27
AUGUST 2013
ACT
OIL & GAS
INDUSTRY REPORT
opened up his company to new avenues
of customers it had not been able to
service through its network of 80 dealers.
Moreover, he sees the positive response
to the oil-field trailers as a way to interest
dealers in other Talbert trailers for other
markets, a situation that already has
occurred at a dealership in Canada.
Talbert acknowledges that, after “going
at a white-hot pace,” the market has
performed a little below projections lately.
“We believe there is a lot of opportunity
out there as the nation moves toward
energy self-sufficiency, but we also think
taking a more measured approach is a
good thing,” he says.
Tyler Henley, sales manager of Horizon
Cable Service’s office in Oklahoma City,
agrees that caution is necessary in such an
unpredictable market segment.
“We always remember we’re involved
with a volatile industry, but we have to
stay optimistic about the future,” he says.
“We’ve seen steady growth in the oil and
natural gas business, and there are no
signs of that business slowing down. April
is typically one of our worst months,
but we had a record month this April
companywide.”
He attributes much of his company’s
recent growth to installation and
maintenance of cable on well-servicing
rigs with a custom-built fleet of 12 mobile
spooling units, each mounted with a
crane. The units also are used to install
large-diameter cable on cranes used for
oil and gas production, as well as other
applications such as wind farms.
“Much of the growth is related to
the increase in horizontal drilling and
hydraulic fracturing,” says Henley.
“There’s a lot of wear and tear on the cable
in these horizontal wells, and we’ll go in
and tighten it up, oil it, and do whatever
else it takes to keep customers up and
running safely day and night.”
And there’s a lot of cable, too. A single
truck may hold 30,000 feet of electrically-
charged wireline used to energize a variety
of tools at the end of the line.
The company’s search for new
opportunities has led owner, Bruce Miller
to expand to seven locations, including
new offices in Hobbs, NM and, before
that, Williston, ND.
“Our location in North Dakota was an
instant success,” Henley says.
Horizon Cable’s experience typifies the
way a variety of specialized carrier and
rigging companies are fueling success
through quality service to the oil and
natural gas companies.
■
A National Crane
NBT34 works at
the Marcellus
Shale natural
gas fields in
Pennsylvania.
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