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From Low Cost to Long Game: How Operators and Service Companies Win Together

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We dig into what authentic collaboration looks like between operators and service companies when “lowest cost” is no longer the winning strategy. A real case shows how early alignment, shared incentives, and trust cut rework and speed execution.

• defining authentic collaboration beyond buzzwords 
• why low-cost choices backfire and how to avoid rework 
• Gavin’s bundling case and vendor-led coordination 
• operators sharing the why and inviting partners early 
• service companies asking better questions, not pitching 
• building trust through consistency and access 
• aligning incentives to outcomes and repeatability 
• shifting to long-term assets and shared wins

If you’re an operator, ask yourself: are you setting the stage for collaboration or just saying you want it? Start your collaboration conversations early. Vendors, don’t just be there to sell, be there to understand, learn, and contribute.


SPEAKER_00:

And welcome to a new Energy Crew podcast with your host, JP Warren. Today I'm going to tie in a crew club roundtable that we had recently up in Fort Worth, where Gavin Fluke, the drilling manager for Jetta Operating, led a fantastic conversation. And it was it was a great conversation because it's very timely what's going on in the oil and gas industry right now. I mean, the whole, the the topic that he provided was what does collaboration between operators and oil field service companies look like for mutual success? And um it was a fantastic round table, and it was very timely because previously, about three weeks before, I was a panelist or moderator or panelist, whatever, on the IEDC uh AED joint Houston Joint Luncheon. And one of the things that was brought up is, you know, as this industry is coming towards, you know, low cost, bottom of the barrel pricing, and it seems like a lot of operators right now are not making low-cost decisions anymore. So what does a true collaboration look like in this industry right now? What does it look like in 2025 and moving forward? Again, this is one of those things where I'm calling this out because collaboration is a buzzword that a lot of people like using. Uh it reminds me of several other buzzwords that a lot of companies come out, whether it's disruptor, uh innovation, efficiencies. It's a buzzword that's kind of flowing around this industry right now. But what does it actually mean? But first, we're gonna dive into kind of the uh the case study that Gavin provided, the route, the the round table. And before we do, I want to thank you know the sponsors for this podcast, Liberty Drilling Services. I also want to thank the uh the access pass holders who were at the table um in Fort Worth uh when Gavin was leading. That's that's Mesa, uh Natural Gas Solutions, that's uh Liberty Drilling Services, Drias Command, and Fortis, Fortis Energy uh Solutions. And pretty much the whole, the whole how it uh how it kind of got kicked off is that Gavin had a very uh interesting uh success story uh last year. So pretty much, let me paint the let me paint a little context. So we're at the table, Gavin decides to get this kicked off, and what does actually a true collaboration look like? Jetta Operating is a smaller kind of company. Uh so their uh their program isn't as uh robust as a lot of uh uh companies are, whether not a lot of companies, but it's not as robust as some of the bigger uh companies, whether it's Diamondback, Chevron, and and you know, bigger companies like that. And so he was kind of faced with a challenge that his program really wasn't calling a lot of um services out. However, it was needed because I think there was five wells or eight wells or something like that they had to drill. Anyway, I may be getting the details wrong, but the point is this Gavin reached out uh through his relationships. And again, that's a key part about this industry's relationships. Because I think without this relationship uh previously existing, it probably wouldn't have progressed the way the way it went. But anyway, he's driving down to Houston one afternoon. He's got this program coming up. It's not as robust program, a lot of different companies out there, but he decides, you know, I'm gonna pick up the phone, I'm gonna call my buddy, um, uh a buddy colleague at uh next year and uh just kind of pitch the idea of like, hey, listen, I got these, this, this selected number of wells coming up, and I want to do this, I want to do that. What does it look like for y'all to work with us when it comes to kind of bundling all these uh uh services? And also what would it look like when it comes to you know bonuses, payment, alignment, stuff like that? And in a true collaborative form, um, next year, Patterson, Ultera, and yeah, I want to give a shout-out to them because he was just singing them their praises about how they worked, how they kind of came to the table and thought of the new and innovative uh kind of approaches to help Jeddah operator Gavin's a problem that he had kind of in front of him. Anyway, it was a great