workover rig companies in oklahoma made in china
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The land drilling market worldwide is structured primarily as a rental market, not a sales market, where land drilling companies lease their rigs to E&P companies for an agreed period of time – weeks, months, or years – at a day-rate. The rigs are then used to drill wells and execute the E&P’s drilling programs.
Drilling opportunities are analysed and explored in order, leaving a series of dry holes, until a discovery is made. It is rare for an E&P company to actually own the rigs which they operate, but there are some exceptions such as Chesapeake, who will purchase their own fleet of rigs.
Under these rental contracts, a turnkey cost is paid by an E&P business to a middleman. This includes an insurance premium, which is returned if nothing goes wrong, but may be lost if there are difficulties. Higher specification equipment commands a larger premium.
Investors require a minimum level of return for their investment dollars in drilling operations, and typically equate cost with risk. These turnkey drilling contracts may limit risk by guaranteeing a minimum number of wells that can be drilled with the rig. The contract will also outline how the rig can be used – including the pieces of equipment, when to change pieces, temperature and pressure tolerances and the weight of mud.
The International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC) lists 547 members in the category of Land Drilling Contractors. According to Statista, the key US land drilling contractors are: Nabors Industries Ltd, Helmerich & Payne Inc, Patterson-UTI Energy Inc, Precision Drilling Corporation and Pioneer Energy Services Corp.
Nabors operates the world’s largest land drilling rig fleet, with around 500 rigs operating in over 25 countries – in almost every significant O&G basin on the planet. It also has the largest number of high-specification rigs (including new AC rigs and refurbished SCR rigs) and custom rigs, built to withstand challenging conditions such as extreme cold, desert and many complex shale plays.
Headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, H&P is a global business with land operations across the US, as well as offshore operations in the Gulf of Mexico. It is engaged primarily in the drilling of O&G wells for E&P companies, and recognised for its innovative FlexRig technology.
Patterson-UTI operates land based drilling rigs, primarily in O&G producing regions of the continental US, and western Canada. The company also provides pressure pumping services to US E&P companies and specialist technology, notably pipe handling components, to drilling contractors globally.
Precision is an oilfield services company and Canada’s largest drilling rig contractor, with over 240 rigs in operation worldwide. The Company has two segments. The Contract Drilling Services segment operates its rigs in Canada, the United States and internationally. The Completion and Production Services segment provides completion and workover services and ancillary services to O&G E&P companies in Canada and the US.
Pioneer operates a modern fleet of more than 24 top performing drilling rigs throughout onshore O&G producing regions of the US and Colombia. The company also offers production services include well servicing, wireline, and coiled tubing services – supported by 100 well-servicing rigs, and more than 100 cased-hole, open-hole and offshore wireline units.
Together these five companies dominate the US rental market. Other smaller but prominent contractors include: Parker Drilling, Unit Corp, Independence Contract Drilling, Seventy Seven Energy, Schramm and Ensign Drilling. Beyond these players, the market is highly fractured, with many “mom & pop” style drillers.
In Texas, generally considered to be the centre of US land drilling, RigData reports that there are currently 678 active rigs – split between Helmerich & Payne (160), Patterson-UTI (85), Nabors (64), Precision Drilling (39) and 77 other drillers (330).
Most new onshore rigs, both drilling and work over rigs, are built by OEMs in China. In the US, the larger vertically integrated land drillers have in-house manufacturing operations, so they will outsource some equipment construction, but assemble the new rigs at their own facilities. The leading provider of US newbuild rigs is National Oilwell Varco.
The secondary market, where existing rigs are sold, is largely auction dominated with mostly older rigs changing hands. As a rule, the big land drillers do not sell their newbuild rigs, as each has their own flagship designs.
Main Features Name: traveling hook Brand: KH Original: China Domestic famous fluid end, strong driving force, low fuel consumption, high economic benefits. Machine Parts Name: derrick platform Brand: KH Original: China Domestic famous, strong driving force, low fuel consumption, high economic benefits. After-Sales Service * Training how to instal the machine, training how to use the machine.
USR Drilling"s state-of-art ultra short-radius drain hole drilling technology, applicable in mature and tight reservoirs, logistically difficult terrains and thin oil, pays to enhance oil production from existing sick wells through cost effective intervention of USR horizontal well completions at a fractional cost of drilling a new well. USR Drilling has cutting edge over simple work over jobs to improve reservoir drainage and productivity from existing low or non producing wells. The impressive results of USR wells are likely to form a major part of revival strategy to maximize reservoir exposure and recovery of left behind oil in shut-in wells. USR Drilling technology provides a simple cost effective solution to derive maximum production benefits from aging fields with a brand new lengthy horizontal drain hole.The impressive results and success of USRD wells will form a major part of revival strategy to produce oil that may have been by-passed in vertical wells. This technology provides a breakthrough for rejuvenation and enhancement of production from existing sick wells. USR technology has demonstrated success in field implementation.
