THE CRUDE TRUTH Ep 27 Noah Tritz VP at Workstrings International and Prater Benson

On this episode of THE CRUDE TRUTH we sit down with Noah Tritz who has his pulse on the international side of the #Oil and #Gas Industry.

We talk about #naturalgas prices along with breaking drilling records across the world! THE CRUDE TRUTH also welcomes back Prater Benson who is in Corporate Sales at Workstrings International and is a board member of the Oil and Gas Workers Association.

Please reach out to Prater Benson on his LinkedIn HERE  

Please reach out to Noah Tritz on his LinkedIn HERE  

Check out StatusJet HERE

THE CRUDE TRUTH Ep 27 Noah Tritz VP at Workstrings International and Prater Benson

Rey Trevino [00:00:00] As an operator in the great state of Texas there’s no doubt I have a dream to drill those deep West Texas wells or even in the great Gulf of Mexico. We’ll talk about that and much more on this episode of The Crude Truth.

Rey Trevino [00:01:14] I am just so excited thank you so much for tuning in to another episode of The Crude Truth. I am just totally blessed that I get to sit here with the individuals that are in the industry that are just different parts, and I’m just so excited again to have lots of great guests.

Rey Trevino [00:01:31] But before I introduce them, I’ve got to tell you, got to do the maintenance part of the show, which is be sure to like the show subscribe. And if you’ve got any questions, you know what hit me up at TheCrudeTruthShow.com or even LinkedIn. So don’t hesitate and I’m even on Twitter at Truth_Crude I’m even there but enough about me. Let’s get to why you listen, why you watch the show about my awesome guest today.

Rey Trevino [00:02:00] I have on some of the biggest guys that are drilling some of the deepest are participating, I should say, in some of the deepest wells in America and offshore. I’ve got on Prater, Benson, and more importantly, his boss. Noah Tritz with Wall Street in International. Gentlemen, how are you guys doing?

Prater Benson [00:02:19] Good Rey Thanks for having us.

Rey Trevino [00:02:21] I hope you guys are doing good thank you guys for coming on and Prater, Welcome back and man you look good in the new hoodie today.

Prater Benson [00:02:31] I was very embarrassed, man we talked about that.

Rey Trevino [00:02:33] No, don’t be hey, you know what? It’s The Crude Truth, and I welcome anybody to come in. You know, Just as they want to be comfortable, We’re not going to talk about your shoes. We’re not going to do that today.

Prater Benson [00:02:43] no men come out come speak for yourself.

Noah Tritz [00:02:47] Look, I know my limitations are I know what I can and can’t pull off something. I wouldn’t even have to pull out.

Prater Benson [00:02:53] The Chunky Bible.

Rey Trevino [00:02:55] All I have to say for my listeners out there. Noah, is literally just kind of looking down underneath the desk right now.

Noah Tritz [00:03:01] This is basically my liability I hope I don’t get kicked with the max and look like a bug sucker,.

Prater Benson [00:03:05] You’re my boss, I can’t do that.

Rey Trevino [00:03:09] Oh, man, no Prater. You know, I remember when you were on last just wasn’t that long ago when you were here talking about the Oil and Gas Workers Association with Matt Coday. And you guys have done a great water drive and food supply drive to the East Palestine Ohio since then.

Prater Benson [00:03:25] Phenomenal, phenomenal turn.

Rey Trevino [00:03:27] Yes. I mean, how many truckloads of water did you give?

Prater Benson [00:03:29] We did several, like 18 wheeler truckloads.

Rey Trevino [00:03:33] Yeah. And I mean, that is just awesome and what you guys are doing and really just getting the positive word out there for not only the oil and gas industry’s workers, but for American workers. And at the same time, I mean, we we need that more than ever right now so just thank you so much.

Rey Trevino [00:03:53] But the other thing was that as soon as we got done with that interview, you were like, I’d love to come back. I want to talk about Wellsprings International, what I do. And you saw you do more than just play golf every day and you go in to prove it. Let me get my vice president let me get Noah to come on, if you don’t mind. And sure enough, I think we had a date back in that same day. Maybe not quite.

Prater Benson [00:04:13] We did find him a text and he said, Bro, I’m so down.

