful, the impact could be far-reaching. Continue reading “Integrated Oilfield Suppliers Plot Divergent Paths”

Posted on

GE Deal Offers Baker Hughes a New Beginning

GE Oil & Gas and Baker Hughes Hard Hats - Featured Image

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”

Posted on

Halliburton & Baker Hughes: The Devil’s in the Details

It's Complicated

If the devil lies in the details when it comes to Halliburton making its acquisition of Baker Hughes work for stakeholders, so might the opportunity.

We’ve pointed out in the past the convergence of performance as seen by customers among the industry’s largest suppliers.  We see elements of this same effect in the latest customer satisfaction scores for Halliburton, Baker Hughes and Schlumberger.  With the exception of Schlumberger’s marks in engineering and technology, there’s generally little difference in the three companies’ ratings across several key performance and organizational attributes. Continue reading “Halliburton & Baker Hughes: The Devil’s in the Details”

Posted on

Halliburton’s Risky Bet on Consolidation

Risky Bet

The pending merger between Halliburton and Baker Hughes promises to be one of the most highly scrutinized corporate combinations in the history of the oil and gas industry.  Not only will the deal create, by some metrics, the largest provider of oilfield products and services in the world, it will irrevocably alter the balance of power for a customer base accustomed to long-standing rivalry among its largest suppliers.

Notwithstanding Halliburton CEO Dave Lesar’s contention that initial customer feedback regarding the deal was unanimously positive, customers have a right to be concerned any time two competitors of this size merge. Transformational transactions tend be troublesome for both shareholders and customers, and we suspect this deal could present its fair share of challenges. Continue reading “Halliburton’s Risky Bet on Consolidation”

Posted on

Global Shale: Potential Bonanza for Suppliers

Global Map

Shale-oil and -gas production in the U.S. has been revered by some as the fuel, engine and vehicle driving the nation toward energy independence and economic solvency. Astronomical estimates of reserves, millions of high-paying new oilfield jobs, enhanced competitiveness for American industry, greater tax inflows for state and federal governments, and incremental export revenues certainly justify the volume of discussion.

Shale has at once become both disruptive and transformative. It’s also here to stay. IEA estimates the share of U.S. shale oil and gas production to double by 2035. Continue reading “Global Shale: Potential Bonanza for Suppliers”

Posted on

Availability & Delivery Help Drive Satisfaction in Artificial Lift

Artificial Lift - Feature Image

Advances in the E&P space coming fast these days. And industry suppliers that fail to stand equipped and fleet-of-foot run the risk of falling behind.

Results from EnergyPoint Research’s latest customer satisfaction survey indicate that product availability and efficient delivery are ways suppliers of artificial lift equipment might distinguish themselves going forward. Quality control, engineering and other factors will certainly continue to matter to customers, but so will actually having the desired equipment at the time it’s needed. Continue reading “Availability & Delivery Help Drive Satisfaction in Artificial Lift”

Posted on

Opportunities Stack Up, As Fracs Back Up

The Big Three Pressure Pumpers See Falling Ratings

One would think E&P companies would be cheering. Nominal hydraulic fracturing capacity looks on pace to rise 25 percent or more this year. And advances in technology promise to bolster both the potency and cleanliness of the increasingly relied-upon service.

Yet, against the backdrop of capacity growth and technological advances, suppliers of frac services are earning relatively low marks in EnergyPoint customer satisfaction surveys. In fact, as demand for frac services increases, the less content customers seem—especially compared to other completion-related services. This is certainly the case for perennial segment leader Halliburton (although the company’s ratings still continue to lead those of its major peers). It appears the case for Schlumberger and Baker Hughes as well. Continue reading “Opportunities Stack Up, As Fracs Back Up”

Posted on

Rethinking Tetra Technologies

Rethinking Tetra Technologies

TETRA Technologies is a good example of how top-level leadership can impact a company. The provider of completion fluids and other oilfield products and services experienced a dramatic 90% stock price deterioration beginning August 2008, as the oilfield supply declined less than 60%. The outsize fall culminated with the resignation of the company’s long-term CEO in March 2009.

Since that time, data from EnergyPoint’s independent customer satisfaction surveys show TETRA has begun to rise from the ashes, earning more positive reviews from customers while simultaneously gaining back more than half its market value. Continue reading “Rethinking Tetra Technologies”

Posted on

The Other Drilling Guys

Directional Drilling Feature Image

The increasing complexity of today’s drilling process places considerable attention on the role of drilling contractors.  However, there are drilling-related services not traditionally provided by drillers that play an equally important role in determining the quality and profitability of a well.

For the purposes of EnergyPoint’s independent surveys, these other services fall into five segments: drilling fluids, fishing, cementing, directional drilling and measurement-while-drilling (MWD). Generally speaking, survey results suggest customers have high regard for the drilling-related services they provide.  In fact, the category’s customer satisfaction scores have outperformed EnergyPoint’s broader index of oilfield products and services since 2004. Continue reading “The Other Drilling Guys”

Posted on

Getting More of What’s Down There

Getting More of What's Down There

No doubt the ability to maximize well potential is crucial to the oil and gas industry’s future. Companies must complete wells damage-free and seek new ways to enhance them in order to stand apart. Continued progress in well-completions is vital to the industry’s ability to develop its reserves.

This post examines the state of customer satisfaction across various completion-related products and services in our surveys. And generally speaking, survey respondents are pleased. In fact, the data show the category’s ratings have outperformed since 2006. Continue reading “Getting More of What’s Down There”