Their exceptional mobility, stability, and ease of operation are the outcome of our extensive experience in the design and production of mobile drilling rigs.
Belonging to the same family, Sovonex™ service rigs comprise many of the technological advantages that result in smooth operation and make the life of our customers’ easier:
Wide selection: At our production facility in China we design and develop workover rigs for service depths ranging from 1,600 m to 8,500 m (5,250 ft-27,900 ft), and workover depths from 2,000 m to 9,000 m (6,600 ft-30,000 ft) for 2 7/8” DP.
Full API coverage: The different components of our well-servicing rigs are manufactured to the following API standards:Steel structures, such as the mast: API Spec 4F
Highly maneuverable : Sovonex™ mobile drilling rigs and self-propelled workover rigs possess excellent driving properties in the desert, mountain, and other impassable terrains.
Powerful CAT engines and a custom-made chassis that can be equipped with single wheel full suspension enable well service operations in even the most remote areas.
Suited for corrosive environments: All steel parts are specially protected against corrosion through the application of multiple layers of ship paint. The same coating process is used in marine shipbuilding.
Reduced NPT: The mast is erected hydraulically to reduce time for rig up and increase safety. Likewise, all rig components have been designed to allow for fast assembly and disassembly.
With every service rig, we send technical staff to our customer to provide first-hand technical support. The engineer responsible for the rig design is always part of the service crew.
Chinese offshore drilling contractor China Oilfield Service Ltd has chartered a jack-up workover rig to carry out well service operations for CNOOC Ltd in the western part of the South China Sea.
The charter of the Guozhan unit is the latest effort by SinoOcean Offshore Assets Management to secure employment for offshore rigs built by Chinese yards but abandoned by their original owners.
SinoOcean is a government entity set up in 2019 with a mission to “consolidate, optimise, remodify and manage” offshore rigs, vessels and other assets ordered but stranded in China following the oil market downturn between 2014 and 2016.
HOUSTON (Reuters) - Patterson-UTI Energy, the contractor at the center of the deadliest U.S. drilling accident since the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion in 2010, has the second worst worker fatality rate among its peers, according to federal workplace safety data.
Monday’s disaster, which killed five workers drilling a well in eastern Oklahoma, put a spotlight on safety in the shale industry amid President Donald Trump’s policy of boosting U.S. output of fossil fuels. Last month, the administration proposed scaling back offshore safety regulations imposed after the Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf of Mexico that killed 11 rig workers and caused a massive oil spill.
The cause of the Oklahoma blast, at a well being drilled for Red Mountain Energy by Patterson-UTI, has not yet been determined. The well’s blowout preventer, equipment designed to seal a well in an emergency, was damaged by the explosion and failed to work as intended, authorities have said. Among offshore regulations the Trump administration wants to remove is a requirement for third parties to certify that safety devices work under extreme conditions.
Including Monday’s incident, at least 13 workers have died at Patterson-UTI drilling sites in the past decade, according to a Reuters review of data from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), whose functions include investigating workplace accidents.
Andy Hendricks, Patterson-UTI’s chief executive, said in a statement earlier this week that “no one knows with certainty what happened, and it would be unwise to speculate.” The company has made “significant efforts” in safety training and protective equipment “to instill a company-wide culture where safety is the top priority for each employee,” a spokesman said.
Patterson-UTI’s fatality rate is second only to rival Nabors Industries, which reported at least 20 worker deaths in the past decade, according to OSHA’s fatalities and catastrophes report.
Over that same period, Helmerich & Payne - the onshore drilling company with the largest number of active rigs - has had five deaths, Precision Drilling Corp three, and Halliburton nine, according to the OSHA data.
Representatives from Nabors, Helmerich & Payne and Precision Drilling did not respond to requests for comment. A Halliburton spokeswoman called safety a core value and its highest priority.
Houston-based Patterson-UTI, formed more than a decade ago through the merger of two companies, currently has 148 rigs in operation, behind Helmerich & Payne with 213 rigs operating, according to data from researcher DrillingInfo. It bought U.S. drillers Seventy Seven Energy, which added 91 rigs to its fleet, and MS Energy Services last year.
When companies make numerous acquisitions, they face challenges in ensuring a cohesive safety culture, said safety experts interviewed for this article.
“It’s hard to integrate culture. You can’t just say, ‘you stop doing this, and you start doing this,’” said Wayne Vanderhoof, president of consultancy RJR Safety Inc, declining to comment specifically on Patterson-UTI. He estimated it takes about two years for newly-combined companies to integrate their safety practices.