Rey Trevino [00:04:17] Well, you know, I’m excited.

Noah Tritz [00:04:19] Yeah, I was excited to come on, excited for the opportunity to talk about Well Strings so I appreciate the opportunity.

Rey Trevino [00:04:24] Well, you know, well, well, strings is a great place to be and and so you guys are huge. You guys are quiet, but yet y’all are in the basically the hardest places to be in as far as drilling goes west, Texas and Gulf of Mexico.

Rey Trevino [00:04:44] And y’all aren’t drilling the 2000-6000 foot wells I do a Pecos Country operating. I mean, you all are you all are participating in providing services and supplies and materials to some of the world’s largest drills right now, Is that correct?

Noah Tritz [00:05:01] Yeah. So we really have built our company and focus on staying at the front and drill pipe and landing strength technology, whether that be for U.S. land, for Gulf of Mexico, for international deepwater applications.

Noah Tritz [00:05:15] And so that we kind of we divide our business geographically amongst those three segments. And so each one has its own specific dynamics, its own needs, its own characteristics. But overall, we really try to separate ourselves by staying at the front end of all the technology, delivering, trying to separate ourselves and in the asset class that we deliver in what is really a highly commoditized industry Right,.

Noah Tritz [00:05:39] And especially if you look at the US landside offshore, it’s a little bit easier to kind of diversify yourself and separate yourself from the other providers. But yeah, So we really focused on staying on the front of the technology. And when you play in that part of the market, you inherently are going to be working for the operators who align on the same.

Noah Tritz [00:06:00] So if you look at on U.S. land, I mean everybody the big talk is that the longer, deeper laterals and and we’re pushing the technologies to. Asked what maybe even they were initially designed for riders in the Gulf of Mexico. You look at the next frontier of drilling, which is really the 20 day and high pressure, high temperature play.

Noah Tritz [00:06:21] So you have Chevron, you have Beacon, you have Shell now that are really the frontrunners and they’re pushing the envelope and getting into these real 20k pressure situation where you’re drilling like 30,000 foot plus wells and anywhere from 6 to 10000 feet of water. You have new rigs, you have the Transocean Atlas and the Transocean Titan going out with £3 million derricks.

Rey Trevino [00:06:44] Wow.

Noah Tritz [00:06:45] Know one of the things we we are going to debut either this year or next year is the world’s first £3 million landing strength. And so we’ve set the last two hook load records in the Gulf of Mexico with both slow down Chevron on the kind of a two and a half million pound area approach. It’s an half million pound, and we’re going to shatter those as soon as the Titan gets here to the Gulf of Mexico so.

Noah Tritz [00:07:08] Its exciting you know i told my guys, if you’re not excited to work in this environment today, then this is not the industry for you. Because despite all of the talk around oil and gas is dead or we’re on the decline, like there are so many exciting new evolutions going on and being able to be at Workstreams and be on the front end and participate in those is really it’s a fun job. It’s fun place to be.

Rey Trevino [00:07:32] Well, you know, you just first of all, I mean, 2 million, two and a half million pounds on a long landing pad is amazing for our listeners out there. Before I want to go before I ask of my normal basically my first question was always, you talk about yourself, but can you describe for our listeners what the landing pad is and how that works on those offshore rig?

Noah Tritz [00:07:53] Yeah, so these landing strings are basically used to land casing strings, right? It’s drill pipe that’s specifically built to land these super heavy casing strings. So typically, if you look at in a deepwater design, that’s either you’re having a string is either going to be your 16 entry or 14 inch section are then potentially your production type edge depending on how your well is designed.

Noah Tritz [00:08:14] So you have safety factors built into all your engineering designs and everything. So are you really using a the full capacity with 3 million online extreme? No. But if your safety factor is ten or 20%, depending on which operator you’re working with and you’re talking about exceeding the two and a half million pound or approaching the two and a half million pound total work load.

Noah Tritz [00:08:37] And what you see over time is that as the operators get a higher level of comfort, you’ll see that safety factor narrow a little bit and they’ll try to push the envelope. But yeah, so you’re really looking at at some of the heaviest casing strings that I landed in the history of deepwater oil and gas and that’s not an exaggeration that’s reality and so it’s exciting.

Noah Tritz [00:08:59] We’re on the front end of delivering all of these technologies we are on the front end of designing these hand in hand with the operator and the OEM I think that’s one thing that gets overlooked is, you know, as a rental company, I think people assume that we just buy assets that are already available from an OEM and we bring them to market, and that’s not the case.

Noah Tritz [00:09:17] We are actually heavily involved working with the operator and the OEM in the design and the different technical specs and characteristics of these things. When they come out, we really act as that bridge between the OEM and the operator and ensure that the operator is satisfying all of their requirements and the OEM can actually deliver on what is being asked. And so we kind of sit in that area and it’s a fun place to be.

Rey Trevino [00:09:42] Yeah, You know, you’ve just described in such detail about what you’re doing you have been at At Wellstrings for two plus years so let’s let’s talk about that. You’re coming up you’re UT Masters grad and let’s start there and then fast forward to being being where you are now.

Noah Tritz [00:10:03] Sure. So I started with Work Strings and 2012 as Chevron account manager for Gulf of Mexico. So I was primarily spending four or five days a week at Chevron going to the different meetings as their as one of their drill pipe providers, rental providers and that’s really how I cut my teeth in the industry.

Noah Tritz [00:10:23] And so over the next several years, that’s what I did I spent four or five days a week at 1500 Louisiana, downtown Houston, sitting in the different business partner meetings. And that’s evolved into some of these operators, Chevron, the other ones, they have a a track for their employees where every three years they cycle into different positions.

Noah Tritz [00:10:47] And so what happened after the first 3 to 5 years of my work as the Gulf of Mexico account manager is a lot of the guys I work with in the Gulf of Mexico started taking international assignments.

Noah Tritz [00:10:58] And so, you know, Chevron being a global company, either drilling deepwater wells all over the world, you have Angola, you have now the eastern Mediterranean, you have some Australia, you have Thailand, you’ve had but before you hit Venezuela, now you’re starting to see a little more of Venezuela come back you have Brazil at certain times. You have a small operation in Argentina.

Noah Tritz [00:11:18] So as these guys who I have spent the last three or four years with working on these wells in the Gulf of Mexico starts taking international assignments, and my network devolved into an international network, something from Gulf of Mexico account manager to global Chevron account manager. And then at that point is when you talk about I entered the MBA program at UC. I did some of that work and made some more connections that were in the international space. And so I moved into like an international business development manager where I was still doing all Chevron’s work and then just kind of focusing on the high value opportunities internationally.

Noah Tritz [00:11:52] And then about a year and a half ago, I got moved into the Vice President of business Development and also now in charge of all of our U.S. land business development and our international business development efforts. And I still have a little bit of play in this 20 K space in the Tokyo space with the Gulf of Mexico and transitioning somebody else into the Chevron Gulf of Mexico role.

Noah Tritz [00:12:12] So its a really cool position because I get to see everything. Yeah, I get to see the U.S. land side, the deepwater side, to see the different moving parts where operators there are working in two or all three of those different regions, it sounds really it’s a full spot, so I really enjoy it.

Rey Trevino [00:12:30] Man You have traveled and and you’re definitely, definitely the experience. So now I got to ask about the guy next to you. Yeah. Prater Best, we know about you is that you’re a Texas Tech grad.

Prater Benson [00:12:45] And you like to play golf. Come on,.

Rey Trevino [00:12:47] Let’s let’s talk about you for a minute you tell your clients why you love them so much.

Prater Benson [00:12:51] Well, I mean, kind of like no one came out of school on it and jump right into oil and gas. I do have family who they work career, oil and gas. 2015. While I was at it, I was in the wine industry. So from 2015 to 2018, I was stomping grapes.

Rey Trevino [00:13:12] No Way

Prater Benson [00:13:13] Yeah, not literally. It wasn’t an Island Lucy episode.

Rey Trevino [00:13:17] He knows what to say

Prater Benson [00:13:19] We had.

Rey Trevino [00:13:20] You with the little hat or the little head thing that she’s wearing in the.

Prater Benson [00:13:24] Hairnet. Come on you want to join, join, want to things didn’t work out for numerous reasons. I pursued oil and gas. It was just it’s always been a passion to get into since seventh grade Texas plastics system you take Texas history and so it’s great. You learn about scenery and spindle top and how the the mass industry in Texas blew up.

Rey Trevino [00:13:54] Right?

Prater Benson [00:13:55] So I just I mean, I was my eyes were glued to that projector.

Rey Trevino [00:13:58] Yeah.

Prater Benson [00:13:59] And that’s what got me in now im with Workstrings.

Rey Trevino [00:14:04] Oh, my. Now you mentioned Venezuela, and so I want to talk about that real quick. Yeah, for sure. I’m I don’t know how I feel about Chevron on my level, being able to go back over there and drill with a country that is anti-America. But we can talk about that. But I don’t you know, that’s a customer here, so I want to leave that alone. But how do you guys have to do deal with the logistics and is there any Hartley you know, with y’all having to bring supplies to Venezuela?

Noah Tritz [00:14:37] I mean, we have to play by the same rules everybody else does, right? We have we are not immune or exempt from any of the sanctions that the United States has on any of the countries across the world. So we do extensive compliance background checks for a variety of our international customers, especially these days, given the the Russia Ukraine situation. Right. And the different sanctions imposed by that. And the sanctions are constantly changing. So.

Noah Tritz [00:15:03] When you talk about Venezuela, I guess, you know, well, people and for whatever reason, the homeland security aspect of the country is that we are going to asking to increase production as kind of fallen out of the out of the conversation to a certain extent. And I’m not exactly sure what.

Noah Tritz [00:15:22] Venezuela I have a soft spot in my heart for it because I remember what they were before Chavez Yeah, I still have hope that they could get back there and Chevron was there during that period,.

Rey Trevino [00:15:31] Correct?

Noah Tritz [00:15:32] When they preach Chavez, Venezuela has some of the richest oil and deposits or reserves or reservoirs in the world. Right. So it’s there. I guess I still I don’t look at them the same way I look at OPEC, the same way I look at China, the same way I look at Russia. And that may be naive in my past and hoping that they could get back there one day.

Noah Tritz [00:15:52] But back to the homeland security issue, I think if you look at, you know, this administration going and asking OPEC’s to increase their production, we have an opportunity to look firsthand and see what mainland Europe is going through. They became too dependent on political adversaries for their energy support tride. And so I think a lot of times we get to kind of tunnel vision on what’s going on in West Texas, what’s going on U.S. land, what’s going on the Gulf of Mexico.

Rey Trevino [00:16:22] Sure.

Noah Tritz [00:16:22] We have things playing out on the global stage right now that we need to pay attention to, because Europe was the beneficiary of an extraordinarily warm winter this year where the natural gas and energy crises didn’t play out to the extent it could have. But the idea that, you know, you look at our our reserves right now are the lowest since the year since 1984. And so the idea that the naivete that we could not be put into a situation like that if things go bad enough, I think is something that we need to take a little more seriously.

Rey Trevino [00:16:56] You talk about the global aspect and it is so important first of all, what you just said about Europe, and that’s probably why the natural gas prices have continued to stay where they are. You figure when prices went up so high, it was with the anticipation that Europe was going to have a very cold winter.

Noah Tritz [00:17:13] I think it was true I think one of the things we need to look at, too and if you listen to Chesapeake’s executive management talk about it, they talk about the key to making domestic natural gas more of a a global market than a domestic market is really building out that LNG export capacity. Right.

Noah Tritz [00:17:33] And so they’ve looked at I think everybody’s asking Chesapeake what they think now that the price of natural gas is soft and so dramatic. Yeah. And their messaging has been the same over and over. It’s like we are not concerned. Chesapeake’s production somewhere in 2020 and 2023, somewhere between 55 and 60% at between four and $5. And they are waiting for that LNG export capacity to come online at the end of next year, beginning of 2025.

Noah Tritz [00:18:00] And they think that is really going to be the catalyst for increased pricing on our natural gas because we taking this highly domestic market and that’s transport constraining starting to try and turn it in. It’s not going to be a pure global market, but you’re moving in that direction.

