Looking Ahead after 80 Years

(Below was adapted from the keynote speech delivered at the HSE&T Conference in Houston, TX, on February 18, 2020.)

As I’m sure you’ve probably heard, this year we’re celebrating IADC’s 80th year. I know there’s several of you in this room with more than a few years of experience, and you’re very aware that this industry is cyclical. It’s up and down, and the market is not always easy or kind.

Something to celebrate is the fact that, since 1940, IADC has been able to weather not only market challenges but the extreme technological innovations that have changed our approach to drilling a well.

I’ve been with IADC for the entirety of my career, and—while that’s a little shy of 80 years—as I look back at where we were as an industry in 1940 when IADC was founded, and where we are today, I’m really proud to be part of this great Association.

Today and tomorrow we’re gathered to talk about safety, health and the environment. As I mentioned a few minutes ago, protecting our workforce was one of the original Association aims. It’s just as important today, or possibly more important, as it was then. The reality is this industry is leaps and bounds safer than in the distant past.

80 Years of Safety

In 1962, for example, the 1st year that IADC’s Incident Statistics Program produced data, the Lost Time Injury (LTI) rate was 14.88. By comparison, from 2016-2018, the LTI rate was 0.13, 0.16 and .021, respectively. Having said that, when things go wrong on a drilling rig, they can go really wrong. IADC’s safety programs have been developed to recognize risks, with training designed to mitigate and eliminate those risks, so that we can achieve the goal of efficiently drilling wells without incident.

But I don’t think that any of you would disagree that there is still work to do, to get to that ultimate goal of “zero incidents, zero fatalities”. We only need to revisit those incident rates from 2016-2018, which—while far lower than rates in the 60’s—have subtly edged higher over a 3-year period, with man-hours remaining fairly static.

It’s why we’re together in this room: to learn from each other and to take those learned lessons back to our respective companies to positively impact safety culture. I’d like to share with you all this morning a little bit about what IADC is tackling this year because I think the work is important.

I won’t get into great detail in any one area but will touch briefly on what we’re doing on:

• Safety
• Advocacy
• Our international team
• Young workforce recruitment

80 Years of Impact

On safety, this is an area where IADC is making a real difference for our industry. Several years ago, we introduced the WellSharp program, which represented a huge step forward in the way that this industry trains people in well control. Over 173,000 individuals have now attended a WellSharp course, with an average score of 84%.

This year, we’re working on expanding and fine-tuning the program. The WellSharp Introductory, Drilling and Supervisor level drilling courses will undergo a full review with a goal of adding high-level learning objectives focused on underbalanced drilling.

Additionally, a combined underbalanced drilling/Well Control committee workgroup is working to create unique, standalone WellSharp Driller and Supervisor level underbalanced well control courses.  

IADC’s KREW—or Knowledge Retention and Education for our Workforce—program is also being diligently worked on and will launch this year.

Offering a robust database of training modules, KREW will allow employers to tailor training courses to each employee’s specific needs in order to improve retention. Knowledge decay between training intervals is not unique to this industry, and I’m proud of IADC’s efforts to get out in front on this issue and develop a solution.

It’s an important topic, and some of my colleagues from IADC’s accreditation group—Mark Denkowski, Brooke Polk, and Patty Tydings—will be talking through some of the finer details related to knowledge retention, as it applies to well control, in a presentation tomorrow afternoon.

Training curricula and programs are the first line of defense when it comes to ensuring the workforce is ready to safely perform their job duties, and IADC is the industry leader on adapting our training offerings to address the latest in technological advances.

This industry is safer for the workers & the environment because we put considerable effort and focus on training and technology to reduce incidents as well as our environmental footprint. 

But we still have to tell people about the work we’re undertaking. This is where advocacy comes in.

80 Years of Advocacy

Advocacy is one of those terms that can be understood in a lot of different ways. The definition is fairly straightforward: public support for, or a recommendation of, a particular cause or policy.

Pretty simple by definition. In reality, it’s far harder to achieve. It can feel like we have an uphill battle on our hands when it comes to advocacy. The opposition has done a pretty good job at painting our industry with a negative, and very broad, brush stroke.

However, and this is important, the world literally runs on the energy we provide. 

So, when we’re in front of Members of Congress, or international regulators, or when we’re communicating to the public, this serves as one of our strongest message points.

Drilling and producing the world’s natural resources literally powers people’s lives all day, every day and contributes considerably to the global economy. 