collaborative discussion. All uh the service companies and Jeddah at the table discussing from the beginning what they're trying to do, why they're trying to do this, what expectations they have. And everyone was on board. Not only that, I think Gavin actually handed off a lot of the control to the service companies to lead the meetings to talk about what's going on, the next steps and all stuff. So, anyway, it was a fantastic uh roundtable discussion that lasted probably about four hours. And at the end of it, it's really showcased the true potential of authentic collaboration. And what does that mean? Authentic collaboration. Again, collaboration is a big buzzword. This industry is no longer in a low cost uh environment. Yes, cost is king. It's always going to be king. However, there was one uh crew club roundtable we had where Alex McDonald gave this great statistic that 40% of operators still make decisions based off of low cost. And from those 40% of decisions, 70% of those operators have to come back to the table and kind of pay out of pocket uh for these decisions that are made based on low cost. And so what does this mean? So what is this? This means that the days of low cost, the day of bottom barrel uh going after a you know jobs and all that stuff is kind of getting outdated. Um it's not really strategic, it's not really long term. It's a great way to turn, if you're a service company, it's a great way to turn your customers into junkies when you're off always offering those low cost deals or um Q4 off-the-shelf specials. But in the in the in the true essence of collaboration, this industry is shifting more towards a long-term approach. So, what does that actually look like on the in collaboration from the service side, but especially operators? I'm talking to you operators right now. All right. This is gonna be a way, collab, a true collaborative form, the way that Gavin kind of discussed. Anyway, going back to Gavin, nailed it, kicked it out of the park. Not only that, both companies uh did very well when it came to you know, building, you know, making generating revenue. Both companies were aligned with the end goal, both companies were aligned, and it would get Gavin was very just uh singing them praises about kind of how they came to the table to work with them. And from that, it was a conversation that he kind of wanted to have around the table. What does it look like for collaborate collaboration uh moving forward? Um one thing that Gavin says is if you want true partnership, you've got to stop guarding your plan like it's top secret and inviting others early to make it better. So think about that. A lot of times, you know, service companies are thinking that, oh yeah, we we're looking for partners, we're looking for collaborative partnerships and all that stuff. However, the I see personally, I'm gonna kind of walk through what it looks like on the service side, especially the operator side of what true collaboration looks like in today's uh environment, also what that looks like moving forward. Uh so number one, uh, what is collaboration? Collaboration isn't a lunch and learn, it's not a pitch deck, it's not just, you know, uh you putting out LinkedIn materials saying, you know, we like collaborating with customers. Collaboration is truly getting everyone who is active in the operations at the table before it even starts and having these conversations. And one thing that we talked about around the table, it was this table, was one Houston. Kate Heiken was leading discussion about this too. It's the concept of we need to understand the why. So when service companies are going to the table and talking to operators, understand, sure, they want Wells drilled fast, they want wells drilled cheap, they want, you know, production going on XYZ. But what does it truly mean and why this company is actually doing that? So having the vendor truly understand the why of the company, of the of the of the operator. And this is a key thing, too. We had another crew club event where it's very interesting. We had a couple of private operators at the table, we had some uh independents, we had some super majors at the table. It's very interesting hearing the different whys of each company, of each operator. You know, why this company selects this service company, why this company selects this, what uh what value do they put on whether it's price, predictability, reliability. So it was very interesting to understand the whys of every single operator out there. And that being said, it's up to the service companies and the operators to understand the why. So, what does that mean? That means uh service companies need to have start having better uh conversations. That's asking better questions. That's truly understanding, yeah, sure, they want to drill the well, but why are they trying to drill the well this way? Are they trying to make this fast, clean, whatever that looks like? So it's up to the service companies to truly understand and kind of ask the right question to understand why this operator is doing it this way. And as an operator, it truly is up to you for having the service companies come to the table and having those, inviting them