Houston Customer Visit

Delivered October 22nd, 2019. Contributors: Michelle A., Neema, Emmanuel A., Eunice O., Sheila L., Edgar M. and

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Tenaris: Company Profile

Tenaris entered a $1.209 million agreement in March 2019 to acquire IPSCO Tubulars and in January 2019 they acquired a 47.79% stake in the Saudi Arabian company. It appears that Tenaris does not publicly disclose information on their pilot programs, although it is possible the company calls them something different which is discussed below.
InvestmentsIn February 2019, Tenaris entered into an agreement to build a welded pipe plant in West Siberia, Russia. The agreement is with the Russian company PAO TMK. The total investment is expected to be about $240 million and the Tenaris will have a 49% stake in the company while PAO holds a 51% stake. 
AcquisitionsTenaris acquired a 47.79% stake in Saudi Steel Pipe Company (“SSP”) in January 2019 for $141 million. The company is located in Saudi Arabia and produces welded steel pipes. SSP has an annual manufacturing capacity of 360,000 tons. 
In March 2019, Tenaris entered into an agreement to acquire 100% of IPSCO Tubulars, Inc. for $1.209 million. IPSCO is a U.S. "producer of seamless and welded OCTG and line pipe products." The agreement is awaiting regulatory approvals.
Pilot ProjectsA Tenaris brochure on pipeline coating solutions mentions that the company has a pilot plant for coating solutions. The brochure also lists about 40 projects undertaken from 2011 to 2016, but does not specify that they are pilot programs.
In 2012, Tenaris conducted a pilot with a Colombian oil company that utilized their TenarisHydril Blue® connections technology. The success of the pilot led the oil company to consider future uses for the technology.
Tenaris was recently involved in a project in the Culzean field in the North Sea which involved drilling in a technically challenging well. The company conducted rigorous testing to ensure the offered solutions would succeed in real world conditions.
 Tenaris does not mention any type of pilot programs on its website or in the annual reports. Additionally, the only reporting we found on a pilot program was from 2012, as reported above. Therefore, we conclude that either Tenaris is not conducting pilot programs, or they are not reporting on them publicly.
If we consider pilot programs to be testing of solutions before implementation, there is evidence that this is done regularly by Tenaris. They offer technical consulting services to assist companies facing challenging problems that need customized solutions. However, they do not report on the number of clients or projects conducted.
Risk LevelTenaris partnered with Eni for a project to produce gas in the Zohr region. This project was viewed by some as a "mission impossible" but that didn't stop Tenaris from getting involved.
Tenaris worked on a technically difficult project with LLOG and met a tight deadline. This is another indication that the company does not shy away from risk.
Research StrategyTo find information on the investment and acquisition activity of Tenaris, we utilized the annual reports of the company. We covered any activity from January 2019 through today. Since the results were limited, we supplemented this research by examining business reporting sites such as Crunchbase and Owler, as well as a media search. When these strategies did not result in any additional investments or acquisitions, this confirmed that the annual reports had provided all the relevant information.

Data on pilot projects proved to be difficult to find. We began our search on the company's website and in the annual reports, and there was limited information on pilot programs. Next, we conducted a search of press releases and media sites such as OE Digital and Reuters. This allowed us to find a couple of mentions of pilots but they were from around 2012. We decided to change our strategy to search for testing programs to see if that would result in any additional relevant information. This allowed us to find examples of recent projects that had extensive pre-implementation testing, which could be considered a pilot, but the data was still very limited. Therefore, we concluded that either Tenaris is not regularly conducting pilots, or they are not reporting on them publicly.

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Tenaris: Carlos Blanc Profile

Carlos Blanc is the Unconventional Technologies Director at Tenaris. He has been a lifelong employee at the company, working for over 26 years and during this time, he oversaw the implementation of new strategies which positively affected the company in terms of sales and increase in market shares in markets they operate.
Carlos BlancWork ExperienceCarlos Blanc has worked for Tenaris for over 26 years and currently holds the position of an unconventional technologies director at the company, a position he assumed in 2018. 
Before he was appointed a technology director at Tenaris, he worked in various capacity at the company. From 2011 to 2017, he was a product manager, technical sales at the company. 
From 2007 to 2010, he worked as cost control and financial planning manager. Between 2005 and 2007, he worked as a supply chain planning manager.
He held the position of a services development manager from 2004 to 2005. Before that, he worked as a marketing manager for oilfield services.
He held several positions in his early career years at Tenaris, working as an economic and financial planning manager from 1999 to 2001, operations and cost control manager from 1998 to 1999, operative control manager from 1995 to 1997, and operative control analyst from 1992 to 1994. [1]
EducationCarlos Blanc obtained his Masters in Administration and Strategic Marketing from Universidad de Ciencias Empresariales y Sociales. He studied at the school from 1996 to 1997. 
He also studied at Universidad Nacional de Rosario as an Industrial Engineer from 1988 to 1993. 
Work AccomplishmentsWhile working as a product manager, he led the introduction of new technical services in the U.S. He also taught in several professional seminars on topics like drilling, completions and productions engineers on OCTG, corrosion and material selection. 
He was directly involved in the 10% cost-reducing and performance improvement of Tenaris U.S. industrial facilities by developing and implementing a standard costing system and management control practices. 
In his capacity as the service development manager, he promoted and formed alliances with partners to supply tubular running services in other international markets. 
Carlos Blanc contributed directly to the 12% increase of the market share and repositioning of the oilfield services business unit to high-end special products by issuing the marketing and long term sales plan. 
He provided a pivotal commercial strategy to the business unit director of the oilfield services, which led to a worldwide sales of about $1.5 billion of the OCTG.
He was a crucial member of the multidisciplinary re-engineering team that oversaw the takeover and integration of Maverick, Prudential, Tubocaribe and Hydril. 
In his role as the supply chain manager, he redesigned an optimized couplings scheme to supply Tenaris U.S. and Canada Mills.
MediaThere's no recent press articles, interviews on Carlos Blanc. His most recent media appearance was in 2017 where he was quoted by MRT discussing casing string designs. 
RESEARCH STRATEGYWe were not able to provide an in-depth overview of Carlos Blanc's business philosophies due to limited publicly available information. The research team began by combing through business databases like Bloomberg, LinkedIn, Crunchbase, ZoomInfo, among others. The idea was to find relevant information regarding his work ethics and business philosophies or any pertinent information which we could use as pointers to deep dive into life. After searching through the mentioned sources, he was only listed on LinkedIn, and there was not mentioned in any of the other databases. We also combed through his company's website, corporate page, and annual reports. We had hoped to gather insights on him as most companies usually provide a brief bio of their leadership team on their website and annual reports. This strategy also failed as there no mention of him on the company's website, and in their annual reports, press releases and the only individuals with names "Carlos" mentioned on the reports were the CFO (Edgardo Carlos) and the Director (Carlos Condorelli). Then, we searched for his social media accounts to gather insights on his business philosophies and interests based on his social media posts. Unfortunately, this wasn't possible as he doesn't have any profile on social media.

Next, we also searched for interviews or articles written on him. We were not able to find any article or interviews on him. The most recent media article in which he was mentioned was a 2017 article by MRT. We searched through media sites like The Voice of the People, La Province, MRT, La Vanguardia, Forbes, Bloomberg Business, Maximum Radio, among others. There was no mention of Carlos Blanc in any of the media sources, and we also expanded our search beyond the standard two-year period in hopes of finding old news articles and interviews which we could use to provide the requested information. This strategy also failed as we couldn't find any relevant information on him.

