Exceed Launches World-First Deepwater Drilling Consultancy
August 2009
A group of the world’s most experienced deepwater wells professionals have joined to form the first drilling consultancy to specialise solely in deepwater projects.
Founder and co-director Ian Mills, who has nearly 25 years’ experience in the oil & gas industry, including senior drilling roles at Shell and BP, has launched the operation as a new division of Aberdeen-based Exceed.
Exceed’s deepwater specialist teams will provide a full wells project capability from conceptual design, exploration and evaluation through to full field development.
The multi disciplined team have amassed more than 200 years combined offshore drilling experience in locations including East coast Canada, West Africa, Brazil, Asia Pacific and the North Sea and Norway working on a variety of rig types up to 5th generation.
Mr Mills said: “Deepwater exploration and development plays an increasingly important role in meeting global energy demands. The key players in this field – National Oil Companies, operators and contractors, are faced with challenges such as the increasing complexity, escalating cost of services, limited availability of deepwater rigs, and the shortage of experienced and technically capable people.
“This is where Exceed comes in. We provide a world class deepwater well delivery capability that covers the spectrum from geology to well design, converting concepts to completions and prospects to production
“Our mission is to be the world’s premier deepwater wells specialist who explore for and develop deepwater prospects at the lowest cost possible with no damage to people or the environment.’’
Mr Mills said benefits of Exceed’s approach for National Oil Companies and rig-sharing consortiums, in particular, included providing consistency and continuity through having a team that remain with the rig, as well as best in class performance levels being achieved quickly because Exceed’s core members are an established high-performing team.
“They will ensure world-class health & safety and operational performance and also ensure best practice is transferred from client to client, with performance continually improving,’’ he added.
Target markets are Brazil, Indonesia, West Africa, Turkey, Norway and the North Sea.
“With the price of oil where it is, now is the time to focus on waste and cost reduction and to be as lean and efficient as possible. The industry is faced with more complex technology, less experienced people in more challenging conditions. Our role is to deliver premier quality wells teams with a commitment to coach, mentor and develop the next generation and embed client capability. External factors such as the amount of oil in place or the price of oil are out of our control, but we can directly influence the cost of extraction and the time to deliver production,’’ said Mr Mills.
“Most companies offer technology solutions as the only means to accelerate deepwater drilling performance. At Exceed, experience tells us that typically an increase of 10%-15% in productive time can be achieved through design, a fit for purpose contracting strategy and continuously improving the performance of the team.
“Our service also includes providing clients with a professional digital video library, filmed specifically for each rig. Combining pre-job planning and pre-section meetings with videos positively impacts productive time as visual learning is more effective than planning alone. In fact, research shows that video learning is equally effective as simulator-based exercises.
“We have a rigorous approach to planning and learning, capturing lessons learned and building a culture where everyone from the operator and service provider sides are working towards the same goal.”
Exceed has a strong track record in working with extraction industries such as oil & gas and mining. The business was initially formed to specialise in improving operational performance and has delivered multi-million pound savings for several major operators, including Talisman, BP and De Beers’ offshore diamond mining fleet
The team will result in 2 new directors and 20 wells specialists joining the Exceed organisation.
Exceed has spent the past 12 months evolving the deepwater wells proposition, assembling the core team and has invested over $ USD 200,000 conducting market research, developing the brand, devising a sales & marketing strategy and engaging with prospects. Exceed is currently at advanced stages of discussion with 3 clients and have been overwhelmed by the level of interest expressed by several other prospective clients at this early stage of promoting the deepwater well delivery team.
Exceed is a high growth SME operating internationally.