In September 2011, the regulator said it would fine Patterson-UTI $72,600 for four serious and two repeat safety violations, noting “the company repeatedly has exposed its workers to a variety of safety violations that could easily cause serious injuries.”
Accidents during drilling kill some 100 people a year in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Citing data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the CDC reported 1,189 oil and gas workers were killed in the 11 years ended 2013, a period of intense drilling in the country.
Dean Wingo, a former OSHA administrator who dealt regularly with Patterson-UTI, said of the company, “They’ve gotten a lot better. It was a family-owned company ... when it became public, that changed the management and that helped change the attitude.”
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1926: Halliburton took its first steps to become a worldwide company by selling five cementing units to an English company in Burma, which started its Eastern Hemisphere operations. Erle P.’s brothers expanded the business in Alberta, Canada.
1930s: The Company established its first research laboratories to test cement mixes and offer production-enhancing acidizing services. Halliburton also completed its first offshore cementing job using a barge-mounted cementing unit at a rig in the Creole Field, Gulf of Mexico. This was the start of what became the world"s most extensive offshore service.
1946: The company expanded into Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and the Middle East and began performing services for the Arabian-American Oil Company, the forerunner of Saudi Aramco.
1951: Halliburton made its first appearance in Europe as Halliburton Italiana SpA., a wholly-owned subsidiary in Italy. In the next seven years, Halliburton launched Halliburton Company Germany GmbH, established a subsidiary in England, and set up operations in Argentina.
2009: For first time, the number of horizontal wells drilled exceeded the number of vertical wells drilled as operators increase focus on unconventional basins.
2014: Halliburton opened Argentina’s first sand storage and loading facility to support the country’s transition from shale exploration to development.
Present: Halliburton is one of the world"s largest providers of products, services, and integrated solutions for oil and gas exploration, development, and production.
We develop and deploy the most advanced technologies to serve energy and industrial companies looking for more efficient, more reliable and cleaner solutions. Our diverse portfolio of technologies and solutions are transforming how industry works today and in the future.
Our oilfield technology and services help you operate efficiently and predictably, ensuring that projects are executed right the first time and assets consistently perform at peak productivity. Our portfolio is enriched by digitalization, artificial intelligence and automation capabilities that enable remote operations, reduce risk, and drive decarbonization efforts.
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Officials identified the victims as 35-year-old Josh Ray, 29-year-old Matthew Smith, 26-year-old Cody Risk, 60-year-old Parker Waldridge and 55-year-old Roger Cunningham.
“This was the deadliest U.S. drilling accident since the 2010 deep-water horizon rig explosion which killed 11 workers,” said U.S. Chemical Safety Board interim executive Dr. Kristin Kulinowski.
Officials with the Pittsburg County Sheriff’s Office say that the remains of all five workers were found in the last placethe men were seen working, which is where the fire initially started.
An initial report released by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission claims that there was an uncontrolled release of gas that caught fire. It also states that an employee attempted to shut down the well, but could not.
Now, a lawsuit filed in Pittsburg County District Court claims that the explosion was a direct result of the companies trying to save money and impress investors.
“This suit arises out of yet another tragic preventable incident caused by irresponsible companies working in the oilfield who place money and profit over safety and human life,” the lawsuit claims.
Court documents claim that Red Mountain, the owner and operator of the well, decided to use a lighter drilling mud than what other operators in the area were using in an effort to save money.
“Incredibly, however, Red Mountain chose to ignore the proven and successful drilling programs of those same ‘off-set wells’ when they prepared the drilling program for the Pryor Well in question. Rather than preparing a drilling program with the mud weight proven to be safe and effective in dozens and dozens of other Woodford Wells, Red Mountain chose to use a significantly lighter mud weight that was cheaper and ineffective to control the well. Unconscionably, for the five men who lost their lives, Red Mountain cared more about its investors’ money than the safety of the men who were drilling this well,” the suit claims.
The lawsuit also claims that the man serving as the drilling engineer was not a licensed engineer in Oklahoma at the time of the explosion, and opted to use the lighter mud weight at the site than heavier ones used by nearby wells.
Attorneys say that the company even consulted with several companies that were experts in mud, and they all recommended mud weights “well-above” the mud weight that was chosen.
“Ignoring the mud weights used in dozens and dozens of off-set wells and ignoring the expert mud engineering advice provided by more than a half-a-dozen mud companies, Red Mountain, Crescent and Mr. Acosta chose to drill this well ‘underbalanced.’ They chose to use a mud that was not heavy enough to create a barrier to prevent the influx of pressure into the wellbore. In other words, in ignoring the expert advice and proven safe and effective mud weight used time and time again, they chose a mud weight that would actually allow the well to blow-out,” the lawsuit states.