In the U.S. alone, royalty revenues from oil and gas produced on federal lands is often the 2nd-highest generator of federal income, following taxes.

You want to know where that money goes? To all kinds of things that you and I care about:

• State funding
• Land and Water Conservation Fund
• Reclamation Fund
• U.S. Treasury

These government entities are responsible for funding essential things like roads, schools, parks, & larger infrastructure projects.

All of these are the beneficiaries of oil and gas. That’s just in the U.S. Imagine if we covered all the ways that O&G contributes to the national economies of Brazil, Australia, or countries in the Middle East, or the United Kingdom. Massive.

So, we’ve established that this industry is necessary, and that we’re committed to safety. So how do we go about telling people?

IADC has a team in place that’s doing this kind of work all the time.

Onshore, offshore, in and outside the U.S., this team is boots on the ground. They’re meeting with Members of Congress face-to-face, engaging on regulatory issues in India and the Middle East, staying apprised of the latest regulations and advocating for rules that are transparent and sensible.

Just in the last few months, IADC hosted Senator John Cornyn of Texas in our Houston offices, and Liz Craddock (Vice President of Government & Industry Affairs) attended the Congressional Oil and Gas Caucus event in D.C., which gathered together House Democrats who are dedicated to educating their fellow Members of Congress about oil and gas production. Liz had the opportunity for face-to-face visits with 7 of these House members to talk about the role of drilling contractors. That kind of meeting is really valuable. The more we get our message out there, the better off we are as an industry. 

In the last several months, we also advocated strongly for the passage of USMCA, which President Trump signed into law late last month. In the Netherlands, we’re working with Dutch O&G trade organization, NOGEPA, on advocating for changes to the nitrogen emissions policy which is currently causing delays in the oil and gas sector in that country. Back to the U.S., we’re also working to engage more directly with each state, working closely with the oil and gas associations in Texas, New Mexico, Colorado and others. 

At the end of the day, we’re all working toward the same goal, and sharing information & resources is a good thing.

Obviously, the U.S. has a significant election coming up at the end of this year. The Association’s political action committee, DRILLERSPAC, has kicked into high gear. They’re seeking out candidates who understand the important role that energy plays in the economy and supporting those campaigns.

 I touched a minute ago on some of the international advocacy work that we’re doing, and there have been some changes in that division the last few months. 

We’ve seen several of our longtime regional representatives retire, but we’ve been fortunate to replace them with industry veterans who I believe are well positioned to have a positive impact in their assigned regions.

The Next 80 Years

My last area of focus today is young people. We talk a lot about the next generation in this industry, and it’s important to get it right.

As I mentioned earlier: the world simply can’t function without the work that this industry does. We need new minds to join and contribute their creativity to solving industry problems.

I think that IADC’s Young Professionals Committee—established last year—is a positive step toward increasing IADC involvement from folks who are 5- or 10-years into their careers.

Equally, I think that IADC’s 9 Student Chapters are an excellent way to reach students who are considering joining our industry. Already this year, a new Student Chapter was established at the University of North Dakota, bringing the total number of student chapters to 9, including our first Student Chapter outside the U.S. in Pune, India.

Membership in the Chapters, of course, benefits the students who are invited to attend rig tours and facility visits. But, I think it also provides a valuable mentorship opportunity for IADC Members.

Being given an opportunity to share your knowledge and experience with a group of people who are responsible for this industry’s future success is valuable.

Tomorrow afternoon, there will be a panel discussion on Attracting Young Professionals to Industry, and they’ll talk about what can be done to attract and retain young talent. I think that’s information that we can all benefit from hearing. 

To be clear, everything I just shared with you, it’s only a scratch at the surface. We haven’t even touched on what any of IADC’s 18 committees are up to this year.

Cybersecurity, advanced rig technology, workforce development, underbalanced and managed pressure drilling… I could keep going… These groups get together throughout the year and are working on some truly innovative things intended to change this industry for the better.

This is an exciting year to be a part of IADC, not least because it’s our 80th anniversary.

I’m thankful for each of you who show up and share and volunteer your knowledge, experience, & expertise. I invite those of you who are interested to contribute alongside your industry peers, to reach out to me or any of the great Team of Association professionals you have working on your behalf. 

I look forward to working together this year to ensure that this vibrant association can enjoy another 80 years of continuing to serve the interests of drilling contractors.