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Thru Tubing Solutions: Company Profile

ThruTubing Solutions recently invested in and developed a technology that "selectively diverts a frac to a less-treated part of a formation." They are also a company that seems to be comfortable taking low to medium risks in general. 
Recent InvestmentThe company recently invested in "a patented technology that selectively diverts a frac to a less-treated part of a formation, which effectively increases the stimulated reservoir volume."
Merger and Acquisition ThruTubing Solutions hasn't been involved in any merger or acquisition deals in the last 12 months.
Number of Pilot Projects AnnuallyThe number of pilot projects the company undertakes annually is likely less than one a year given that analysis of the company's annual report between 2008 and 2018 only revealed a single mention of adoption of a new patented technology solution in 2018. 
Level of Risk The company is mainly concerned with having a full suite of specialized downhole tools and a team that can handle even unconventional challenges, and its engineering team is dedicated to ensuring they have the best tools in the market. 
This focus on improving its tools and competency and the fact that they only seem to have patented a technology solution in the past 10 years suggests that they employ a low-risk approach. This assessment is also supported by the fact that the company hasn't been involved in any merger and acquisition deals in recent years. 
However, the company is not shy in expanding to new international markets and developing proprietary tools and technology to solve unique challenges which they have patented. Hence, the level of risk can be more accurately estimated as low to medium risk.
Research StrategyTo determine recent investments, acquisitions, and pilot projects ThruTubing Solutions has been involved in, we extensively searched the company's website, press releases, general media and industry databases such as Forbes, World Oil, Energy Voice, Seeking Alpha, PR Newswire, Globe Newswire, Steamboat Pilot & Today, among others. However, we were unable to find any relevant data. Apart from the company's website that contained general information about the company, there was precious little about the company in the press and industry sources. 

Next, we attempted to locate the company's annual report in order to find relevant details. However, we were unable to find any recent reports and this likely because the company is a private company and a subsidiary of RPC. We were only able to find a 2008 SEC filing that isn't relevant to this request. 

Given that we already found that ThruTubing Solutions is a subsidiary of RPC, we decided to analyze the parent's company annual reports. We were able to find details of a recent investment the company made in 2018 which we reported able. Given that our research thus far didn't reveal any data on any merger or acquisition, we concluded that there hasn't been any merger. 

Our research thus far failed to turn up data on the estimated number of pilot projects the company launches or participates in annually nor the level of risk the company is comfortable with. Hence, we decided to triangulate the data by reviewing the annual report of RPC for the last ten years and analyzing the information for any mention of new pilot projects. We also analyzed the company's white papers and case studies. Based on our findings from the publicly available data, we have provided the requested estimates above.

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Thru Tubing Solutions: Erik Jorgensen Profile

Houston based Erik Jorgensen is currently the Manager of Engineering Services at Thru Tubing Solutions. He has vast experience in asset management, drilling and completions, and Oil & Gas upstream field development.
EducationErik Jorgensen studied mechanical engineering at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, from 1989 to 1994. He then studied Masters in Business Administration at the University of Wisconsin, Parkside, from 1995 to 1999.
He also holds a certification in Workover from Wild Well University
Work History/ExperienceErik Jorgensen started working as a Design Engineer from 1994 to 1997 at Outboard Marine Corporation. He then moved to Fiat Chrysler Automobile, Kenosha, Wisconsin, where he also worked as a Design Engineer in Jeep Truck Platform.
In February 2001, he started working at the Advanced Integrated Technologies Group as the Senior Manager, Business Development. Three years later, he moved to ExxonMobil as the Engineer in Piceance Creek Drilling and Completions. In 2008, he was promoted to the position of Operations Manager of Piceance Creek Drilling and Completions. In 2011, he became the Manager of Piceance Asset Development.
In 2012, Mr. Jorgensen got another employment opportunity at BHP Billiton as the Senior Engineer of Drilling & Completions North American Shale. He later became the Manager in charge of Eagle Ford Well Delivery from September 2013 to July 2015. From July 2015 to February 2017, he was the Manager of Central Engineering Petroleum. He then became the Senior Manager of Continuous Improvement Petroleum, Worldwide from March 2017 to April 2018.
He is currently working at Thru Tubing Solutions in Houston, Texas, as the Manager of Engineering Services.
Work AccomplishmentHe is among the authors of "Evolution of Mesaverde Stimulations in the Piceance Basin: A Case History of the Application of Lean Six Sigma Tools "
Research StrategyDuring the search, we could not provide any information about Erik Jorgensen beyond his LinkedIn profile. We were unable to find press articles, interviews, and profiles. Also, we could not locate his statements on his business philosophies, awards that he has won, and projects that he has led.

