journal
MESA Journal 76 Issue 1 – 2015
South Australia
mesa
Premier’s Community Excellence AwardsMineral and Energy Resources South Australia: 2014 in reviewNew geology: Tertiary marine sediments, upland Fleurieu Peninsula
Enabling local businesses: oil and gas supplier study tour to the United States
74
Industry Participation Office
MESA Journal 76 Issue 1 – 2015
Bettina Venner Industry Participation Office, Department of State Development
In February 2015 the Mining Industry Participation Office (MIPO) led an oil and gas supplier study tour to the United States for South Australian companies to gain a better understanding of the opportunities offered by the oil and gas industry for their business. MIPO previously led a successful unconventional gas supplier study tour to Houston in early 2014.
The tour provided South Australian suppliers who have an aspiration of either growing or establishing a revenue stream from the petroleum sector a unique insight into established petroleum supply chains. Participants saw a significant portion of the supply chain – including site visits to manufacturing facilities and wellsites.
Participants attended the Society for Petroleum Engineers Hydraulic Fracturing Expo as well as the Australian American Chamber of Commerce (AACC) Energy Conference and Gala Dinner. In Houston the group was hosted by Rainbow Proppants, manufacturers of ceramic proppant; IHS/PacWest, market intelligence consultants with in-depth knowledge of the oil and gas industry; and the American Petroleum Institute whose standards are used in the oil and gas industry worldwide. The group toured the Schlumberger Sugar Land campus and saw a training drilling rig in operation, the chemical lab formation evaluation centre, manufacture of downhole monitoring tools and global real-time operations support. Schlumberger also arranged a site visit to a hydraulic fracturing job in progress in the Eagle Ford on a BHP site – one of the highlights of the tour.
The group discussed their goals for their businesses with the Parliamentary Secretary, the Hon Steven Ciobo, and met the Hon Andrew Peacock AC at the AACC Gala Dinner. Professor John Kaldi from the Australian School of Petroleum in Adelaide joined the group for a couple of days and presented ‘Oil and Gas 101’ on the bus trip to the Eagle Ford
– he said that he has lectured in a variety of settings but this was his first time presenting on a bus!
The study group was hosted in Pennsylvania by the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance, Clearfield County Economic Development Corporation and the Pennsylvania State Government Department of Community & Economic Development.
On the first day in Pennsylvania, K&L Gates, a legal firm, provided an overview of the Marcellus Shale opportunity. The group visited Elliott Group’s and PBM Valves’ gas compression and specialist valve manufacturing facilities respectively, as well as Aquatech’s water treatment fabrication facilities. An evening reception was hosted by K&L Gates where the group connected with a variety of local companies.
Oil and gas supplier study tour group on site at Eagle Ford to view a hydraulic fracturing job in progress by Schlumberger. Back row (L–R): Andrew Downs (SAGE Automation), David Heaslip (Century Group), Tim Reynolds (Fyfe) and Bettina Venner (Department of State Development). Front row: Michelle Kyle (SRA), John Kaldi (Australian School of Petroleum), Mark Fusco (Advanced Focus), Steve Dutschke (Schlumberger) and Paul Goiak (Department of State Development). (Photo 414485)
75MESA Journal 76 Issue 1 – 2015
Industry Participation Office
FURTHER INFORMATION
MIPO www.statedevelopment.sa.gov.au/resources/mining-industry-participation-office-mipo
Bettina Venner [email protected] +61 8 8303 2175
Oil and Gas Supplier Forum and the Roundtable for Oil and Gas Projects in South Australia [email protected] www.petroleum.statedevelopment.sa.gov.au
On the second day in Pennsylvania, the group travelled to Clearfield County and visited Cactus Wellhead, which fabricates and refurbishes ‘Christmas trees’ and ‘goat heads’ – valves for wellheads and hydraulic fracturing operations; and attended a networking lunch sponsored by the North Central Pennsylvania Regional Planning and Development Commission to connect with local businesses. At the lunch, Genesee & Wyoming presented about ‘shale rail’ – the transport of proppant, oil and other shale-related goods by rail; and the Clearfield County GIS department
Participant feedbackMichelle Kyle, SRA – ‘My personal goal was to get a better understanding of the market here in order to expand our presence in North America. My overall goal is to help my Adelaide office leverage our experience here to expand their presence in SA unconventionals. I made several significant contacts which I will continue to network with.’
Mark Fusco, Advanced Focus – ‘I have 8 leads to follow up that may lead to future business, new capabilities and global partnerships. There were several other insights that I will share with other SA SME’s that would benefit their business. Even though our company has been operating in Adelaide for 10 years, I met new companies and US related entities that provide an excellent environment to build relationships and create opportunities for future collaboration.’
Andrew Downs, SAGE Automation – ‘SAGE Automation is always seeking to deepen our understanding of the sectors in which we operate. This study tour delivered fantastic insights into the oil and shale gas supply chain as well as direct access to operating fields and work sites. This is something we could not have done on our own. Another benefit was the opportunity to network and learn from other successful South Australian companies.’
gave a presentation about how it has increased its capability to track shale gas developments and provide information online, including for emergency response. The group toured Global Fabrication and Staar Distributing’s pressure vessel manufacturing and piping fabrication facilities; and visited an EOG Resources production field, including wellsite, water treatment and compressor stations – another tour highlight.
Benefits of the tour are that participants gained exposure to, and improved their familiarity with, mature petroleum sector supply chains, met international tier 1 suppliers and investigated opportunities for collaboration with other organisations. Participants gained an understanding of oil and gas lifecycles and brought back some lessons learnt, to apply them to their South Australian businesses as a measure to both diversify their business and prepare for a future expansion of the petroleum service sector in South Australia.
Last year’s study tour has already benefited local business capabilities, including new standover rig services, proppant testing facilities, guar growing trials and the establishment of valuable engineering network ties into the US market.
The Industry Capability Network (ICN) in South Australia is part of a business network across Australia and New Zealand. In South Australia, it is based in the Department of State Development.
ICN offers a new business source for suppliers and a sophisticated search service for project managers. Its role is to find the suppliers and service providers who are best equipped to meet the requirements of hundreds of projects across Australia and New Zealand.
For suppliers – ICN can put you in touch with opportunities.
For buyers – ICN can save you time and money by researching and identifying Australian companies capable of supplying specified goods or services.
ICN Gateway is at the heart of the service. This powerful online tool contains around $400 billion worth of projects and more than 70 000 suppliers. It allows suppliers to browse and register
Industry Capability Network
www.gateway.icn.org.au
their interest in new business and it helps project managers to manage the supplier registration process.
Projects in mineral and energy resources currently listed on the ICN Gateway include BP’s Great Australian Bight Exploration and Rex Minerals’ Hillside Project.
FURTHER INFORMATION
ICN [email protected] 1300 553 309
