Virden, Man. 鈥� When you drive into Precise Well Servicing Inc.鈥檚 yard south of Virden, Man., you鈥檇 be forgiven if you thought it was a decent sized farm. Well, it is, and Precise, along with sister company Premier Oilfield, located across the yard, are both outgrowths of that farm.
That鈥檚 according to Parry Chapman, who is one of four partners in the outfit. The others are Darren Chapman, Rob Chapman and Jeff Elliot. (See related story on .)
They鈥檙e not very picky on titles, but Parry fills the role of chief financial officer. 鈥淚t derives from our large family farm,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t grew to a point where labour became an issue because of the oilfield, so we started investing in companies in the oilfield as a side investment.
Precise started out as a power tong outfit, Precise Tong Services Inc., but is now primarily a service rig company. They had five power tongs truck with Precise Tong Services Inc., but most are now parked and just one is active occasionally. Precise is now run as one entity, Chapman added.
As top-drive units like advanced drilling rigs became more common, Champman said they got into the service rig side. 鈥淲e knew power tongs were not going to be as busy as they once were.鈥�
Precise Well Servicing worked almost exclusively in southwest Manitoba, but it does occasionally go to southeast Saskatchewan.
鈥淲e do quite a bit of work in the Cromer area, and Waskada area, and in Two Creeks,鈥� said Greg Alberts, operations manager with Precise. Two Creeks is along Highway 83, north of Highway 1.
They operate two service rigs with 13 people, including one on the tong side.
Alberts said, 鈥淚鈥檓 a service rig hand, pretty much from the jump. I worked in Estevan, in Alberta, northern Alberta, and all over. I鈥檇 land on another rig and just keep on it.鈥�
He joined Precise for the opportunity to be the rig manager on its first rig, and his responsibility has grown from there.
Both of Precise鈥檚 rigs are singles. Alberts said, 鈥淲e鈥檙e looking forward to getting some doubles. That鈥檚 a place we鈥檇 like to get to.鈥�
鈥淲e do service rig work 鈥� completions, workovers, abandonments,鈥� Alberts said. 鈥淟ast year we did a ton of abandonments.鈥�
Those abandonments were primarily in the Waskada area.
Regarding living with the downturn, Chapman said, 鈥淚t鈥檚 a different pace. I guess a person鈥檚 got to adapt. This is probably the new reality, with oil prices where they鈥檙e at. For us, this is probably the first downturn we鈥檝e encountered. We鈥檝e learned lots.
Asked what that might be, he responded they learned to be a lot quicker in dropping rates. 鈥淲hen oil prices dropped, it seemed to be the rig rate, the hourly rate, was more important the efficiencies. The accountants take over more for the big businesses. They don鈥檛 realize that one five-man crew can be more productive than another five-man crew.鈥�
Consultants might see that, but the accountants, not so much.
While they鈥檝e survived the downturn, Chapman said, 鈥淎nybody who says they haven鈥檛 had equity eroded is lying. Some of the rates some of our competitors were running at 鈥� one of our classes of trucks went from $150 an hour to one of our competitors went to under $60 per hour. I鈥檇 like to say there was $90 of profit there, but that鈥檚 not the reality.
鈥淚t was pretty cutthroat.鈥�
Service rig companies throughout the region are feeling the pinch when it comes to manpower, something Alberts said is affecting them. 鈥淲e feel that exact same thing. I don鈥檛 think there鈥檚 a guy in the oilfield today whose not feeling the same pinch or crunch. We left a lot of guys behind, guys with experience. Those ten-year and 12-year guys, they鈥檝e made different choices. They鈥檙e doing other things, now.鈥�
As for recruiting, he said, 鈥淚 look for the best I can get for any one position.鈥�
But that may mean shaping people for those positions via training and mentorship.
Chapman said, 鈥淲e鈥檙e surviving. There鈥檚 always room for more work. We鈥檙e probably doing better for manpower on the well servicing side. On the trucking side, you鈥檝e either got six too many drivers, or you鈥檙e six short,鈥� Chapman said.
With green hands, he noted training programs need to be top notch to continue to provide quality service to the customer.
The difficult thing is one rig is running steady, but the second rig is running with 50 to 60 per cent utilization. While they keep the staff working around the yard, they鈥檙e not making the money they would if their rig was active all the time.
鈥淎 lot of people have left the oil industry for jobs that are a little more stable,鈥� Chapman said.
Alberts said, 鈥淭here鈥檚 definitely a missing amount of experience with the guys around. Lots of guys made a different choice.鈥�
鈥淯ntil rates get back up to where they鈥檙e getting better pay鈥︹�� Chapman said.
鈥淔or us, trucking is even harder, finding local bodies. Right now, probably 40 per cent of our drivers are local. The rest are coming from two or three hours-plus away, so you鈥檙e supplying accommodations for them. We have housing, and we鈥檙e in the process of setting up a camp for our own employees.鈥�
Asked about plans for the future, Chapman said, 鈥淪urvive and maintain.鈥�
