CDI Oilfield Services was established in the Romanian market in 2007, and is a US born oil & gas service company. The company supplies downhole pumps and equipment along with the subsequent maintenance services.
CDI Oilfield Services has been present in the Romanian market for more that 10 years. What is driving demand for your products nowadays?
Our company grew tremendously during the period when the price of an oil barrel peaked at around $150. After a turbulent evolution the price has stabilized at around $60, and while the volumes we sell are not as high as a few years ago we find ourselves in a phase of stability as well. Our demand is heavily reliant on the trust that we have built with our customers, through the quality of our products and also through our overall approach - we do not limit ourselves to selling the products, instead we focus also on tracking their results and ensuring they are as productive as possible.
Another stimulus is the operators’ critical need to reduce the costs associated with oil production. Romanian deposits are typically mature with a natural decreasing production. The resources left are located at far greater depths, which means the investments required to reach them are also higher. The idea pursued by many producers in this circumstance is to use the most advance technologies and increase the recovery rate.
Advanced technologies are in many ways a game changer in the field of specialized equipment, how are you leveraging this?
All our products are licensed by API 11 AX (American Petroleum Institute), an international standard which requires components to be interchangeable, but which leaves producers the liberty to bring improvements to these standards. What CDI Oilfield Services did was to customize these solutions according to particular needs encountered in Romanian deposits and the specifics of the wells that were in place. Whether we are talking about pump design or other equipment that supports the use of wells, we have innovated step by step and gone through detailed testing before implementing them.
What helped us greatly during the implementation process was our tracking and monitoring platform named “Interface Upstream Platform”. We developed it in 2015-2016 and it is unique in Romania as well as Europe. The system goes beyond monitoring the pump, into monitoring the life of all its components. More over it is interfaced with the client, which means they can easily access the analysis and reports that we perform.
A few years back you have set up the CDI Oilfield Services Centre of Excellence. What role does it play within the broader organization?
The center has been a goal for us for many years and it was rooted in the need to have all information available in one place, whether we are talking about development, innovation, storage, processing or integration of data for the client. For instance, it allows us to deliver downhole pumps or equipment to any of the over 7,000 wells we are managing in less than 3 hours from receiving an order.
The center also acts as a place to offer training regarding our equipment - we have collaborated for instance with the Oil and Gas University in Ploiesti and offered students, free of charge, the possibility to learn new skills. Moreover, it is an efficient means to present our business model and the full package of products, services and technical support that we offer to potential partners. This is particularly important in present days because we are actively working on expanding internationally, in fact we have just welcomed a delegation from Egypt.
What strategy are you pursuing to achieve this goal of international expansion, given the level of competition?
We are looking with priority at countries in which the model we have in place has not been implemented, and where there are few or no local pump producers. We have participated in some international bids (for instance we won a contract in Kazakhstan) but we concluded that the best strategy for us would be to establish joint ventures with local companies, that know the market and have a thorough understanding of its needs.
We already have local partners in Indonesia, Kazakhstan and Oman and together with them we will open centers of inspection and assembly. Our vision going forward is very much aligned with the globalization trend that is unfolding presently, which means that even in terms of workforce we are looking for people that have experience in international markets.