Just hours before the explosion, the lawsuit alleges that the Patterson crew on the rig asked for officials to increase the mud weight, but those requests were ignored.
“Because the mud weight used was not heavy enough to control the well, the well began to flow in an uncontrolled manner, and the natural gas was released from the well, it mixed with oxygen in the atmosphere which then ignited causing a well fire,” the suit states.
“As a result of Defendants’ gross neglect and malice, Plaintiffs seek exemplary damages against these Defendants in an amount equal to 25% of Defendants’, Red Mountain, Crescent Consulting, and National Oilwell Varco, and Patterson’s net worth,” the lawsuit claims.
“The amended lawsuit filed earlier this month against our company contains many false allegations and unproven assertions. We will respond specifically and in detail at the proper time in a legal venue,” Red Mountain President Tony Say said. “For now, we categorically deny any claim our company put profits over people. Safe, responsible operations are the top priority at every Red Mountain well, and our deepest sympathies go out to those affected by this tragedy.”
“This lawsuit demonstrates a basic lack of understanding of wellsite operations, especially its contention Red Mountain dictated mud weights and the purpose of flaring,” he said. “As is standard in the industry, the drilling program was designed with a range of options which on-site personnel could use to perform their duties,” he said. “This incident was the result of negligence by personnel from other companies who were responsible for maintaining control of the well in all circumstances.”
“We will continue to vigorously fight any false allegations which seek to inappropriately place blame on Red Mountain Energy,” he said. “We are confident the legal process will exonerate our company.”
In August, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Patterson-UTI Drilling, Crescent Consulting LLC and Skyline Directional Drilling LLC for exposing workers to explosion hazards.
OSHA cited Patterson-UTI and Crescent Consulting for failing to maintain proper controls while drilling a well, failing to inspect slow descent devices and implement emergency response plans.
“These employers failed to properly control hazards involved in oil and gas extraction activities, and the result was tragic,” said OSHA Oklahoma City Area Office Director David Bates. “Employers are required to monitor their operations to ensure workplace health and safety procedures are adequate and effective.”
In 1892 James W. Stroud opened a store on property located six miles from the Sac and Fox Agency in Oklahoma Territory. Though the store was only a shack with a wagon load of goods, it was the beginning of Stroud, Lincoln County, Oklahoma. The community which is now referred to as "old Stroud," soon came to have a post office, several businesses and a school, whose building also served as a church.
The town was doing quite well when the Frisco Railroad decided to lay track between Sapulpa and Oklahoma City. The railroad promoters wanted acreage out of each of the four sections which intersected at Stroud. Three of the landowners agreed to let the railroad have every other lot, however the fourth refused. Rather than lose the prospect of a depot. J.W. Stroud bought land one mile east of the town and sold right-of-way to the railroad company. In 1898 J.W. Stroud sold most of the land to Luther F. Aldrich, a town developer; however Mr. Stroud reserved every eighth lot for himself. Some residents were reluctant to move from already developed land in "old Stroud" to the new location. However, move they did, bringing their houses and business. The first train pulled into Stroud on August 17, 1898.
Prior to statehood, Oklahoma was divided into two districts, Oklahoma Territory in the west and Indian Territory in the east. Part of the border between the two territories is now the border between Lincoln and Creek counties. Indian Territory was "dry," but the sale of alcohol was permitted in Oklahoma Territory and Stroud, by virtue of location just west of the Indian Territory line, was "wet." Several saloons operated in Stroud and city revenue was made from saloon tax from 1899 until 1907 Statehood and prohibition. However, the staple business of the area was farming and Stroud was home to many cotton gins as well as a cottonseed oil mill and a stockyard.
The first school opened in "old Stroud" in 1893. The town"s newspapers at the time, the "Stroud Star" along with the "Stroud Messenger" reported the first commencement ceremony for Stroud in 1901.
The Main street through town which is also Third Street was part of the Ozark Trail, the first marked highway across Lincoln County. Main Street was a dirt road until 1924. This street is part of Route 66, first made in 1927. Today historical Route 66 is still well traveled by local, out-of-state and foreign visitors.
The first bond issue voted in Stroud in 1906 provided electricity to the growing town. Stroud contracted with Oklahoma Gas and Electric to purchase electricity for resale to the community in 1954. However, in 1986 Stroud council members signed an agreement with Grand River Dam Authority to provide electric service for resale which continues to this day. Also in 1906 work started on ensuring an adequate water supply with the addition of several water wells. However, community growth strained the troublesome water wells until Stroud Lake was established in 1970. The first sewer system was installed in 1924. The mid 1920s also saw a change in Stroud from a town to an official designation of city with a mayor and city council.
