Home > Oil & Gas > View from the Top

US Branch Opens Door to Tech Procurement

Luis Ferrán - The Mudlogging Company
Country Manager

STORY INLINE POST

Tue, 01/21/2020 - 18:21

share it

Q: Given the changing technological landscape for datadriven businesses, how have you kept up to date with the changing value of data?

A: One of the most important ways in which we have assimilated the changing value of data is through the establishment of a new branch in the US with our same name, The Mudlogging Company LLC, in Houston. The purpose of this entity is to search for and procure new technologies that can then be applied to our Mexican operations. This branch also serves as an additional link between us and all the foreign operators and service providers entering the Mexican industry. We procure these technologies either through direct acquisition or through alliances and joint ventures. Either way, by opening this branch we can stay fully up-to-date with all the new innovations developed in our sector by both the private and public sectors at research centers, universities and government institutions. We can visit all the relevant events and fairs, and also stay in touch with all our current and prospective clients that work on both sides of the border. We can acquire the most important technologies before our Mexican clients even ask for them and begin building what could later more clearly become a research and development arm fully focused on the challenges of the Mexican industry.

Q: What advantages do you get from procuring new technologies through alliances and joint ventures?

A: We actually prefer this approach because we get added value from the company providing technology in the form of training and sharing of strategies for the implementation of the newly acquired technology. We then become an integral part of that foreign company’s supply chain; the fact that they know that we have decades of experience in Mexico means that we then become a part of their strategy for entering the Mexican market. These companies, particularly those that have already attempted or have an ongoing entry into the Mexican market, have struggled with bottlenecks in the development of their local supply chains, preventing them from delivering promised works on time. These issues are now getting solved. My experience in the last six months in Mexico is that operators are now doing what they should have been doing two years ago in terms of supply chain development, and that is allowing them to deliver on time. This is an ideal moment to form these technological alliances with Houston because they can pre-qualify us and certify us as a reliable service provider.

Q: How does foreign technological procurement contribute to closing the confidence gap between foreign operators and Mexican service providers?

A: It plays an important role in closing this confidence or trust gap. Obviously, the existence and nature of this gap depends entirely on what exact operator we are talking about. Most operators want to deal with a supply chain that is as short and efficient as possible, which is why they often will import their own foreign suppliers that are part of supply chains that they have already tested, developed, shortened and made efficient previously. They are also familiar with these suppliers’ technological capabilities. By approaching them for technological procurement, we give them a chance to familiarize themselves with our own technological capabilities and, in the process, determine how we could fit into these preassembled supply chains.

Q: What role does foreign procurement play in applying technologies in Mexico that can have a tangible impact in productivity through risk reduction?

A: These technologies are providing increasingly more upto-date, more moment-to-moment and more comprehensive real-time data on the status of a well during drilling operations. Your drilling activities can run into the reservoir or resources that you are looking for, those you are not looking for and also formations that can prove destabilizing to the well, such as high-pressure gas zones. You can also run into a central column of materials that provides characterization data, which proves essential for the operators to determine that they are drilling in the right place. Shortening response times to, and even predicting, all of these eventualities and more has an enormous impact on risk reduction.

The Mudlogging Company is a Mexican service provider to the national upstream sector with over three decades of onsite experience. The company opened a branch in the US called The Mudlogging Company LLC.

You May Like

Most popular

Newsletter