A Message From Dave

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So, confidence is returning, and it’s very likely that the downturn is over. No one can predict the future… (Well, plenty can predict, but the accuracy ratio is similar to a coin toss) …

It’s certainly the case that investment levels have been at historic lows, and global oil demand continues to rise. The reasons for optimism are filtering through from more than a few news articles and reports…

What we’re starting to see is an improvement via the subjective, intangible experiences that we encounter in our everyday interactions. The tone of return emails, the friendlier answers to telephone calls, the spring in the step of many oil workers who feel more secure, more jobs appearing on Linked-in and other social media.  Dare I say it… The smile on the leaderships faces?

Confidence is returning, not just in the hotspots that haven’t been so badly affected, but globally. At last, projects are getting taken off the shelf and dusted down. Final Investment Decisions are being made and budgets are growing.

Here at Relentless Pursuit of Perfection Ltd., we have the opportunity to be in constant motion around the world. I’ve been working practically back to back on DWOPs and similar workshops. I can tell you that EVERYONE is way happier than they were even just 6 months ago.

So, if you happen to have been on the same project for a period of time, take it from me – the industry is on the upturn.

All of this is subjective, anecdotal and unscientific  – I’ve conducted no official surveys…

The thing is, even during the very best of times, or the very worst, huge exploration and development decisions still have to be made. With the gift of medium-term hindsight, half turn out to be right, and half wrong. Stretch the timescale to long-term and most decisions turn out just fine!

The point here is that these decisions, right or wrong, are based on CONFIDENCE. Confidence in a better future, of stability and good fortune for all those involved. This is what we’re seeing at rp², positive decisions based on confidence that the market is returning to better days. This is why we’re so busy, not because some genius wonder analyst or big data algorithm tells us so…

… But because the people making the big decisions are managing to put the fear behind, and are doing what they do best – securing the future energy supply.

On this note, we’re revitalising our earlier collaboration schemes here at drillers.com.

We’re actively inviting:

1) Companies to collaborate with us.

2) Subject matter experts to partner with us.

3) Highly skilled professionals to join our skills pool.

We’ll be sending out a version of this article to our subscriber list, and anyone interested will be able to just hit ‘reply’ to indicate interest.

You can follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter or G+ and send a message, we read and reply to all (sensible) messages.

Send a message through the contact page, through any of our work email address, ….

We hope that you’d like to catch the upturn with us, we think it’s going to be spectacular!

Regards,

Dave

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17 COMMENTS

  1. In 2018 and beyond the importance of individuals experience, knowledge and expertise that can be brought to bear on current and new projects will become increasingly important. The probability of the industry having to re-learn lessons already learnt after a down-turn always increases, only applied and appropriate experience can reduce that probability. Train Wreck Avoidance is an important process controlled by people, and only supported by policies and procedures.

  2. Hello Dave
    I am interested in what you say and keen to send my CV
    What email do you want me to send it to
    Regard
    Jim

  3. Dave,

    There are several reasons to be optimistic.
    e.g. Look at what has happened on land, the technologies, the flat spot times reduction.

    Other industries?

    What Huisman and other are trying to do to step change things!

    Quite phenomenal!

    Can people offshore change to be able to SEE and realize the opportunities that exist?
    S (safety) viewed as the control of all loss (inclusive of invisible stuff) that still gets swept under a magic carpet?
    E (effective) (do the right things)
    E (efficient) (get things right first time every time?)

    Finally this is an industry that has traditionally runs and hid from failure, where until this starts to be address very little is going to change in my view?

    How to learn form everything that is wrong?
    This could will be just another ugly round of revolutionary failures.

    What is needed is evolution.

    • Peter,
      Until the well is truly the focus, not ‘the system’ or ‘the planning spreadsheet’, we’ll yet see more money wasted.
      Not so much drilling, they are on the crack, but well interventions are almost a stay busy project, results or no. For over 30 years I’ve had The Life of the Well concept in my head (from excellent early training)…and have rarely seen it implemented beyond a rudimentary idea. Some operators are serious, many are not. Tons of failures to prove it.
      You can see the extension of poor work – ‘Braided line fishing supervisor – USD 100/day’ or ‘Coil Supervisor USD 100/day’. I’ve seen a lot of downturns since 78…nothing like this one…
      As far as SEE goes, heard that for decades and yet suggestions on every angle swirl upwards into a black hole…it seems… Good & valid point though, let us know if you find such a place…where it actually pans out beyond top down groupthink directives with no actual support…
      It does feel like things are picking up, generally…I see not much of an issue with the big toys in a Relentless Pursuit…the aftermarket for wells needs some serious rethinking….
      Take care,
      Don

  4. Can you better explain what you meant when you wrote: “Highly skilled professionals to join our skills pool”?
    Thanks

    • Hi Steven,

      I thought that I would jump in here and give a brief clarification for you, and any future readers that might appreciate it. Drillers.com is involved in the upstream oil and gas sector, also known as exploration and production. We deal with qualified (usually a minimum of 5 years experience) roles that are specific to this sector.

      So, entry level roles such as roughneck or floorhand would be excluded from even the basic jobs pool, along with non-industry specific jobs such as an electrician or plumber (or a writer).

      The jobs board/pool would be for people that are qualified but might need some supervision. The skills pool would be people that are experienced enough that they could make decisions on the rig (within their areas of expertise).

      An expert would be a thought leader, mentor, trainer, lecturer or perhaps have decades of expertise in a very narrow area.

      Cheers,

      Jason

      PS: I’m going to send you an email related to our previous correspondence.

  5. Dave, this seems a promising approach to the issue of expertise transfer across some of the “boundaries” that exist in our industry. Namely, how to bring expertise to re-hires etc. If there is a way to “vet” a source of expertise (i.e. consultant) from outside of an organization it would be very helpful to all.

    Count me in as an “expert”.

  6. Hi Dave,

    Interesting article and definitely interested to find out more.
    As everyone else in the industry, we all have our predictions and expectations.
    I feel we are still a ways off from recovery as I don’t see enough investor confidence just yet but we are definitely heading in the right direction again.
    I’ll drop you an email with my CV. I have a strong global network and I’m currently based in Singapore.
    Hope to be in touch again soon.

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