In March of 1915 Stroud, Oklahoma made headlines across the country for the capture of Henry Starr and another of his gang, Lewis Estes. Starr and his cohorts attempted to rob both the First National Bank and the Stroud National Bank at the same time. During the shoot-out both Starr and Estes were wounded and subsequently captured.
Oil was first struck near Stroud August 23, 1923 with the bringing in of the Big Ruby #1 in the Key West field. Other subsequent oil discoveries in 1925, 1930 and 1938 made Stroud, for a short period, a boom town.
The 1930"s brought the end of the era of cotton as the last cotton was ginned in 1936. The local economy moved from agriculture to a manufacturing and oil base. Allied Materials Corporation established an asphalt refinery and later roofing materials plant in 1934. After several decades of operation the plants shut down and were completely dismantled in 1987.
During 1951 and 1952 the State of Oklahoma through the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority built the Turner Turnpike, a four-lane highway connecting Tulsa and Oklahoma City. Stroud, as a mid-way point along the Turnpike, featured full-service gas stations and in 1953 a Howard Johnson"s Restaurant. However, during the 1980s major construction changes brought the end to the full-service stations with the arrival of self-service and replaced the leisurely dining experience with a fast food restaurant.
Something as common place as a brick can gain attention when it is thrown. In 1959 two local businessmen discovered that Stroud, Gloucestershire England and Stroud, Oklahoma both had brick manufacturing plants and initiated the "International Brick Throw Contest."
Two other Stroud communities joined the competition, Stroud, New South Wales, Australia and Stroud, Ontario, Canada. In addition to the men throwing bricks, the ladies began throwing rolling pins and the contest evolved into the "International Brick and Rolling Pin Throwing Contest." After several years Canada dropped out of the competition but the other Strouds continued until 2011 when the yearly contest ended.
Stroud"s central location at three intersecting highways, Route 66, State Highway 99 and the Turner Turnpike, facilitates the transportation industry. Along with Allied as a major employer along came Miller Truck Lines, a transportation company with a large fleet of vehicles, who established corporate headquarters in Stroud. Another company SYGMA, food service distributor, located in Stroud in the 1980s. Development of land north of Stroud in 1992 brought the Tanger Outlet Center, which began with 30 outlet stores and grew to 53 stores employing several hundred people. It was a major economic boom for the City of Stroud, however May 3, 1999 brought a devastating tornado which destroyed both the Tanger Outlet Center and the SYGMA distribution center and with it several hundred jobs. Currently Stroud is enjoying a resurgence of the oil and gas industry as Stroud is home to Service King, an oilfield workover rig manufacturer. Stroud is also a transloading point for oil being transported to the Cushing, Oklahoma area. Other oil and gas industries continuing operations in Stroud include John Cassidy Companies.
Dedication of the airport in 1931, located 2 miles north of Stroud, started when the Department of Commerce arranged to lease 100 acres of land from Jont Smith for the United States Government. Later funding was received to develop airport facilities under the Civil Aeronautics plan. In the mid-1960s the City of Stroud bought the land from the owners rather than continuing to lease. Stroud"s aerospace industry began when Consolidated Heliflight, a helicopter maintenance repair facility and later a specialized testing service for jet turbine engines was established in the early 1980s. Today, Mint Turbine, an aviation engine repair overhaul company, operates in a newly expanded modern facility.
Stroud has a number of properties on the National Register of Historic Places; this includes the "Rock Café", "Bon Ton House", "James W. Stroud House", and many others. Learn more about them on the Historic Places page.
The twenty-first century around Stroud ushered in a new agricultural era with the establishment of several vineyards and award winning wineries. Stroud was designated Oklahoma"s "Winery and Grape Capital." An annual celebration of this agri-tourism industry is held every June with "Stroud"s Historical Route 66 Wine and Food Festival" hosted by the Stroud Chamber of Commerce and the Grand River Dam Authority. Stroud also has a strong presence in the medical industry with Stericycle, healthcare agencies, a clinic and a hospital.
Stroud has had many slogans over the years such as "The Midway City", "Hub of the Turnpike", or "Stroud Proud". For those who like small hometown living, Stroud is "The Place to Be" so "Come Grow with Us."
Founded in 1934, Parker is a pioneer in the contract drilling industry. Parker"s engineers and designers have introduced many innovations, such as light weight, high capacity hydraulics for drilling rigs, rapid rig-moving systems and helicopter-transportable rig technology. Parker maintains its own research and development and rig-manufacturing center to quickly meet the needs of customers around the world. Its asset base is unmatched in diversity of type and geographic location as compared to other companies in its oil service peer group.