Noah Tritz [00:18:16] And so when you see that, then you’re going to see less volatility, more normalization, more opportunities for these pure play natural gas guys like the Chesapeake, the southwestern U.S., guys up in the Northeast that are not. And those players have more markets and be able to kind of create a more stable bar.

Rey Trevino [00:18:33] You know, somebody asked me the other day, where do I see natural gas going? And I said, I think that’s going to be the future. I think, you know, I don’t know if you’ve ever seen that movie The Big Short. I’ve only watched it once, but I think about the guy that Christian Bale plays, that he keeps betting against it, against it, and that’s Movie goes on you see his office continue to get smaller and smaller and then boom, it Won and he’s the last guy.

Rey Trevino [00:19:00] I hope you know, that doesn’t happen I don’t want people lose their jobs, but I could see that playing out. But also I wrote an article, I’ve got a substack ad called CrudeTruth.Substack and about how Pakistan right now is just partnered up with China for a new coal power plant.

Noah Tritz [00:19:20] Right.

Rey Trevino [00:19:21] The reason is because right now all the liquid natural gas are all the natural gas, I should say, is going to Europe and that we have stopped it other people have stopped selling them that natural gas for them to use. So they’re going to go back to coal right now because it’s just as almost as, you know, I don’t know the exact numbers, but both natural gas and coal are inexpensive. So it’s great to hear you talk about natural gas and it sounds like you would be a little bullish there, say that kind of thing.

Noah Tritz [00:19:50] But if you look at the companies that are out there, the domestic producers of natural gas, if they can weather this year and potentially next year, and who knows what’s going to happen between here and most of them. I mean, I think people need to understand that most of these guys are not participating in smart spot market prices with 100% of their production. You’ll have them anywhere from 40 to 75% edge, which means they know the price that they’re going to get or at least ballpark price that they’re going to get before they pull that out of the ground.

Noah Tritz [00:20:18] So if you can if we can get to the 2010 or 2024 and 2025 and just survive through that period, I think you’re really going to see another run at natural gas. And I think you could see that peak pricing far exceed the $10.

Noah Tritz [00:20:32] I think like the thing you said too, about, you know, the natural gas and energy crisis going on in Europe. You’ve got you know, I was in Norway for the IDC annual meeting at the beginning of this month, and it’s companies like Equinor up there participating and they said something to the effect of that they exported 95% of the natural gas or oil they produced to the EU last year.

Noah Tritz [00:20:52] So there is and you had this eastern Mediterranean gas split between Cyprus and Israel and some of that the Mediterranean side of Egypt that’s all natural gas. So you’re seeing a global movement in towards natural gas and I wouldn’t say necessarily away from oil, but more of a balanced portfolio.

Noah Tritz [00:21:10] So I think that, you know, as that market evolves and becomes a more of a global market, it’s going to take some time. But you’re going to see even see opportunities for anybody who’s in that space really expand.

Rey Trevino [00:21:24] Well, I want to bring it back to the great state of Texas and let’s talk a little bit and we’re going to come back to this Venezuela thing. I’m very interested. But Prater, what are you guys seeing right now in West Texas? I mean, here here we’re talking about the Gulf of Mexico and all the deep wells across the world. But hey, let’s not forget, there are some very deep wells in West Texas, in east New Mexico but I still consider that part of West Texas.

Prater Benson [00:21:48] That is the Delaware Basin.

Rey Trevino [00:21:49] Yeah.

Noah Tritz [00:21:50] Yeah.

Rey Trevino [00:21:51] So what are you seeing out there?

Prater Benson [00:21:52] Man, I don’t know that I would say there’s growth, but it’s not. It’s not going down anytime soon. The only thing that I’m seeing is kind of your change of flavor, if you will, in part.

Rey Trevino [00:22:04] Okay.

Prater Benson [00:22:05] Let’s kind of. Which is I mean, that’s normal.

Rey Trevino [00:22:08] Okay.

Prater Benson [00:22:08] Based on what the your what the operators got planned for that year, that well, etc.. So they’ll go, you know, maybe these three months, these six months, and this is what we’re going to focus on. So we then pivot after that, they’re going to go back and, you know, go with the four and a half.

Rey Trevino [00:22:25] Right.

