BEHR energy, a Calgary based, Canadian oilfield consulting firm, is meeting recent market woes head on. In fact, their invaluable experience and cradle-to-grave services lends them a discerning viewpoint for tackling these troubled times.

BEHR President Todd Wilson started his career in the oil and gas industry in 1979.  During the 16 years leading up to 2000 when he was a principal in a consulting company and provided services for “drilling wells, completing wells, building  gas plants, installing the pipeline gathering systems for the plants and looking after general production operations.”

During the following years he left and followed various other business pursuits “but the hook of consulting got me going again. Mark Nicklom and I joined as partners in 2003 and since then we have been growing our services and client base.”

A MULTI FOCUS FOR H2S SPECIALISTS
“We really are specialists in the sour oil and gas, which is pervasive throughout the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. We have been involved in industry-focused committees to establish procedures sour operations risk assessments and establish appropriate operating practices.  Our vision was that we would be able to help our clients analyze the hazards associated with sour drilling, completion, workover and production operations. We have a keen interest in assessing and designing these operations.  Our team of people can review regional well data and determine what the potential H2S release rate could be, in the event of a well control incident, and  determine the appropriate emergency planning zone s are associated with those operations” Wilson says. “In addition we can assess the hazards and planning zones associated with the gathering and processing facilities for those wells.”

This is the first part of BEHR’s services. Wilson explains that the second group of people “are really engaged in the world of emergency response planning.”

“They take that hazard could result from an H2S release and prepare a plan that addresses issues and procedures related to public safety.  Preparing these plans involves extensive communication with stakeholders such neighbouring residences, landowners, trappers, municipal regulators and others.  Effective communication with these stakeholders is imperative to build a level of trust and cooperation.  Done properly, this process enables projects to proceed on a timely cost effective basis.  Our people are well trained in this process and ensure the job is done right.  Once community information is gathered, it is integrated into a detailed emergency response plan which defines the roles and procedures of the responders. Ultimately, the spirit of the plan is to address how we provide safety for the public” he explains.

BEHR’s third focus is “more of an operational engineering one where we would design a well program.”

“Once a geologist points on a map and says “I want to drill a well here” we can do everything from the licensing process, to preparing the drilling program, prepare the cost estimates, submit the application, organize the services, providing the  well-site supervision and providing the project management direction to the field personnel. Ultimately, for a company that wants to conduct a sour program, we can do the cradle to grave operations and provide them with a drilled, ready-to-produce well,” Wilson says.

BEHR PROJECTS TODAY AND TOMORROW
By merely by taking a brief look at the projects BEHR are involved in, it is easy to see the breadth of projects, services and companies they are partnered with.
“We work for companies ranging from small juniors to the large multinational companies. For example, Shell, EnCana, Apache and Talisman are among our client list. On the opposite end of the scale, we have clients who have just a few people on staff.  For these smaller companies, we can support there emergency response by incorporating our people as responders” Wilson says.

“Although our focus has been in Western Canada, we have participated in projects that are further afield.  For example, we just finished a big workover operation for Intragaz, a gas-storage company in Quebec. Quebec is not a place where oil and gas activity is commonly occurring so it takes a lot more logistical work to make those kinds of projects happen.”

“We have also been extensively involved in some of the emerging technologies and are involved in heavy oil recovery operations using “toe-to-heel fire floods” and “Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD)”.  We have also overseen high-profile shale-gas operations including well design and defining protocols for core recovery and analysis, adsorbed gas recovery and analysis, rock mechanics analysis and have followed up with stimulation recommendations”. Some clients, such as Avant Garde Energy have had a principal mandate in shale gas exploration.”

BEHR’s short and long-term plans are quick to take stock of the current marketplace problems.

“The drilling and completion activity in this industry are significantly off and will be off. The amount of opportunity that those groups have directly relates to the rig count and the rig count in Canada is way below normal right now. So it’s much harder to grow our operational activities at this time.  However, our emergency planning group are responsible for maintaining plans for a number of legacy facilities.  There is an abundance of producing wells, existing pipeline systems and plant facilities which are clients must maintain. Furthermore, our people are skilled and we have been able to grow market share.  Recently, we have hired highly skilled people to address the growing demand for our emergency planning services” Wilson explains.

“So, in the near time, our opportunities for growth lie in the world of emergency planning.  Although our operations personnel are active, the opportunities for growth in this group will likely come when industry activity levels pick up. We are proud that we have retained our personnel and have not had to lay off people.”

With  no plans for giving up on what they do so well, and unique cradle-to-grave services of offer, BEHR Energy Services Limited are in a strong spot whatever the marketplace may bring.