At the Dawn of a New Decade …

By Mike Bethea

Looking backwards…

As we enter a new decade, it can be helpful to take stock by looking back on what we learned or experienced in the decade just passed. In the case of OTC, I’m tempted to look back even further, to when the company was founded in 2007.

Back then, we concentrated solely on assisting operators in the Gulf of Mexico with cost-effective methods of evaluating metal loss on vessels and structural components. We soon found justification to expand our services. In 2010, we identified the need to assist operators and contractors with mock regulatory inspections for both their drilling and production operations. From then on, our service trajectory has continued upwards, and expanded outwards. Being so strongly bound to the price of oil, our profit margins have always been tight, and as a result we have kept our prices stable since 2007. That’s a long time without implementing significant price increases. That means, in order to grow, we have relied upon acquiring new business, introducing international bundled services and expanding our staff to deliver added work scopes. And this is exactly what we have been doing, to great success, over the past decade.

What lessons have we learned in that time? With the ever-changing operating environment in the regulatory world, staying in front of rules and regulations is of paramount importance not just to OTC, but to each and every one of our clients. From rig acceptance, to drilling compliance, and well control equipment verification to testing. All of these things are related and integrated.  Having one provider who can independently handle all of these tasks is what makes OTC unique and the most cost-efficient service provider in the industry.

…. To Look Forwards

In the 2020s, we are focused more than ever on strong international growth, as this is what drives revenue growth in turn. Around the globe, we are still seeing oil and gas companies in urgent need of first-rate compliance assistance and support. We know we can provide that. As a global offshore industry leader in supplying compliance related services, we are proud to have opened the doors to our new office in Mexico City, and have expanded services in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and are focusing on new contract in Central and South America. With new offices comes the addition of new hands, and our hands continuously prove to be the best in the business. Without a doubt, OTC’s field guys outstrip the competition in terms of experience and skill. How do we know this? Because our customers tell us. Time and again, our Customer Satisfaction surveys tell us our people are heads and shoulders above the rest. Looking into the next decade, our staff will continue to characterize an enviable standard in the industry – a standard we have grown accustomed to, and OTC will continue to evolve as our clients drive our expansion into new compliance services, and deeper into the international marketplace. OTC will continue to look for ways to reduce costs through adding related services and bundling those services with our existing portfolio to provide added value with a smaller footprint. We think like our customers. And we will continue to do so as we enter the 2020s.