AXXIS DRILLING IS one of those fewcompanies that buck a trend and indoing so distance themselves from therest of the pack. The company intends tofill a need from the tremendous influx ofindependents that are moving into theinland waters ofLouisiana as a result ofmajor operators releas-ing their concessions.

The company, formedonly in January 2000,built an inland waterdrill barge that wasdelivered in 2002, andbareboat charters a sec-ond unit. The new drillbarge was the first suchunit built in 20 yearsand includes numerousnew technologies notfound on older rigs.

While the company isrelatively new, the prin-cipals and officers bringto it more than 100years of combined expe-rience. Axxis wasformed in January 2000by Robert P (Bob)Dunn with the goal offorming a truly SouthLouisiana-based bargedrilling contractor. MrDunn alone brings morethan 30 years of experi-ence in the drilling busi-ness.

He was the President ofMallard Bay Drillingfor seven years and waswith Zapata Offshorefor more than 20 years before that.When Parker Drilling bought MallardBay, Mr Dunn became President of Park-er’s international division.

The Axxis management team alsoincludes Michael Topham, CFO; KellyBoudreaux, Vice President of Opera-tions; John Stevens, Drilling Manager;and Rene Borel, Vice President of Mar-keting.

E N T E R I N G T H E M A R K E T

“One of the reasons we got into thismarket was because the majority of rigs

in this segment average 27 years old,”Mr Dunn explained, “so by the processof natural attrition, some new construc-tion has to come into the market place atsome point.”

“In short the driving forces behindAxxis are the aging fleet and the desireto bring some new technology into themarket place,” Mr Dunn noted.

“Our focus has been to add value foroperators by reducing operational riskand downtime through improved meth-ods and the latest technology.”

“The bottom line is we want to be thelow cost, high value producer for ouroperators” Mr Dunn continued. “Wehave been told by operators that thequality and depth of management and

drilling expertise is uncommon especial-ly for a small young company like ours,and they really enjoy being able to pickup the phone and talk to the owner.”

The newbuild drill barge, the Indepen-dence, is a 2,000 hp con-ventional drill barge fea-turing circular mudtanks, high capacitycranes and full electronicmonitoring of the drillingoperations. It wasdesigned to achieve atransit draft of only sixfeet.

The mud handling andprocessing systems con-sist of circular tanks toaid in better mixingcapabilities. The tankseliminate build-up foundin corners of squaretanks and they createbetter shearing capabili-ties.

The mud handling sys-tem includes three Der-rick shakers consistingof two flow line cleanersand one mud cleaner, inaddition to a GumboBuster.

The Independence fea-tures two cranes rated at21 short tons at 30 ft, fargreater capacity thantypically found on inlandwater drill barges, inorder to accommodatethe heaviest projected liftduring operations.

Both the Independence and the Free-dom, a posted inland water drill bargethat is bareboat chartered from Per-foradora Central in Mexico, feature thelatest in electronic monitoring. Thisallows the client to minimize costs onadditional electronics.

Virtually any of the operating parame-ters of the barge can be monitored bythe system, which was provided by Aca-diana Oilfield Instrumentation. Themonitoring is stored electronically andprovides the client with a data base atthe completion of the well.

26 D R I L L I N G C O N T R A C T O R March/April 2004

Inland barge contractor adding technology to units

Axxis’ inland water drill barge Independence features circular mud tanks, high capacitycranes and the latest technology in remote monitoring to view virtually any operatingparameter remotely in real time.

Also, the information can be monitoredin real-time from virtually any locationvia satellite connection to an Internetwebsite. This allows the customer to“piggy-back” onto the rig system, thusreducing the cost of communications tothe customer.

B E N E F I T I N G L O C A L E C O N O M Y

Axxis wanted to become a truly SouthLouisiana barge contractor, and that notonly means supplying drilling servicesfor the region but benefiting the localeconomy as well.

While the Independence’s topside wasunder construction at Regional Fabrica-tors in New Iberia, the hull was alsounder construction at Trinity Marine inMadisonville and Bourg. The barge con-struction resulted in a payroll of approx-imately $600,000 for the communities ofMadisonville and Bourg.

The topside construction payroll,including subcontractors, was about $2million plus an additional $1.5 million in

materials and improvements from localsuppliers.

Axxis will also generate annual payrollof over $2 million to operate the Inde-pendence. Additionally, Axxis intends touse local vendors to supply the on-goingoperational needs of the rig.

E X P A N D I N G I N T O T H E F U T U R E

The reception of the Independence intothe Gulf of Mexico inland water drillbarge fleet, along with the belief of astrengthening market, has convincedthe company that additional units withnew technology like the Independenceare needed.

As a result, the company is consideringbuilding two more barges, this timeposted units to work in deeper watersalong the coast.

“We are nearing completion of the finan-cial and engineering process,” Mr Dunnsaid, “I anticipate the barges will beordered in the very near future.”

The inland water market is a well-to-well market but it can provide consis-tent employment opportunities. “Webegan working for Clayton Williams on awell-to-well basis last year,” Mr Dunnnotes, “and we are drilling well numbersix for them now.”

Mr Dunn said the company hasn’t seen alot of movement in deep gas wells yetbut he believes it’s coming “We believethat deeper plays are coming,” he said,“and one of our new rigs will be a 3,000horsepower rig to accommodate thatsegment of the market.”

The company also has an eye on theinternational market. “We are looking atevery international prospect within ourrealm of operation,” Mr Dunn said.

“We already supply some labor interna-tionally and we will grow on that,” hecontinued. “We are also looking at selectopportunities to go overseas to strength-en our domestic operations, but not atthe cost of our disciplined approachedto adding value and efficiency.” n

March/April 2004 D R I L L I N G C O N T R A C T O R 27