Interview: Patrick Hanson, Marketing Director, Scientific Drilling International
Patrick Hanson, 6th from the left at SDI Workshop Paso Robles, California Oct. 2011 (source: ThinkGeoEnergy)
Alexander Richter
7 Kas 2014
In an interview with Patrick Hanson, the Global Marketing Director for Scientific Drilling International, we learn more about SDI and his view on the geothermal energy industry.
Where is your company based and where are you right now?
Scientific Drilling has +2300 employees across 45 offices in 26 countries. Strategically located with operational presence in the Philippines, Indonesia, New Zealand, Australia, The Netherlands, Aberdeen, California, and Mexico, SDI is equipped with high temperature technology and experienced crews to service the geothermal industry.
How international is your business and how does this affect your work?
Scientific Drilling is an O&G, Unconventional, Geothermal and Mining energy service company with a global footprint. Although heavily leveraged by the US land O&G drilling industry, SDI’s presence across many international geographies (such as Asia Pacific) positions SDI effectively to serve a very active geothermal market.
How much do you travel?
I travel about three combined months spread across the calendar year. Largely driven by industry conferences, workshops, strategy meetings, and customer events.
What technology do you carry on a trip?
You’re never really unplugged right? A laptop, iPad and Smart Phone at a minimum.
What are two (3?) key things that differentiate your company in the market (Set your firm apart)
The drilling service sector is highly commoditized. To differentiate, a company has to take a step back and focus on one thing, the customer. What do they want? They want to drill a well faster and safer while eliminating unnecessary costs. SDI has a culture focused on these drivers. 1) SDI has a culture of safety. Every employee has a stop work authority card, specifically trained to perform their job, and committed arrive to work, and return home safely, 2)We design, engineer, manufacture all of our own technology (down to the sensor level), which allows us to control product development, streamline innovation and react quickly to the changing market demands for specific industries, 3) SDI is committed to a customer experience that makes it easy for our customers to do business. As I mentioned before regarding the commoditized marketplace, we recognize that an extraordinary customer experience is our key competitive advantage
What are the main obstacles for your business today?
Obstacles for a drilling service company come in many different forms. For our geothermal customers – we encounter fairly extreme price sensitivity. Many contracts are awarded based on a difference of a few dollars a day. Another obstacle are technology limitations. Service companies must have the right technology that can withstand the high pressure, high temperature drilling conditions common around the world. Lastly, without relevant geothermal drilling experience and trained crews, it doesn’t matter how robust and capable your downhole tools are. Experience will ensure your well plan is aligned with your drilling objectives and you have confident resources on-site able to troubleshoot if necessary. At times, contracts awarded to companies winning the price sensitivity battle don’t have the necessary technology or experience. In these cases, the customer often gets what they pay for and spend more troubleshooting issues than ever budgeted.
What are the key markets for the geothermal industry right now and why?
The key markets for the geothermal industry are Indonesia, the Philippines, and East Africa. Each have bountiful resources, either mature, or emerging infrastructure, and a power demand. If each governing entity could streamline energy policies, permitting barriers and land use – they will easily surpass the US as the leader with geothermal MW’s online.
Where do you see the industry in 20 years from now?
Hopefully, we’re still not talking about potential and we’re actually developing all of this power. I’d like to think that the above mentioned regions have 3,000 to 5,000 MW online each and that many of the Latin American countries (Chile, Peru, etc.) have developed enough infrastructure to produce some of their potential.
If you had unlimited funding to promote geothermal, what would you do?
I would fund and organize a consortium of leading geothermal companies’ independent from any association and fund a high-end geothermal education campaign. This could include targeted commercials, advertisements, speaking campaigns, and general outreach efforts that would touch a broader audience than traditional methods. Each consortium member could participate, provide direction, or sponsor by committing a dollar amount to the “fund”. How this is organized is a whole different story.
What would be your key advice for people wanting to enter the geothermal industry?
I would strongly encourage anyone interested in the geothermal industry to consider it as a career. We need the best and brightest to continue moving forward. I’d emphasize that it requires a great deal of patience and perseverance as activity ebbs and flows with the global economy. There is something to be proud about when associated with the geothermal industry. You know you are part of a community committed to developing clean renewable power, and economic methods of heating or cooling.
It depends on what type of career you want. That will dictate whether you need to graduate from a university with a geothermal focused curriculum, an engineering degree or even business development. Next, find a company with an internship program that will introduce you to multiple facets of the business.