We began by searching for his profile on the Thru Tubing Solutions website. The idea was to find relevant information about his business philosophies, awards that he has won, and projects that he has led. We were also hoping to locate additional information that would help us provide an in-depth overview of his background. We also searched for the company's recent news section to find any press article and interviews that featured Erik Jorgensen. However, the company has not provided its employees' profiles on their website. The company does not also have a news section or press release section on its website.

Next, we searched through professional networking sites like LinkedIn, and we were fortunate to find information about his education background, accomplishment, and current and past working experience. We couldn't find his statement on his business philosophy, awards that he has won, and projects that he has led. There is also no link to a press article or interview that featured him.

We then proceeded to search for recent articles, blogs, interviews, and press releases about him. Not only were we going to provide for their links, but also we hoped to locate his statements on his business philosophies and information about awards that he has won, and projects that he has led. But, we were not able to find any article or interviews on him. We also tried to search for older articles that might have featured him, but this search strategy did not bear fruits.

We then proceeded to look for his social media accounts. Our focus was to identify his posts that we could use as pointers to his business philosophies. We were also hoping to find whether he shared links to his interviews, and also find whether he posted the awards that he has won, and projects that he has led. We searched for his social media accounts like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Snapchat, and Instagram. After searching through different similar profiles of persons with the same name, we were unable to locate him on any of the platforms.

We also attempted to search through sources like Crunchbase, Bloomberg, ZoomInfo, Holaconnect, Zabasearch, and PeekYou to locate additional information that would help us provide an in-depth overview of his background. Unfortunately, his biodata is not in any of these databases. We were not able to provide information beyond what is already provided in this research because of the lack of publicly available data on this individual.

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Schlumberger: Company Profile

Schlumberger has made recent investments in 908 Devices and GHGSat; and has recently formed a joint venture, Sensia, together with Rockwell Automation. The company launches or participates in about 10 pilot projects annually, most of which are high risk. 
Recent InvestmentsIn April 2019, 908 Devices, "a pioneer of analytical devices for chemical and biomolecular analysis", announced that it had raised $17.5 million in a growth equity funding round, with Schlumberger as one of its investors. This was a follow-on investment, as Schlumberger has invested in 908 Devices in 2017 and 2015. Schlumberger has been working with 908 Devices to apply high-pressure mass spectrometry to various applications in the oil and gas services market.
In September 2018, GHGSat, a company that measures "greenhouse gas (GHG), air quality gas, and other trace gas emissions from any source in the world" announced a $10 million Series A2 financing with Schlumberger as one of its investors.
Recent Acquisitions or MergersIn October 2019, Rockwell Automation and Schlumberger announced the closing of their joint venture, Sensia, which is "the oil and gas industry’s first digitally enabled, integrated automation solutions provider" that would reduce risk, optimize performance and drive efficiency.
Average Number of Annual Pilot Projects Schlumberger launches or participates in approximately 10 projects annually, as can be seen from their projects over the past 10 years.  
Level of RiskMost of Schlumberger's projects are high risk.  They are exposed to a variety of significant environmental, safety and health risks as a result of the technical complexities of their operations. 
They deploy explosives, chemicals, radioactive materials, production-related activities, and other services and equipment in challenging environments. Accidents involving the equipment, services or product failures could lead to injuries, loss of lives, and destruction or damage of equipment, property or the environment. They are also prone to catastrophic well incidents and the effects of severe weather in their areas of operation.  