Parker Drilling Company is a leading provider of contract drilling and drilling-related services--including land, transition zone, and offshore drilling&mdashø major oil companies, independent oil and gas producers, and government-run oil companies. It has operated in 49 countries, primarily in the transition zones of the Gulf of Mexico, Nigeria, Venezuela, the Caspian Sea of Kazakhstan, and the offshore waters of the Gulf of Mexico, and in numerous on-land oil and gas producing regions throughout the world. Parker maintains a fleet of 75 international land rigs, 15 U.S. deep gas land rigs, 34 barge rigs, seven platform rigs, seven offshore jackup rigs, and specialized rental tools that it leases to other drilling companies. Parker Drilling Company has become the dominant operator in the heli-rig market, operating 80 percent of all rigs transportable by helicopter to otherwise inaccessible desert, jungle, and mountain locations. It is also a specialist in deep well, arctic, and geothermal drilling.
Gifford C. Parker, an Illinois farmer, excited by the opportunities presented by the Oklahoma and Texas oilpatch, founded Parker Drilling Company in Tulsa in 1934. The following year, the new company pioneered the use of diesel electric powered drilling rigs and by 1945 was branching out into the international market. During the next four years, Parker Drilling began to operate five rigs in Venezuela and 12 in Canada.
In 1954 the company was incorporated in Oklahoma. Robert L. Parker, Gifford"s son, purchased the company and became its president, a role he retained until 1977 when he was elected chief executive officer. Robert L. Parker, Jr., Gifford"s grandson, joined the company in 1973 and followed his father as president and chief operating officer in 1977. He later became chief executive officer in 1991. Under the direction of both men, the company committed itself to the exploration and practice of new drilling techniques. Starting in the 1960s in west Texas, Parker created its own niche by developing new deep drilling technology that has since become the industry standard. By the mid-1960s Parker had eight deep drilling wells--defined as those 18,000 feet and deeper--the oldest of these being one it drilled for Gulf Oil in west Texas. In 1969, the year Parker went public with shares sold on the over-the-counter market, the company landed a major contract with the United States Atomic Energy Commission to drill a series of holes up to 120 inches in diameter and 6,500 feet in depth in Alaska and Nevada for nuclear testing. Three years later Parker set a world record for deep well drilling with a 28,500-foot well, again in west Texas. In 1977, using the world"s largest rig at the time, Parker drilled the deepest test to date in the Middle East in Kuwait.
During the second half of the 1960s the company began to pioneer the helicopter-transportable rig technology for which it eventually became well known. Parker engineers experimented with the design, later patented, of several series of rigs that could be disassembled, flown into remote or environmentally sensitive areas, and there reassembled for the operator"s drilling program. During the 1970s and 1980s Parker technology also introduced a number of changes in the realm of arctic drilling, including new rig designs, innovative rig-moving systems, and improved drilling technology for arctic conditions. In 1975, the year the company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange, it acquired OIME, a design, engineering, and manufacturing firm located in Texas that evolved into Parker Technology, Inc., or Partech, Parker"s research and development, manufacturing, and rig service center. In 1978 Parker Drilling pioneered arctic drilling technology using a winterized rig on wheels, designed and manufactured for an ARCO Alaska, Inc. drilling program in the Prudhoe Bay Field.
The early 1980s proved a time of dramatic change in the energy industry. Under President Reagan"s direction, many of the restraints imposed upon companies during the previous decade, including such things as pestilent controls on industrial fuel burning, were dismantled by Congress as a part of the National Energy Plan II. As a result, there was a gradual increase in drilling activity, including a move to international drilling. In 1980 Parker was awarded a contract in the People"s Republic of China to work in Xinjiang province, becoming the first American land drilling company to work in that nation. This contract was followed in 1984 by a second, for work jointly undertaken by Parker and China"s National Oil & Gas Exploration and Development Corp. Elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific area, Parker signed on to its first operation in New Zealand and its second in Papua New Guinea. Parker also began operations in Somalia, Tanzania, the Sudan, and South America.
In the late 1980s, the Soviets began launching a new push to increase the output of their vast oil and natural gas reserves. Parker signed a protocol agreement with the Soviet Union"s Ministry of Oil and Gas Industry in 1989 to act as exclusive project manager in negotiating a comprehensive contract to coordinate the planning, design, engineering, and implementation of deep well drilling on a remote desert location near the Caspian Sea. Parker became the first Western drilling contractor to work in the Siberian arctic when it entered into a contract in 1991 with White Nights Joint Enterprise to provide two state-of-the-art rigs and supervisory personnel for an improved-recovery and development-drilling program. This operation was followed by two others in 1993, one of these a contract to develop one of the world"s largest oil fields, the Tengiz oil field in Kazakhstan; the other, to provide drilling services in western Siberia.
