CURRENT ISSUE
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| MWD Services: Independently Focused |
| Profile | |||
| By Alan Dorich | |||
| Friday, 03 October 2008 | |||
 MWD Services focuses on serving independent directional drilling contractors in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.
“Measurement-while-drilling is the guidance system used by directional drillers to control [well-bore drilling],” President Clyde Cormier explains. A Committed Company A 21-year-veteran of the industry, Cormier co-founded the company in 1994. “MWD Services was founded on the premise of providing independent drilling contractors with quality services, technically advanced technology and comprehensive customer support,” the company explains. “We are committed to building a fully integrated service company that meets and exceeds the requirements of the independent drilling community.” MWD Services says this commitment includes “acquiring electromagnetic systems.” Strong Service MWD Services says it has assembled a qualified, experienced staff, with a management and engineering team that can resolve the problems its clients encounter. “Our operators are dispatched with backup equipment on every job and are fully trained to provide [our customers] with skilled, technically proficient service,” the company says. With technicians that are on call 24-7, the company says its services include:
Meeting Needs MWD Services’ equipment includes the MWD Shuttle, which “was designed to meet the needs of the small-hole, horizontal drilling segment of the oil industry,” the company explains. “Efficiently designed, the small-diameter shuttle produces positive pulses and offers low resistance to flow. “Reliability and ease of operation are enhanced with a downhole assembly that is battery operated,” the company says. “The shuttle is designed and capable of meeting demands in directional and horizontal drilling.” In addition, MWD Services says that the shuttle provides many cost-efficient and competitive advantages to its clients, including:
Growing MWD Services MWD Services is now coping with a busy market where the task of meeting customer demand can be challenging, Cormier says. “Oil well drilling is very strong right now,” he states. Despite the challenges, MWD Services is now preparing to grow its customer reach, Cormier says. “We’re planning to expand into other regions, [in] possibly West Texas, Arkansas and the Northeast states,” he explains. “These newly discovered oil shales becoming popular." In addition, the company wants to grow its fleet from 25 to 30 systems this year. “We are going to expand [to] another 10 in another [year],” he says. Strong Independents MWD Services supports a strong segment of the independent oil and gas industry in Texas. According to the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers, independents drilled 96 percent of the wells in Texas in 2006, and also produced 92 percent of the oil and 88 percent of the gas in the state that year. The alliance – which has offices in Wichita Falls, Houston, Abilene and Austin, Texas – was formed in 2000 when the North Texas Oil & Gas Association and the West Central Texas Oil & Gas Association merged. “With more than 3,000 members, the Alliance is the largest state oil and gas trade association in the nation,” it says. Based in the Oil Patch While its Wichita Falls office is its headquarters, the alliance’s government relations programs are operated in Abilene and Austin, while Houston is where its member recruitment is based. “Based in the oil patch, the Alliance represents the interests of the oil and gas industry at both the state and federal levels of government,” it says. “The alliance’s commitment to ensuring that tomorrow’s energy policy will be one in which all our members can prosper. “The alliance brings together members in 300 cities and 25 states for the common purpose of protecting the oil and gas industry and developing programs – insurance, public education – that make them more profitable,” the alliance continues. “The alliance’s effectiveness relies upon speaking with one, unified voice.” Setting Records The Texas Alliance recently reported that the Texas petroleum industry set records in 2007. According to the alliance, the Texas Petro Index reached a record high while the state’s oil and gas production economy grew by more than 8 percent. “Oil and gas activity increased once again in response to rising prices,” Petroleum Economist Karr Ingram said in a statement. In addition, “[The] total production value for oil and gas in Texas in 2007 was nearly $65 billion, a tremendous boost to the Texas economy,” the alliance says. It adds that rig counts responded to higher crude prices and are now close to 900 in Texas. This is an increase of more than 10 percent compared to 2006. The alliance also reports that crude oil prices were 50 percent higher at the end of 2007. In addition, “E&P employments [make] up two [to] three percent of all Texas jobs, but the E&P economy in Texas comprises some 10 [to] 12 percent of the overall Texas economy, and directly accounts for over 20 percent of all state taxes,” according to the alliance. According to the alliance, employment in the exploration and production sector has also increased substantially. “The largest increase has come in the support sector (service and supply), with a 72 percent employment increase,” it states. “There were 116,000 people employed in the support sector in December 2007 compared to 67,500 in 2002. “The extraction sector of the industry has grown 17 percent since 2002, from 63,000 to 73,600,” the alliance continues. Decision Makers According to the alliance, its members are decision makers in the oil and gas industry, with members that are active in the oil and gas business in Texas, and other areas. “For example, 47 percent say they are the owner of their company, 13 percent said they were co-owners and 15 percent said they were the CEO,” the Alliance says, noting that 81 percent also reported they were more than 50 years old, while 52 percent said they had been in business more than 30 years. “Another 29 percent said they had been in business 21 to 30 years,” it adds. The alliance notes that 83 percent of its members say they have operations in south Texas, 35 percent in east Texas, 73 percent in north Texas and 92 percent in west Texas. Additionally, its members have operations in Oklahoma, New Mexico, Louisiana and additional states. Industry Veterans In addition, the Texas Alliance’s officers include industry veterans, such as Chairman Mark Metzler, who took his role in 2008. Previously, he was vice president of the alliance, and is now also president of Felderhoff Production Co., an exploration and production company that operates in Texas. Metzler also has participated in forming numerous oilfield service businesses and served on several committees. In addition, Vice President Marshall Tillman is the president and owner of Kornye-Tillman Co. “He has 26 years of oil and gas experience directly managing, drilling and completion operations, daily production, well-side supervision, regulatory filing and JIB/revenue distribution,” the alliance says. “His company operates numerous gas wells and two plants in north-central Texas.” Its president, Alex Mills, previously was vice president of marketing for Independent Petroleum Association of America, an organization for the independent oil and gas industry. “He also served as executive vice president of the West Central Texas Oil & Gas Association in Abilene from 1981 to 1986,” the alliance says. |
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