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Schlumberger: Manuel Marya Profile

Manuel Marya obtained his master's and a doctorate degree in materials/metallurgical engineering at Colorado School of Mines. He has worked at Schlumberger for 14 years in different posts such as principal engineer, technical advisor, and group leader.
EducationManuel Marya attended Colorado School of Mines from 1996 to 2001 and obtained a master's degree in materials/metallurgical engineering with a focus on welding/joining
From 1996 to 1998 he attended the Colorado School of Mines and obtained a doctorate degree in materials/metallurgical engineering.
According to his Facebook profile, Marya went to Saint Joseph du Loquidy school in 1990.
Work History / Experience Manuel Marya is currently a technical advisor for corrosion, materials, technology, and R&D at Schlumberger. He is also the engineering manager. He has held this post for three years and nine months since February 2016.
Prior to the current post, Marya was the principal engineer and materials engineering manager at Schlumberger for seven and six months from September 2008 to February 2016. 
From June 2007 to August 2008, he was the group leader and senior engineer at Schlumberger. He was responsible for completions, subsea & downhole testing, and artificial lift.  
From September 2005 to September 2007, he was the senior materials and metallurgical engineer at Schlumberger.
Marya was a senior member of staff at Nanocoolers from August 2004 to September 2005.
Manuel Marya was an assistant professor at General Motors from January 2002 to August 2004.
Work AccomplishmentsAccording to Justia Patents, there are 23 patents filed under his name.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Marya has 16 publications. 
Achievements include research in laser processing, magnesium joining, degradable materials, alloy and liquid metals, coatings, materials processing, and corrosion.
Research Gate has 64 research items from Manuel Marya on alloys, mechanical behavior of materials, metallurgical engineering, advanced materials, materials processing, materials, and corrosion.
AwardsIn 2014, Marya and the engineering team were awarded the Hart E&P Engineering Meritorious Award for engineering innovation.
 In 2014, Marya, and others were awarded the Perform By Schlumberger Bronze Award for transforming completions practices.
In 2007, Marya, R&D director, and others were awarded the William Spraragen Memorial Award for "the best paper published in 2005/06" by the American Welding Society.
He was awarded the Henry Granjon Prize by the International Institute of Welding for "the best IIW publication of the year by a young researcher" in 2002.
In 2000, he was awarded the AWS National Graduate Fellowship Award by the American Welding Society for "best research proposal by a Ph.D. student".
ProjectsMarya was responsible for the development of "new low-temperature liquid alloys" as mercury substitutes when working at Nanocoolers. 
While working at Nanocoolers, he was also responsible in "determining means of corrosion/erosion prevention".
Manuel Marya leads technical audits for mills worldwide.
Research StrategyWe were unable to provide Manuel Marya's business philosophies and links to recent press articles on him. 
We began our research into Manuel Marya's business philosophies by searching through biography sites such as Omnibiography, Prabook, Biography.com, and others. Most of the sites did not have any information on Manuel Marya, other sites such as Prabook, most of important information was behind a paywall. We also searched for news articles on sites such as News Lookup, Social Animal, and others. We hoped to find any articles on Marya but this strategy was not fruitful as there was no article on him published in the past 6-12 months. 
 
Our next strategy was to perform direct searches on all social media platforms (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, and others). We hoped to find quotes and any information on articles about him. Although we found personal information about him such as family and education, we were unable to locate any relevant information.

Our next approach was to try to get this information from Schlumberger. We searched through the company's website, social media pages, and the press releases of the company. We hoped that information on interviews, philosophies of Manuel Marya might be available on these sources because he was a manager at the company. This strategy was not successful because information on the company website and social media pages was mainly on the company's technology and Marya was not among the employees whose interviews were featured on the website and press releases.

As a last resort, we expanded our search to media publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and others. These searches did not yield any information. General inquiries for him in other databases brought up little useful data beyond what we have presented here. We, therefore, came to a conclusion that this information is non-existent or is not publicly available.