Prater Benson [00:22:26] With a along skinny spaghetti string type well. Right?

Rey Trevino [00:22:30] Right.

Prater Benson [00:22:31] That’s what I see.

Rey Trevino [00:22:32] Yeah.

Noah Tritz [00:22:33] A lot of the same I mean, we participate in the Permian, the eagle for the hands in the Northeast those are the four primary basins that we’re focused on. What we’re seeing is a little bit of softening in the natural gas markets and some resource allocation moving out of the natural gas markets into the Permian Basin.

Rey Trevino [00:22:50] Yeah.

Noah Tritz [00:22:51] And so, you know, and as there been some normalization on the oil price, too, you know, there has I mean, I think it was at 66 as far as WTI was, but that is still a very economic number for us and that’s still a very and frankly, a more sustainable number for for oil production. So, you know, we’ve seen a you know, all the superspy grade are out there working now it was our understanding that there’s no more.

Noah Tritz [00:23:16] We need to come back out and those are the ones that are primarily using your five and a half inch drill pipe and the rest of them are using your five and three or four and a half. So that’s kind of that window we play in in that that four and a half to five and a half with some five and five out in that region.

Noah Tritz [00:23:31] You know, we’re working for our customers and they’re drilling away and they’re asking us to how do we how do we go further? How do we push this equipment further? And you’re seeing some really cool evolutions in techniques and drilling techniques up there that’s really, really exciting.

Rey Trevino [00:23:51] Well, you know, and that’s the one thing that I do think is, you know, we talk about how be excited about this industry is that I feel like anything that happens in the oil and gas industry that’s a normal day, whether it’s planned, not planned. But then also technology like people don’t understand that science scientifically, science wise, we have come such a great line.

Noah Tritz [00:24:12] Yeah. Im in that.

Rey Trevino [00:24:13] And you guys are getting out to it. Y’all are you know, we’re part of a record breaking deal out in the Gulf of Mexico. I mean, that’s due to science. What was that is?

Noah Tritz [00:24:25] It’s due to science. It’s due to the data analytics that’s really come into play in a lot of these. And so the record breaking well in the Gulf of Mexico, I think the one you’re talking about would be one that was drilled last year with the where we set the world record for the. Yes, the heaviest string of casing ever set in the Gulf of Mexico. So we broke our own record, which it’s a total the previous year on an exploration well,.

Rey Trevino [00:24:47] Yeah,.

Noah Tritz [00:24:48] This one was with Chevron using a Boyd Landing string, which is a technique where you actually attach buoys to your landing string to lighten the load. Yeah. And so that’s really cool. We just published or coauthored a paper with Geo along with Chevron talking about that, and I’ll get you a copy of it.

Rey Trevino [00:25:07] Please do.

Noah Tritz [00:25:08] Im not breaking any SPD.

Rey Trevino [00:25:09] We do not as long as you’re not doing anything like that well, I’d love to post.

Noah Tritz [00:25:13] Yeah,.

Rey Trevino [00:25:13] We get a copy of that.

Noah Tritz [00:25:14] So it’s exciting and that’s the kind of front end of technology and the stuff that we get to participate in when we’re we get to work with like a Chevron or Total notes on show. And that’s what, that’s what we like keeps,.

Rey Trevino [00:25:26] You know, when you talk about exciting it using boobies, all I can think about is the great classic Jaws, where they keep adding buoys to the chart, keep it up. And that’s what it is. This,.

Noah Tritz [00:25:37] You know, these wells were originally designed to be drilled with the rig with a 3 million pounder and our £3 million land, extremely high torque runner. And so in order to stay on schedule for first oil, we had to drill these wells with a different rig.

Noah Tritz [00:25:51] And so we had to there was a lot of well, a lot of design work that went into it, a lot of how do we do this type thing? And there’s a bunch of different groups of people, Workstreams included, working together, trying to solve these problems.

Rey Trevino [00:26:07] Well, Prater, you know, you’re on the side of the land for the most part now, don’t get me wrong. If you’ve got somebody, I’m sure that needs to be in the Gulf of Mexico, you’re going to help them out. knowing you do your Johnny on the spot and you do a great good you do a great job with your customers, your clients, and with this guy here, what do you see happening in West Texas? I mean, what do you see? You said a few minutes ago you think it’s just been constant or what do you see seeing, you know, what do you think it’s going to go to this? The rest, I mean.

