e the williston basin/bakken shale m selling...
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emi-magazine.com
[ B Y C H R I S P E T E R S E N ]Experience matters, no matter what
industry you’re talking about. In the oiland gas sector, operators at every pointin the stream need to feel secure thatthe partners they work with know whatthey are doing, and are the best in theirparticular area. That is why DTC En-ergy Group has become a big name inthe Rocky Mountains and particularlyin the Bakken Shale region in a rela-tively short time.
From its humble beginnings as asmall consulting operation serving fiveexploration and production companies,DTC Energy Group has evolved into oneof the largest and most prominent play-ers in drilling management and petro-leum operations consulting in theUnited States. CEO Robert Sylar saysthe company’s success is thanks in largepart to its experience and its ability toleverage its expertise quickly for cus-tomers. “We are able to provide a veryexperienced team of skilled petroleumoperations and drilling supervisors onshort notice,” he says.
DTC Energy Group is the result of a
DTC Energy Group is the result of a merger between.
two leading drilling companies..
DTC Energy Group provides customers in theoil and gas sector with peace of mind throughits experienced operations consulting staff.
Selling Confidence
www.dtcenergygroup.com
Headquarters: Denver | Service: Petroleum
operations consulting | Employees: 50
DTC Energy Group.
P R O F I L E
• Denver
“We are able to provide avery experienced team ofskilled supervisors onshort notice.”// ROBERT SYLAR, CEO
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it takes to set itself apart from the rest ofthe industry. “Our competition is fierce,”he says. “The only reason we exist is be-cause we do a better job, otherwise wewouldn’t be around.”
EXPERIENCE IS THE EDGE
The key advantage DTC Energy Groupbrings to the table is its experience, andthat’s something oil and gas operatorsthroughout the Bakken area demand. Al-though many rigs in the region are oper-ated directly by oil companies, not everyoperator has the manpower or other re-sources to do so.
“Other oil companies – often morestreamlined independents – will opt tohire a consultant firm because of the re-duced investment,” Sylar says. This“consultant-manned” market is whatDTC Energy Group serves, and the com-pany is manning 16 of the nearly 80 con-sultant-manned rigs operating in theWilliston Basin area.
Leveraging the collective experienceof the original companies and their prin-cipals is extremely valuable to operatorsin the Bakken region because of how dif-ficult drilling there has become, accord-ing to Senior Advisor Mac Avery. “Overthe last five to seven years, completingwells in the Bakken has become an ex-tremely complex assignment,” Averysays. “What we’re doing now is compa-rable to a moonshot, in a sense.”
Not only has drilling in the Bakkenarea become more complicated, but oiland gas companies also are looking fornew ways to streamline their opera-tions and drive greater efficiencies toreduce per-well costs, an integral met-ric exploration and production compa-nies track closely. Avery says DTCEnergy Group brings an integratedstructure to the well site in which anon-point supervisor is backed up by theexperience of its management team andthe expertise of its engineers. Nearly 90percent of the company’s employeeshave more than 10 years of experiencein the oil and gas industry, giving DTCEnergy Group the capability to bringconsiderable skills to the well and savecustomers money by reducing drillingtime. “We go in there wearing thechampionship belt,” Avery says.
PROFESSIONAL OPERATIONS
The experience and expertise that DTCEnergy Group brings to the table providecustomers with peace of mind, Sylarsays, something needed in the oil and gasmarket because of commodity price un-certainty. “Probably the greatest chal-lenge is the price of oil,” Sylar explains.“We are in a very volatile market.”
Avery says operators experience fluc-tuations in pricing constantly, and assuch controlling their costs becomes aprimary operational objective. DTC En-
July 2011 merger between Sylar’s Drill-Tech Inc., which had been operatingsince 1979, and Dakota Territory Con-sulting. The latter company was foundedin 2005 by DTC Energy Group’s currentCOO, Luke Clausen, a 20-plus-year vet-eran of the oil and gas drilling sector.Sylar says the impetus for the mergerwas the once-in-a-lifetime opportunityhe and Clausen recognized was emerg-ing in the Bakken region.
“As horizontal development began toaccelerate in the Bakken, experiencedsupervisors became in short supply andgreat demand,” he says. By merging thetwo companies, DTC Energy Group be-came capable of providing seasonedfield operations supervisors to help itsoil and gas company customers managecomplex engineering operations safelyand efficiently.
Although the consulting market isvery crowded in the Bakken region,Sylar says DTC Energy Group has what
emi-magazine.com
DTC Energy Group says it leverages its collective experience to serve customers..
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its clients’ safety programs at all points,and regularly holds training sessions forits employees.
