Kind of hits you where you live right now doesn’t it?

It is time for all of us to rally. We need to change our mindset to be able to get through this sluggish economy and basically survive until things come back to some kind of normal. Although, if you listen to all the pundits, that might not be any time soon. So, let’s figure this out people!

Last month, I had the privilege of participating in the Alberta Export Readiness Roadshow that was the brainchild of Clark Grue, who is the big cheese at Rainmaker Global Business Development. Rainmaker specializes in helping companies successfully expand to new markets whether that is next door to Saskatchewan or across the pond to Slovakia. He and his team of experts worldwide can help that process along, prevent you from falling into expensive pitfalls, and ultimately, save you money and headache. Clark believes there is a world of opportunity outside of our border, and he is doing his best to help.

As Clark says:

“With the Alberta economy in a time of transition, it can be difficult to estimate when the activity will return to the levels we experienced up until 2014. Many Alberta companies are evaluating ways to sustain and grow their businesses in this challenging time. The Export Readiness Roadshow will bring together multiple agencies and professional firms to present how they can assist companies to

explore new markets as a strategy for growth and stability for their company.”

Clark’s plan was to bring together a team of experts to help Alberta companies get access to the people and services they need to identify opportunities and transition successfully to other markets. So, we all hit the road in Calgary, Red Deer, and Edmonton to spread the word and provide advice. All in all, it was a tremendous response and further illustrates the need to show companies the way to successful export. I was excited to represent Oilfield HUB as part of the package of partners, including ATB, Deloitte, Calgary/Edmonton Airport Authority, EDC, and American Chamber of Commerce just to name a few.

Now, that’s what I call rallying for the cause!

The message I wanted to bring to this event was focused on industry collaboration. We are all forced to cooperate in ways that were unheard of in previous years due to the state of affairs we find ourselves in, but as the people of Fort Mac have displayed, we are a resilient bunch and will find a way to get through and prosper.

The event in Edmonton was particularly interesting for me. I started off my presentation wearing a Calgary Flames jersey. As you can imagine, there was some consternation among the natives with a few guttural unsavory sentiments released, which I had expected.

If you increase communication and transparency in-house, then you
are less prone to making costly mistakes and
duplicate purchases that lead to non-productive time.

I started off my presentation with this:

Imagine waking up this morning and all over the media channels you hear, “Good Morning Edmonton. I am Connor McDavid. The Edmonton Oilers Hockey Team owners and management understand the current resource imbalance in the province, so in the spirit of industry collaboration, they have decided to trade me to the Calgary Flames! The thinking is that a first-rate Battle of Alberta is good for business, and Edmonton has an embarrassment of riches, so we should help our brothers to the south.”

Could you ever imagine that happening? Of course, this proposition is preposterous. I pitched it to make a point. What we would never consider in the past may be the way to our future survival.

Our new reality puts mounting pressure on producers to find efficiencies and cut or control costs. Traditionally, they have done this by cutting staff and putting downward pressure on energy service companies to sharpen their pencil on prices. Some would argue they are driving down prices to unreasonable levels.

At Oilfield HUB, we have a different view. Our belief is efficiencies can be gained by taking a look at how they have traditionally done business. We all know that not only are we in a troubled economic time but we are also in a transition period of expertise

as the boomer generation is retiring at a frightening pace and the millennials coming up behind them don’t work the same way. The old school ways tended to be very vertically oriented. Drilling does their thing and Completions do theirs, but information is not readily shared. Even software utilized throughout the company is not integrated and tends to address a specific need.

We can affect change by taking a more holistic approach to operations. If you increase communication and transparency in-house, then you are less prone to making costly mistakes and duplicate purchases that lead to non-productive time. Oilfield HUB starts with the supply network engaged with a producer to dig in to why each particular service company has been selected and are they the best company for that particular function. Then you need to take it a bit further and build out the depth chart, so when someone goes down, a qualified replacement can trot out on the field, and you don’t miss a beat. Our suite of operations tools will then transition into daily field data capture that centralizes the Information for all constituents. That kind of information transfer is becoming more and more important as the industry is dragged into the digital era one painful step at a time.

As experienced personnel have been released recently, there will be a void. Many may choose not to come back at this point especially if this downturn drags on. So, how have you prepared for the transfer of information and intellect?

Or, did you just watch and walk out the door into retirement?

Yikes! It is time to rally for the cause.

Originally published in the 

June 2016 Issue of Oilfield PULSE