It goes without saying, but the energy sector is much more complex and complicated compared to other industries. Capital expenditures are significant, E&P’s must manage many moving parts, and compliance must be at the top of mind. Without close attention and coordination to these factors, E&P’s find it difficult to properly complete their work and coordinate well preparation efforts.
The good news is that there is a tool that can make life easier for E&P’s. TracFrac from Petrospects helps E&P’s optimize their frac activities and coordinate with others. By leveraging advanced technology, E&P’s can reduce the headaches of sending frac notifications. To put it another way, it keeps everyone on track and more efficient as they complete their work.
To further learn about how Petrospects can help E&P’s with frac notifications and well preparation efforts, we want to share some key insights from three notable figures. They are Rob Lindberg (the founder and CEO of Petrospects), Jacquelyn Moore, (an engineering tech at Occidental Petroleum), and Jordan Tansiongco (operations engineer at PDC Energy).
The Creation and Expansion of Petrospects
Petrospects started around a year-and-a-half ago. Lindberg started the company around its TracFrac product. The initial idea for TracFrac came from the suggestion of an operator in the Bakken Shale formation. With the idea in hand, Lindberg has spent the last year-and-a-half to expand Petrospects throughout the Bakken and the entirety of the DJ Basin.
At its core, TracFrac manages offset frac notifications between shale oil and gas operators. Specifically, TracFrac notifies operators of nearby wells via system-wide or well-specific proximities and email addresses that are set by nearby operators. All E&P’s need to do is take 30 seconds every week to upload a schedule to the TracFrac platform. By doing so, they can ensure that operators are meeting regulatory compliance and coordinating and planning SIMOPS activities. Not only that, but TracFrac increases safety and minimize costs around offset production losses.
On November 1, 2019, Petrospects took over schedule management in the DJ Basin. In a single base, a group of operators can get an entire perspective. Ultimately, Petrospects improves their ability to plan facilities, drilling schedules, and ensure that oil production is maximized. It also ensures safety and regulatory compliance, allowing E&P’s to spend more of their time focusing on their actual work.
Operator Testimonials
Petrospects provides a wealth of benefits to E&P’s. Upon entering an upcoming frac date, TracFrac goes to work. What takes only 30 seconds of a user’s time results in massive value for all sorts of E&P’s.
According to Jacquelyn Moore, Occidental Petroleum has already received significant value from Petrospects. As you likely know, Occidental is a key player in the DJ Basin. While it is smaller compared to other assets in the business, the DJ Basin has many different components such as; SIMOPS, construction, plugging, and well protect activities that must be considered.
As Moore said, it can be difficult to monitor all of this information in one place. There are many moving parts and all of them are important to operators’ work. But with Petrospects, Moore and her colleagues can track all of this data in one fell swoop. Occidental’s team members can access this data in just a few clicks, which lets them stay organized and reduce their operating expenses.
Jordan Tansiongco agreed with Moore’s sentiment. As an operations engineer at PDC Energy, Tansiongco also has extensive experience in the DJ Basin. For him, one of the prime benefits of Petrospects is the fact that it enables more coordination with other operators. While PDC Energy has created plenty of in-house solutions over the years, Tansiongco and his colleagues found that Petrospects streamlined many of those pieces. For instance, PDC Energy has taken advantage of the ability to automate required 90-day notices. Along with this, they have leveraged customized buffer zones. While 1,500 feet has been the standard requirement since 2013, operators have requested larger safety distances. These additional buffers can be anywhere from 2,000 to 3,000 feet. Consequently, Tansiongco and his colleagues have used Petrospects ability to quickly create customized buffer zones.
While Tansiongco and Moore are already getting immense value from TracFrac, they are looking forward to getting even more out of the Petrospects platform. One thing that Tansiongco is especially excited about is SIMOPS Watchman. SIMOPS Watchman is a Petrospects premium add-on that gives operators a time-based view of offset well activity for any SIMOPS activity. It can do everything from preparing offset well evaluations for permitting to improving well site safety. As Tansiongco argued, Petrospects mapping capabilities can further help with drilling activity SIMOPS timing with another operator.
Simply put, there are plenty of features available on the Petrospects platform. The core value proposition is that E&P’s can use the platform to stay organized and reduce costs. As Moore says, it used to take six hours of a single person’s time to track data and combine all relevant information to proceed with an operation. Now, it only takes one hour per day. These time and cost savings certainly add up and are accretive for all operators.
The Future of Petrospects
While it has only been around for a year-and-a-half, Petrospects has already made a real impact. Going forward, Petrospects is ready to provide even more value to its clients.
According to Lindberg, Petrospects was built to meet the regulatory requirements of the entire country. It currently has the data to immediately turn it on for any operator in any shale basin in the country. Petrospects is working to create even more cost efficiencies in SIMOPS interactions, as they can be quite expensive. There is also significant work being done to optimize the vendor chain. Operators have the freedom to let others know their whole base and activity. Sharing this type of information increases knowledge across the industry, thereby optimizing costs and operations.
In terms of spreading the word about Petrospects, Lindberg and his colleagues are proceeding operator by operator. They are on the ground, explaining the benefits of Petrospects to operators and showing how they can get organized and minimize costs. But along with this individualized approach, Petrospects is trying to get involved with good neighbor programs in states like Texas, Oklahoma, and North Dakota.
Ultimately, Petrospects is bringing some much-needed transparency for E&P’s. With a seamless and intuitive user interface, E&P’s have much greater visibility into their schedules, inventory, and costs. With the industry constantly evolving and technology getting increasingly better, Lindberg and his colleagues continue on their mission to help operators improve efficiencies, increase transparency, and save time.
Creating Immense Value
The future is always uncertain, but this is especially true in the energy sector. While it is impossible to predict, there is an extremely good chance that Petrospects will find even more ways to create value for E&P’s. By continuing to share granular information on one universal platform, costs can be cut throughout the entire industry. Operators who are interested in participating will certainly be satisfied.
To learn more about TracFrac from Petrospects product and how it can help E&P’s, feel free to visit its website – www.petrospects.com. You can also contact Lindberg by sending an email to rl@petrospects.com.