Tag: Baker Hughes

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Suppliers’ Lockstep Strategies Not the Answer

Marching

Within the upstream oil and gas industry, there’s a limited number of oilfield suppliers possessing the size and scope to be considered fully integrated and/or global in nature. On the services side, the roll (listed alphabetically) includes Baker Hughes, Halliburton, Schlumberger and Weatherford International. For capital equipment, it’s Aker Solutions, Cameron International, FMC Technologies, GE Oil & Gas and National Oilwell Varco.

On a combined basis, these nine super suppliers (did we just coin a new term?) currently represent about a quarter of all supplier-segment sales to the global upstream. Yet, none of these companies currently enjoy above-average ratings in EnergyPoint Research’s independent customer satisfaction surveys. And the latest trends don’t suggest the situation will significantly change anytime soon.

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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”

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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”

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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”

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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”

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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”

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Knowing the Hole

Since the oil and gas industry’s early days, providers of formation and well evaluation  (FWE) services have helped answer two questions: Are there hydrocarbons down there? And, if so, in what amounts, forms and environments? Gaining the answers with greater certainty and at lower cost is an ongoing pursuit.

Of course, the needs of today go beyond those of past eras. Today’s E&Ps seek and extract deposits held in more complex and unconventional formations. Thus, ever more rigorous, precise and available data—and the equipment and personnel to gather and interpret such data—remains the focus.

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Are Today’s Drill Bits Better Mousetraps?

Chart showing drill bit scores by supplier
When oilfield suppliers make outsized claims regarding a new technology or design, we, like many in the industry, can be skeptical.
 
Looking good on paper doesn’t always produce repeatable results for customers. Over-promoted offerings spawn the kinds of high expectations that lead to low customer ratings.

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Courting the National Oil Companies

Courting the National Oil Companies Featured Image

By some estimates, national oil companies (NOCs) control an estimated 90% of the world’s proven petroleum reserves. One need look no further than Statoil’s recent announcement to purchase Norsk Hydro’s offshore oil and gas assets, Royal Dutch Shell’s sale of interest in the Sakhalin II project to Gazprom, or the creeping nationalization in Latin America to understand that state-controlled oil and gas companies are poised to grow in size and influence in coming years.

In the past, NOCs sought established international oil companies (IOCs) like ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP, ConocoPhillips and Shell to develop their reserves. Under these arrangements, the IOCs typically handled much of the selection and management of oilfield vendors on behalf of their NOC partners. However, NOCs now appear to be asserting themselves in the process to a greater degree . Continue reading “Courting the National Oil Companies”