Enerchem International’s selection of solutions and fluids are being counted on to help the oil industry shift into full gear
Written by Adam Zarboni & Produced by Blair Dolson
Innovation in an industry that is hundreds of years old is not always an easy task but it is one that Enerchem International Inc. has taken on wholeheartedly. Ken Bagan, president of Enerchem, has been there to see many changes in his company, and sees a bright future for this Alberta-based producer and distributor of hydrocarbon drilling and fractur¬ing fluids.
The complexity of the petroleum industry, as well as the product, has made innovation a part in trade for the company since its founding in 1988 by Larry Phillips; Phillips still sits on the company’s board.
Bagan’s experience reaches farther back than that, “when I started in this industry in 1977 with the equipment we had then compared to what we have now … I wouldn’t have been able to believe it then, we have come so far.”
It is a small company, says Bagan, with only 11 people in the head office. “My job title? It just says Boss,” he jokes.
A Move to Green
The company has three distinct business seg¬ments: oilfield services which represents the processing and sale of hydrocarbon fluids; energy marketing which represents the pur¬chasing, gathering and marketing of crude-oil products; and transportation services which provides oilfield hauling and other related serv¬ices. (The unit is called Millard Trucking Ltd.)
“If you look at the company it could appear to be three companies rather than one, but it isn’t.” Each of these operates independently, but towards the same goal. “It is truly one business rather than three,” he reiterates.
Because so much of what the company does involves fluids and solutions, one of the most difficult challenges for any oil com¬pany supplier to talk about is the movement towards “green” technology and processes, but this is not true in the case of Enerchem, says Bagan.
“In the past, many companies used to simply have a pit in the back, a flare pit. Now all that material is recycled,” he says. “We are getting better at reclaiming and recycling within our industry.”
Eye on Growth
The oil industry has not been unharmed by the current economic environment, but Bagan says Enerchem is in a better position than most com¬panies. “We will come out of it with an extremely healthy balance sheet, and in a position that we can take advantage of the opportunity. We have always kept an eye on growth, we will be there to pull the trigger, whether is though acquisition, or diversifying.”
Even industry claims around “peak oil” -- the point in time when the maximum rate of global petroleum extraction is reached, after which the rate of production enters terminal decline -- he believes, is a long way off.
“I don’t think that we will be seeing what they have been calling “peak oil” in my life time, we will continue to develop the technology that allows us to drill, and a lot of that talk was spurred by thoughts that we had discovered all the oil that we were going to find.” Most of the fears about this, says Bagan, is a misconcep¬tion about how much resource wealth there is waiting to be found.
“People have been saying that this industry has a life span. Peak production just means that production will slowly decline after a certain point. The theory only works if no new oil is to be found. But there is a lot of life left,” he says.