Throughout the early 1990s, Parker Drilling continued to develop its overseas operations. In 1992 it traveled to the Congo where it was hired to design hybrid rigs combining the drilling technologies of both the petroleum and solid minerals industries and to wireline core several holes for oil and gas exploration. In 1993 it returned to Argentina, where it had last worked in 1974, before that country"s oil industry was nationalized, and contracted to drill 48 wells. It also signed contracts in Colombia and in Peru to drill a total of up to seven wells. In 1995 Parker agreed to manage China"s state-owned Great Wall Drilling Co."s rigs as well as to train its crews, and to drill two wells south of Hanoi, Viet Nam, for an Australian company.
Parker Drilling"s revenues for fiscal 1995 were $157.4 million with net income of $3.9 million. In 1996 revenues dropped to $156.7 million, but income increased slightly to $4.1 million. By fiscal 1997 those figures were at $311.6 million and $16.3 million, respectively. This significant increase between 1996 and 1997 reflected changes within Parker Drilling, specifically, the November 1996 acquisitions of Mallard Bay Drilling, Inc. and Quail Oil Tools. Mallard, a leader in transition zone barge and offshore platform drilling and the largest operator of barge rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, enabled Parker to expand into the offshore drilling market, moving away from its focus on large land rigs that drilled for natural gas and smaller rigs that were easily transported to remote locations. The addition of Quail Oil Tools, the second largest provider of tools and equipment to exploration, production, and service companies in the Gulf of Mexico, moved the company into equipment rental.
These changes also reflected a general upswing in the oil market. The year 1996 and most of 1997 were a time of high activity for oil and gas companies, during which they increased exploration and production budgets in response to demand and strong commodity prices. In July 1997 Parker acquired Bolifor S.A., a Bolivian drilling contractor. Hercules Offshore Drilling, along with its affiliate, Hercules Rig Corp., came on board in December 1997, purchased from a publicly owned Malaysian company for $195 million. These two purchases enabled Parker to expand into a unique industry niche, drilling and workover in waters 215 feet or less, at a time when rig day rates and utilization were approaching a 15-year high, with many segments of the industry near full utilization. Mallard, Quail, and Hercules, as subsidiaries of Parker Drilling, increased not only the size of the company, but also the percentage of its revenue generated domestically and made the company"s U.S. operations more profitable.
The sudden upswing, however, was followed by just as abrupt a downturn. From the fall of 1997 to the spring of 1998, the price of a barrel of oil fell from $20 to $11, the lowest level in 25 years, once adjusted for inflation. This drop caused drilling to slack off and reduced spending by Parker"s customers. A merger with Louisiana-based Superior Energy Services would have made Parker the second largest oil tool rental company behind Weatherford International, but plans to merge were called off in 1998 after both companies" stock prices fell in response to an oil price collapse.
As 1998 progressed, reduced activity and lower rates throughout the industry resulted in a significant slowdown in activity for Parker Drilling. The market cooled to oil service stocks, and shares of Parker and its peer companies lost on average 70 percent of their value. Parker closed out 1998 as one of the New York Stock Exchange"s four worst-performing stocks. At the same time, the financings related to acquiring Mallard and Quail combined with Parker"s issuance of convertible notes in July 1997 and senior notes in 1998 substantially increased the company"s debt. Parker Drilling went from having $3.4 million in debt in 1996 to $651.6 million in 1998.
In other ways, however, 1998 was a notable year for Parker Drilling. In a move to centralize its administration, the company completed its new 47-acre Mallard-Partech complex in New Iberia, Louisiana and made plans to move Hercules" Lafayette shore base to a building adjacent to Partech in the spring of 1999. A new central health, safety, and environment (HSE) team formed and launched a companywide HSE initiative. The new ParkerNET system, the company"s globally accessible intranet, computerized new maintenance procedures via its preventive maintenance program. In addition, despite the general softness in industry conditions, drilling and service activities remained strong in the Caspian Basin, Nigeria, parts of South America, and the Gulf of Mexico. In 1998 Mallard Drilling completed the redesign, fabrication, and winterizing of a rig for arctic-style drilling conditions in the northeast Caspian Sea for a three-year Royal Dutch Shell-led drilling project and, in early 1999, entered into an alliance agreement for all of Texaco"s domestic inland water drilling and workover requirements.