Prater Benson [00:26:35] Not to you political, but I mean, it is the most total politicized industry right off the bat. And in medical right, pharmaceuticals, they’re just very politically managed. Okay. And. My opinion. I suck on your fat money with the Russia Ukraine thing going on.

Prater Benson [00:26:58] As weather warms up, we’re going to start, you know, getting at it again and we’re going to see prices increase, pricing increase. We’re going to see more activity as long as operators can get what they need. And that’s been an issue even for us and we always find ways to make it happen.

Rey Trevino [00:27:21] Thats it You make it happen

Prater Benson [00:27:22] We pull feathers, rabbits, all kinds of stuff out of hats. Um, I think you’re going to see activity increase.

Rey Trevino [00:27:30] Do you prefer to pull those rabbits out of the hat on a golf course or what?

Prater Benson [00:27:34] Well, obviously, yes, I do even though my bosses here, I will say, you know, and my daily routine is hitting four or five officers a day. And if I can make a tee time after work afterwards with a customer, I do I get I think I get I know I get more done in a four hour time span with that customer and building rapport with them, not just making a sale, because I’m not a used car sales guy not cheesy I don’t want to be that guy.

Rey Trevino [00:28:01] Yeah.

Prater Benson [00:28:02] Nobody likes being sold. Even all the sales that don’t sell me then I do 30 minutes in an office.

Rey Trevino [00:28:08] I gave that advice to somebody just today they’re like, Well, you know, because I respect the sales game, It’s hard. Okay. And so I was like, Look, just come in chit chat. Let’s talk about you know, let’s talk about something and then let’s let’s slowly get to where you’re at.

Rey Trevino [00:28:23] And I know that we’ve made acquisitions on the golf course, you know, and we might have to sell five or six people to play through, you know, at one point in the conversation in the day. But but but that’s that’s what we do no.

Prater Benson [00:28:36] Dating. Well, it’s like dating you know, you’re calling these guys. It’s like I’m I’m I’m getting left on.

Rey Trevino [00:28:43] That account to show the shoes.

Prater Benson [00:28:49] Don’t hate the player. Hit the Tyler zone.

Rey Trevino [00:28:53] We’ve got a wide variety.

Prater Benson [00:28:54] You love me. You love,.

Rey Trevino [00:28:57] You know, a British talked about West Texas let’s let’s talk about international in the Gulf of Mexico with things going on? Where do you see us going in the Gulf of Mexico? You know, I mean, do you think we could ramp it back up again?

Noah Tritz [00:29:10] I think so. I think if you look at the evolution of the Gulf of Mexico over the past 15, 20 years, you know, we were at a point at one time in our industry where 15 K was had never been done before, 15 processors. Right. And so, you know, but there was the Chevrons, the shell’s, the peoples of the world that are pushing it all up that were willing to invest in R&D to bring those serial number ones to market.

Noah Tritz [00:29:35] And so today that 15 all those 15 guys are once serial number ones are off the shelf, readily available and it goes from BP’s a two wheelers to whatever. Now we’re at what some people have called the final frontier, the Gulf of Mexico, which is a 22 pressure rating.

Noah Tritz [00:29:51] And so you have three big plays out there. The standard play, which is being operated by Beacon. You have the North Platte, which I believe is now being called Sparta, that Shell acquired from Zozo. And you have Anchor, which is being operated by Chevron.

Noah Tritz [00:30:07] And so what these companies have done, and especially Beacon and Chevron, are going to be the first ones to go operate and actually drill and complete these wells that they’ve invested in the R&D. They’ve selected their business partners they’re bringing serial number one technologies to market and putting them to work.

Noah Tritz [00:30:24] And so really, you know, there’s other operators out there with plays or with leases that would be in this 2030 space. And so the cycle time to get some of these front of the end of serial number one technologies to more affordable, more off the shelf, more readily available technologies is going to be a big factor in how fast some of the rest of these 8022 wells get drilling completed. So it’s we’ll see what happens.