Sylar says a highly professional work-force is essential for DTC Energy Groupto succeed not just because of the advan-tages it provides for its clients. Cus-tomers also increasingly are looking forconsulting partners outside of the tradi-tional sole-proprietor model that used todominate the industry. With a more pro-fessionally organized workforce at itsdisposal, DTC Energy Group gives itsclients confidence when they look forsomeone to supervise and/or managetheir rigs. “We’re trying to build a betterconsulting company, with a better struc-ture, and we have built it,” Sylar says.“We have it in place and we’re movingforward with that new model.”
EXECUTIVE EXPERTISE
Along with the extensive expertise DTCEnergy Group has cultivated in its workforce, the company boasts a similarlyhigh level of experience in its executiveteam. Before he founded Drilltech, Sylarworked as a technical services engineerand drilling supervisor for operations onthe Gulf Coast and in the Rocky Moun-tains. Sylar also has experience as a drillsite manager, completion engineer, op-erations project manager and consulting
operations manager, the company says. Avery has been a project consultant
for major energy firms, national energyagencies and large U.S. public utilities.He also has served on the board of nu-merous companies in the energy sectoras well as commissioner of the ColoradoState Land Use Commission for threeterms. Clausen has experience as a sen-ior drilling supervisor as well as in re-cruiting and managing teams of drillingsupervisors in the northern RockyMountains and Williston Basin regions.
Operations Manager Ed Lohmann is athird-generation oilfield worker whohas designed and built drilling rigs,served as a drilling manager for a largedrilling company and owned his owndrilling company.
‘THE SKY IS THE LIMIT’
Sylar says DTC Energy Group is in goodposition to take advantage of the signifi-cant growth in the Bakken area as moreclients require extensive expertise tomanage their drilling operations and be-come aware of the added value the com-pany brings. “The minute we see anincrease in activity, we are ready tomove in,” he says.
DTC Energy Group continues to lookfor new ways to add value to its serv-ices, as well. Sylar says the company isconsidering additional avenues of in-volvement, such as water managementor remediation of well sites. The com-pany is looking for an existing servicecompany that would make sense as anacquisition target to bring those serv-ices and expertise under its operation.
Wherever the company’s plans take it,DTC Energy Group is confident that itwill continue to be one of the mostsought-after consultants in the oil andgas sector, Sylar says. “I’d have to saythat the sky is the limit,” he says. EMI
ergy Group works closely with cus-tomers to ensure that costs remain man-ageable, Avery explains, and reiteratesthat the experience of its engineersmakes that possible.
Maintaining this level of experiencethroughout the company is DTC EnergyGroup’s second-greatest challenge, ac-cording to Sylar. DTC Energy Groupcannot afford to populate its staff withany less than the most experienced andknowledgeable people in the industry.This is because experience is so impor-tant to the company’s customers anddue to the substantial advantage it pro-vides operators in terms of efficiency.DTC Energy Group requires new hiresto have at least three to five years of su-pervisory experience in the industry,and it works hard to ensure that thecompany retains the experience it al-ready has on staff.
Sylar says that because DTC EnergyGroup is the result of a merger betweentwo well-capitalized and establishedfirms, it has the resources to retain su-pervisors and engineers by providingthem with competitive compensation.The company’s reputation and size alsoallow it to maintain a steady scheduleof work, ensuring that its employeesfeel as secure in their positions as onecan in a cyclical industry. Sylar alsopoints to DTC Energy Group’s safetyinitiatives as proof of its commitmentto its employees. The company is amember of PEC Safety, a provider ofstandardized safety training programsfor the oil and gas industry, and ISNet-world, an online database of safety andregulatory information.
“Safety in the workplace is one of thedominant drivers in the industry todayand, frankly, if you don’t work safelyyou’re asked to leave,” according toSylar. DTC Energy Group complies with
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“We’re trying to build abetter consulting com-pany, with a betterstructure, and we havebuilt it. We have it inplace and we’re movingforward with that newmodel.”// ROBERT SYLAR, CEO
Published by Phoenix Media Corporation Tel: 312.676.1101 Fax: 312.676.1280On behalf of DTC Energy Group © 2013 Phoenix Media Corporation. All rights reserved.
518 17th Street, Suite 650Denver, CO 80202
Telephone 303-242-3504www.DTCEnergyGroup.com
Robert SylarChief Executive Officer
Telephone: [email protected]
Ed LohmannOperations Manager
Telephone: [email protected]
Luke ClausenChief Operating Officer
Telephone: [email protected]
Mac AverySenior Advisor
Telephone: [email protected]