In fact, fiscal 1998 operations represented a significant improvement over 1997 due to the continued strength of barge drilling operations in the transition zones and most international land drilling markets and the addition of Hercules" shallow water and platform drilling operations. Year-end revenue was $481.2 million and net income was $28.1 million. Yet the improvement of the last six months of fiscal 1998 was followed by a further decline in the oilfield services industry combined with the most dramatic drop in energy prices since the 1980s. During the first quarter of fiscal 1999, Parker experienced a net loss of $7.7 million. As a result, management anticipated substantially less capital spending in 1999 and took moves to conserve cash, reduce operating and overhead costs, and consider the sale of certain assets. Hercules and Mallard were incorporated into the company as a division called Parker USA Drilling Company in early 1999, leaving only Quail Oil Tools and Partech as the company"s subsidiaries.
"Drilling Program Set in Russia"s Far East,"Oil & Gas Journal, July 3, 1995, p. 27.Horovitz, Bruce, "Here Comes National Energy Plan II,"Industry Week, May 4, 1981, p. 17.
SJ Petroleum Machinery Co. (SJ for short), a state-owned enterprise under Sinopec Group, is a China Critical Technological Equipment Nationalization Base and a National Hi-tech Enterprise. SJ, as one of China Top 500 manufacturers, ranks 2nd on the list of China Top 10 Petroleum Drilling and Production Equipment Manufacturers and is rated AAA by China Petrochemical Industry and Banks.
SJ, initially established in Lanzhou, Gansu in 1941, was moved to Jingzhou, Hubei in 1969. SJ has started the manufacturing of petroleum drilling and production equipment since the end of 1970s. We have completed the DNC, OA and CAD/CAPP/PDM/ERP industrial information systems, and are API, ISO9001 and HSE management system certified. We have established and effectively implemented the enterprise legal adviser system and internal control system. SJ is mainly engaged in the development and manufacturing of drilling rigs, workover equipment, cementing equipment, fracturing equipment, offshore drilling and production equipment and high pressure fluid control products, including 200 models of products falling in four major categories and 12 series.
SJ is a petroleum drilling and production equipment R & D center and a certified technical center in Hubei. We have a relatively complete research and development system, and are authorized to set up a post-doctoral research station. SJ Technical Center has one Science and Technology Management Dept., three research institutes (Research Institute for Drilling and Workover Equipment, Research Institute for Cementing and Fracturing Equipment, Material Process Institute), an Electric Control Institute in Electric Control Branch and a HP Manifold Research Room in Manifold Branch, with 314 persons dedicated to product development and process research. SJ has an evaluation and employment system of lead and responsibility engineers, and has cultivated a group of technical personnel in the field. With this high quality technical team, SJ has mastered the design technologies for drilling rigs (including offshore equipment), workover rigs, cementing units and fracturing equipment, now SJ can provide a complete solution for customers at home and abroad.
We have a complete production facility, including welding, forging, casting, riveting, heat-treatment, machining, assembling and commissioning, and post-treatment, with more than 2100 sets of precision equipments. We have already set up seven production lines for drawworks, gear boxes, cylinders, masts, high pressure manifolds, plunger pumps and post treatment, and three assembly lines for drilling rigs, workover rigs and cementing and fracturing equipment. Now we can supply 100 drilling rigs, 100 workover rigs, 120 cementing units, 80 fracturing equipments, over 700 pumps, and 150,000 high pressure manifolds each year. We possess a rig assembly yard covering an area of 50,000 square meters, with 24 positions for rigging-up and two offshore rig commissioning sites (four rig positions), where a test of 750ton can be performed and 12 drilling or workover rigs can be assembled and commissioned simultaneously. Our Manifold Branch can provide high pressure manifolds which are interchangeable with world leading manifolds, including various high pressure fluid control products with pressure ratings ranging from 21MPa to 140MPa and sizes from 2���� to 5����. Thus, nearly 20 types of equipment and components, such as drilling rigs, workover rigs, snubbing rigs, masts, drawworks, crown block and traveling block, swivels, hydraulic cylinders, reducers, drilling slips, drilling fluid circulating lines, cementing units, fracturing trucks, manifold truck, sand blenders, high pressure pumps, choke and kill manifolds, wellhead units and Christmas trees can be inspected and tested in our factory, to guarantee product design validation and testing before delivery.
We have also set up customer representative offices to facilitate customer’s supervision and third party inspection, thus our product quality and adaptability have been boosted. Up to now, SJ has sold more than 3300 petroleum equipments, among them, over 300 drilling rigs sold in the past 10 years. With the rapid development and technical improvement, SJPETRO brand has been widely recognized in the world market. Recently, SJ has received more and more orders for overseas projects, this is an excellent opportunity for SJ and SJ has gained lots of experience in providing complete package of petroleum equipment.