Noah Tritz [00:30:54] Everybody’s watching right now. I think there’s a lot of watching going on here to see like, you know, what are the costs of these wells? Are they commercial? What what happens? At what point do the does the service price have to be to, you know, to determine commercial viability on this project? So,.

Rey Trevino [00:31:13] No, they’re watching it. I compared to the jump rope, everybody’s watching the jump rope right now. Just watching it, getting that watch in the rhythm of it scene and then and then boom, they’re ready to jump.

Noah Tritz [00:31:24] Yeah. And you see it, I mean, particularly with Shenandoah, who’s originally started with Anadarko.

Rey Trevino [00:31:29] Yes.

Noah Tritz [00:31:29] And then jumped up and jumped along and now it’s with Beacon. Right and so North Platte was originally what I believe was Coble way back in the day. I think so. And then so it’s Algar and now she’s got it. So, yeah, it’ll be interesting to see how it all plays out. I don’t have a crystal ball, but I’m hopeful and confident that that we are going to get to that that point where this technology becomes more available, where the regulatory environment is comfortable and kind of hones in on where they’re drawing the line because these wells, these HPHG wells, they have a different a whole different you’re playing about a whole different set of rules.

Noah Tritz [00:32:10] But Betsy has put out API 17, API 17 right. Which is specific to these HP HD type wells. And so the it’s a paradigm change with its own equipment and, and the way you rate the equipment and what was acceptable before is no longer acceptable much what’s driving the evolution in the serial number one so you know. We play a niche part in what is a huge puzzle of getting all this stuff to work. But we are right on the front end of getting it out there.

Rey Trevino [00:32:44] And you all bring so much engineering support and thought leadership to what you guys would do it. Prater I think we would just use the word thought leadership for people out there how can they find you when they’re ready to go? They’re going to be drilling deep well and they’re ready for you and your service. How can they find you out there?

Prater Benson [00:33:00] Call me at 214-864-5404 or email me at Prater.SenateWorksStrings.com how you like that ?how you like them apples?

Rey Trevino [00:33:11] Put it out there lights out now.

Noah Tritz [00:33:13] Braver than me. Oh, very well.

Rey Trevino [00:33:15] No, you don’t have to do that. Know right now what you are doing is that you are basically thinking constantly and identifying the opportunities to create new or build on existing competitive advantages is what you guys are doing over there right now?

Noah Tritz [00:33:30] That’s exactly right.

Rey Trevino [00:33:31] And how can people get in contact with you? You know, don’t don’t.

Noah Tritz [00:33:36] Its okay email, Notintrensiveworkstrings.com Noahworkstrings.com I’m on LinkedIn every day. I mean, easy to find email I get thousands of emails every day. You may or may not make it through, but I’m on LinkedIn all the time. I’m very active on LinkedIn and I’m pretty good about going back.

Rey Trevino [00:33:53] And if you need to get a hold of Noah and please don’t hesitate to reach out to me as well I could. I’ve done that for several individuals now that have been on The Crude Truth Hey, man, I’d like to I’ll make an introduction that’s all I know,.

Rey Trevino [00:34:07] Noah you guys prater, thank you so much for coming in today.

Noah Tritz [00:34:10] Thank you for having us we enjoyed.

Rey Trevino [00:34:12] No No this of the international thought leadership that we that that of my listeners, my viewers got to listen to today was amazing. Operator, thank you so much for setting this up. Shout out again to you, being on the board of the Oil and Gas Workers Association and all the great work you’re doing there.

Rey Trevino [00:34:29] Noah Thank you for coming on and to all my viewers, listeners out there, thank you, as always, for watching, for listening. And be sure to like and subscribe. And we’ll see you next time on another episode of The Crude Truth.

We want to thank our sponsors of THE CRUDE TRUTH.

Sponsorships are available or get your own corporate brand produced by Sandstone Media.

David Blackmon LinkedIn

DB Energy Questions 

The Crude Truth with Rey Trevino

Rey Trevino LinkedIn

Energy Transition Weekly Conversation

David Blackmon LinkedIn

Irina Slav LinkedIn

Armando Cavanha LinkedIn

ENB Top News

ENB

Energy Dashboard

ENB Podcast

ENB Substack