Interview with the General Director of RPC Technologia on service delivery efficiency and new trends in the oilfield services industry
As part of the Russian Petrochemical Forum, Timofey Gresyuk, the General Director of the research and production company Technologia, spoke in an interview with RBC Ufa on the significance of urgent deliveries, new developments in the oilfield services industry, and a careful approach to the selection of employees.
— Timofey Yevgenyevich, your company is engaged in the production of equipment for drilling rigs. Many companies operating in the oilfield services market often spend a great deal of time getting various approvals between departments and taking various procedural decisions. How quickly is RPC Technologia ready to resolve emerging issues with customers?
— It is known that drilling rig downtime or machine downtime can cost oil companies a lot of money. This is why we are focused on our customers, and if an urgent request for a particular equipment is received, we can deliver it to any given point within a day. We promptly manufacture the equipment our client needs, but at the same time we do not compromise the manufacturing cycle and quality of our products. Customers know we are ready for urgent orders and appreciate this.
To ensure we can fulfill any order in a shortest time, without losing quality, we keep stock of workpiece blanks. For all our manufacturing, we have ready-made semi-finished products, an insurance stock of parts necessary in the production. This enables us make prompt decisions and quickly manufacture equipment without disrupting technical processes.
— The issue of the insurance stock of parts is a pain for many companies. Is it difficult to maintain such reserve at the required level? After all, often times imported parts are used. Are there any problems with their delivery from abroad?
— We have developed certain work rules for ourselves, so when we see a decrease in the stocks of a certain unit to a particular level, we immediately address ordering a new batch. At the same time, we take into account that the delivery of a particular part from abroad can take up to two or three months today. Nonetheless to date, we haven’t yet had violations of the timing of such deliveries.
— Various international sanctions are still in effect in the oil sector. How well are your relations with foreign partners built? Does this suffice to have your customers feel at ease despite international restrictions?
— Our company has faced sanctions only once, but this problem was promptly resolved both on our part and on the part of our Chinese partners. Business is business. Everyone understands perfectly well that companies must earn money and sell their products. And even if the goods come from abroad, there are no such difficulties.
— Another question that often arises in oil services field is closed-cycle production, when almost all issues that may arise from the end customer are resolved within one company. How autonomous is your company from this point of view?
— Our work with the customer is to coordinate with them the sketch of the product and the finished product. The client signs the paperwork if they are happy with particular characteristics of the product, after which we start the order. We do the entire production cycle — from the model design development to the delivery of metal to the territory, conducting chemical analyses. We have our own heat treatment, our own fleet of machines, we completely produce everything ourselves, perform ultrasonic testing. A completely closed internal manufacturing cycle is vital for the efficiency of decision-making. If the parts are long-term, we delegate certain stages of production to our partners. Accordingly, we conduct the most stringent input control of their work. After that, the products go to the warehouse or to the assembly shop.
— Your company has the status of a research and production company. This assumes you have your own development department, right?
— Yes, we have a staff of designers who develop parts, test them in real conditions, i.e. at wells. Now talks about imported product substitution are in the trends, we are also involved in this. Recently, we have received a lot of patents for our own developments. We make sure to patent each of our new products.
— How well do these patents and technologies take root ‘on land’, that is, directly on drilling rigs? Do you manage to implement them in real-life operation, or are promising developments more often stay on paper?
— I would say that 60% of our developments are being actively put into practical use, and the remaining 40% are still waiting for their turn. I am sure that they will be used in the future, because today these ideas are not quite relevant yet. However, there is a demand for developments, because both oil production technologies and well repair technologies are constantly changing. There will always be innovations, because today many institutions are working on improving their methods, foreign companies are bringing something new to this area. This is why we also try to adapt to the latest trends in the industry.
— RPC Technologia has been working on the Russian market for many years. Many of your clients are located in the North, where there are many oil production stations. How do you see the future of the company?
— Currently, our company is reconstructing workshops at the facilities. We are planning on purchasing more up-to-date technological equipment. This takes experienced professionals, competent specialists. Today we are working very closely with several universities, colleges, specialized companies. We involve talented professionals in the further development of our company.