Stephen Claybourn, OFS Entreprenuer & Host of the BlackGold Podcast

● Stephen Claybourn is a long time oil field service entrepreneur and is the host of the BlackGold Podcast.
● Stephen has built and sold companies, including a cooling trailer business, a frac sand hauling business, and a chemical business.
● During this downturn, due to the oil price war and covid, the OFS market requires more capital and there isn’t as much opportunity in niche markets anymore.
● Companies are taking a shotgun approach and consolidating all the services needed for operations.
● Over the next few years, there’s likely to be a big push into conventional. The predicability of conventional production is probably a better fit for longer-term and family office money.
● Getting money, reinvesting in equipment, lowering your emissions, and improving performance may attract ESG Capital, since their biggest concern is a negative carbon footprint.
● The companies that are winning right now are the ones upgrading their equipment to become a more green and environmentally friendly.
● For minerals companies, tracking OFS activity is useful. In the OFS space, you need to look at consolidations and see who’s scaling back and who’s getting bigger. Look at what services are being scaled back, what areas they are scaling back in, and what areas/services are getting priority.
● For minerals buying, look at your initial services that are going to be used — the dirt work, roustabout, and survey companies are the primary ones.
● Service companies are the true “boots on the ground”. When an operator looks to do something, the service companies are the ones who get the first call.
● There’s a technology that’s figured out a non-chemical way to release oil from the reservoirs. This and other greener technologies will lead to a trend of re-entering these old wells.
● E&P companies on the buy-side are looking for strategic access to infrastructure.
● Handling water effectively can help the company, and if you’re outsourcing it, take that liability off as an operator.