to the table to have those conversations on what's going on. Because here's what's happening. Number one, service companies are stuck in this, yeah, we want to collaborate, we want to collaborate. However, constantly pitching the same solution to kind of an unknown problem, right? Service companies probably should need to start changing their conversations versus selling at things that worked previously, or maybe just kind of coming in and saying, oh, oh, you're picking up a rig, you need, you know, this, you need this, you need this. Maybe having these conversations a little bit before um you want to throw in that bid or throw in kind of that ask for the work. Again, it's having these conversations. Oh, but JP, I can't. Operators don't meet with me. I totally get that. And operators, this is for you now. A lot of times, you know, we're sitting around the table having these conversations, and one operator kind of brought this up. I thought it was a great call. He's like, you know what? As operators, we are so uh, we have a lot of ego in front of us. You know what I mean? We're operators, we make the right decision all the time. We don't let anyone kind of uh kind of tell us like what our decision is, what what it is. We don't like releasing control. And he said something I thought was completely beautiful. He said, the thing is, why wouldn't we start trusting the service companies a little bit more? Why wouldn't we start asking the service companies for their input? You know, because here's the reality of this service companies, they have the uh the opportunity and kind of they're in a cool position to see multiple different uh multi multiple different operators in multiple different basins. And what does that mean? That means they might have a better idea to do this, to, to, to drill a well the way that you wanted to, and you might not even think, thought of that. I know that historically, not even historically, till today, operators, and this isn't just operators, but for the sake of this uh podcast, operators have a shallow um network pool, right? They're not the the again, this isn't for all operators, but majority of operators aren't going out, they're not going to uh conferences, not going to lunches, because every time they go, it's always they feel like they're chum in the water. You know, it's always these pitches, always these surface transactional conversations. It really doesn't go anywhere. So as an operator, really, the effort is on you to actually start making time for making space, learning about the service uh company that you might use, that you might not use. So again, getting out of uh your office to take on lunches, to play that golf round, to maybe learn a little bit more, visit a shop, and kind of get to understand the vendor or the service companies that you may be using would benefit you more and just to build that trust, right? You can't have true collaboration without trust. And that's just a great way to build trust. Just get to know the person a little bit more. That might mean two to three more lunches, but again, you're knowing that person a little bit more so you can trust a little bit more, so you can truly begin to collaborate and start kind of offloading maybe some decisions. Um, so what this is, so um, and again, I personally believe that this collaboration movement will start on the operator side. Operators to invite uh service companies to the table, operators to kind of do things that's very that might be uncomfortable. It might be going to meet a stranger for lunch and kind of getting to know them, maybe know their product a little more. It might be going to a shop tour, kind of just learning a little bit more, putting your uh hands on the equipment and talking to the people about that, right? And as an operator, you're kind of in a unique position because you can ask these service companies, wait, what have you seen that actually works? What we're trying to do, this is our why. We're trying to do this because of XYZ, right? What have you seen that could get us XYZ? Really kind of dropping the walls and trusting the service company to have everyone's kind of best interests uh on the table can bring a lot of great results to your operations, right? And that means, again, if you're a leader as an operator, or you maybe you are about to, you know, pick up a rig or something like that, that really takes that's really you getting out of the office, taking that effort, taking that time and getting to know your service provider a little bit more. All right. We're in a hyper-connected yet very disconnected world. That's one of the reasons why I started Crew Club. This is one of the reasons why I started kind of these professional development um groups and that the school communities that I have, because I'm trying to get people out of their shelves to connect with people on a more beneficial level. And again, if you are a service company, when you do have time with these operators enough with the whole pitching and convincing and having the same BS conversations, your buyer behavior has changed. The market has changed, how they get their information has changed. So why are you having the same conversations you had seven, 10 years ago, right? Again, adding more value, understanding more. And again, this isn't you filling in the silence with banter about fishing, golf, hunting, or whatever that is. It really is them filling in the silence by you asking the right questions and them really kind of talking to you. So you really kind of connect the dots and find out what might be the best course of action moving forward. All right. And again, trust is built through consistency, it's built through repeatability. It's not built around that low price thing. So again, if you are out there and you're thinking that low price is our strategy, you're not gonna be, that's not gonna be a good strategy for a long-term game. Right now, operators are not looking at their assets as to punch, uh, punch holes in the ground and flip it in two years. I think that those days, those glory days, are a little bit behind us. Right now, operators are looking at their assets more of a long-term uh scale, uh, their inventory in a long-term scale. We're gonna actually have a conversation about this with Jeff Krimel uh in Houston in about uh two weeks. So to kind of wrap this up, it was really cool hearing how both companies, you know, uh whether it's you know the uh Jeddah, the companies they were using, how they actually truly came to the table before this all started. And through the power of true collaboration, right? Through let's work, let's work on this together, but also the relationship side of things. Gavin is very good at meeting people, getting to know them, understanding kind of what's going on, and who's you know who's gonna use. I encourage a lot of operators out there, if you are listening, to take that lunch, to go out there, take that shop tour. Um, I know things might be busy right now. I know you don't want that other pitch or anything like that, but hey, that's part of your job. And if you do want the best results, get to know the people that you're gonna be working with. Invite them to the table, ask for their opinion, ask for their advice, and see kind of what happens there. All right. And you're gonna quickly know if you can lean on them, if you can't lean on them. But chances are, hopefully, you build up enough of the relationship when you can lean on them. All right. So again, true collaboration leads to what? Number one, less rework. You don't have to go back to the problem, right? You don't have to go back to solving certain issues, faster ramp up. Everyone understands why. We understand why why we're why we're out here, right? We're not understanding what we have to do. Here's the here's a list of instructions on what you have to do. We understand why, right? More innovation. When you have people around the table talking about the why, it's really cool to kind of have operators, vendors start start spitballing ideas out there. So again, you can grow based on collaborative uh solutions. Again, you have shared wins. If you can align your goals, uh operator, vendor side of the aisle, where both of you are going after the exact same, not exact same goal, but same direction, same target, it's gonna be an alignment of both companies within. So, again, here's a little call to action. If you're an operator out there, ask yourself are you setting the stage for collaboration? Or are you are you just saying we want to collaborative partners? Are you actually doing more to set the stage for true collaboration, which is kind of opening up for conversations, lunches, or are you just kind of expecting it after the fact, right? Think about that. Are your collaborative efforts happening when they should, which is before the project even kicks up? Are they happening after the fact? And again, if you're a service provider, ask yourselves are you bringing insights? Are you just kind of bringing offers? You bring in deals, you bring, I want this work, let's get on location. So, again, what insights and value are you bringing? And if value is one of those key buzzwords going around, dive into actually what your true value is. I help other people, a connection crew uh with this. Again, so I want to thank everyone out there uh for tuning in uh to the Energy Crew podcast. Uh if you're out there, we have another some excellent uh round tables coming up this Thursday. We have Sean Wynn, the EVP of Black Swan up in Oklahoma City talking about AI and private equity. Then we're headed to Houston. We have Jeff Kreml talking about how North America uh has pivoted to more of a long-term game. And then we're headed over to Midland. We have Mary Brandon, the senior completion engineer for uh Birch Resources leading one about kind of uh uh from new ways to kind of a complete well. So I'm excited about all these uh conversations. Thank you for tuning in to Energy Crew Podcast again. Start your collaboration conversations early. Operators, open up that space. Vendors, don't just be there to sell, don't be there to pitch, be there to understand, learn, and actually contribute. All right. So I want you everyone out there to get out there, stay connected, stay lifting each other up. And uh thanks for tuning in, Energy Crew. We'll talk to y'all soon, but we're gonna be able to do it.