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Exploration & Production (Upstream)

The activity level across the Oil & Gas industry over the past several years has been very brisk. A burdensome political and regulatory environment, macroeconomic complexities triggering price volatility, the decoupling of oil & gas commodity prices, and increasing well complexity from improved technology have created new challenges and opportunities across the industry. Alongside of these emerging forces, there has been a surge in activity associated with unconventional plays. This surge has triggered a renaissance in Upstream activity in the US as companies compete for leases, talent, and services to exploit the abundant resources previously locked away in shale gas and shale oil.

The current trends that drive the industry are causing leading companies to re-assess their organization’s performance and operational effectiveness, asset portfolio, response to regulatory & reporting requirements, and workforce recruiting and retention programs.

William W. Rutherford & Associates has a rich legacy of helping large, well-managed companies improve performance through a variety of Operational Excellence programs across the Upstream sector. Our proven analytical approach coupled with deep industry expertise gives us a unique competitive advantage for identifying opportunities, developing solutions and achieving measurable results that help our Clients meet their strategic objectives and achieve a significant step forward in their competitive position.

Working With You To Build Your Vision into Reality
You want to make improvements and build your market value, yet your organization is struggling to make the progress necessary. You know that your pace of advancement is keenly important given today’s industry demands and shareholder expectations.

We work with you and your team to accelerate the growth of your competitiveness while reinforcing change with measurable and sustainable results. Through our process, you and your team learn and internalize the disciplines and practices necessary to perpetuate these improvements.

Exploration & Production Functional

Chief Executive Officers — How to build and sustain:

  • a healthy, more highly valued, more competitive company?
  • the leading-edge “availability” of our
    producing assets?
  • reserve growth that’s faster and more cost effective?
  • our optimum asset utilization for maximum gross margin?
  • our optimum operating/SGA for maximum net cash margin?
  • top 10% in net income, ROCE, safety, environmental performance?
  • the growth of our future leaders, faster?
  • improved alignment between our strategic and tactical plans?
  • higher-impact projects at lower cost?
  • the pro-active leadership we want with our market analysts?
  • the positive contribution board members can make?
  • our key talent to mitigate our 15 year age and tenure gap?
  • ourselves for the key strategic challenges of the next decade?

Finance/Administration/IT — How to:

  • more capably manage margins, cost and production?
  • more effectively manage contractors and services?
  • define our technology strategy for the next decade?
  • improve our competitiveness faster?
  • build more “business think” into what we do?

Exploration/Land — How to:

  • capture our richest prospects and leases first?
  • generate prospects/leases ahead of our drilling/growth requirements?
  • avoid becoming “rig” or “lease” driven?
  • become the primary source for “organic” growth?
  • stop spending our resources on marginal prospects?
  • develop the appropriate inventory of prospects to leverage scarce capital resources and optimize our return?

Development/Drilling and Completion — How to:

  • establish a “SMART” drilling program to reduce
  • optimize our drill site selection?
  • improve our and rig move methodology?
  • develop a cost/return mentality?
  • instill continuous improvement in our drilling program?

Production/Field Management/Procurement — How to:

  • improve field gross margin by 10%?
  • improve asset utilization to top 10%?
  • reduce field operating expense by 10%?
  • improve procurement savings by 10% yearly?
  • reduce our field operating cost/BOE faster than competitors?
  • improve our production by 3-6%?
  • contain our LOE expense to less than the rate of inflation?
  • achieve rotating equipment reliability at top 10%?
  • decrease chemicals consumption by 5%?
  • instill a culture of cost/safety/production stewardship?
  • establish best practices in field management operations?
  • improve our contractor management?

Cross-Functional Capabilities — How to:

  • more effectively manage inter-functional communication, cooperation and cross-functional processes and activities?…

Exploration & Production Organizational Development

Leadership — How to:

  • define our leadership development needs?
  • improve our attract/develop/retain program?
  • grow our growth and competitiveness faster every day?
  • grow our cross-functional collaboration?
  • build employee satisfaction to top 10th percentile?
  • grow our 1st line management’s pro-active involvement with their employees?

Strategy — How to:

  • more astutely define our strategy and value-proposition?
  • more clearly define what differentiates us?
  • increase our competitiveness against our defined KPI’s?
  • restructure our asset portfolio based on our strategy?
  • have a “win in this field” strategy everywhere?
  • pro-actively dispose of our “non-strategic” assets?
  • manage and steward our wells and facilities strategically?

Organization — How to:

  • integrate our acquired assets and team members?
  • define the organization structure that builds value fastest?
  • build capability for new environmental specs?
  • build a common structure across multiple locations?
  • account for process, skills, strategy considerations?

People — How to:

  • develop for the future those we hired in the past?
  • build development programs based on our future needs?
  • drive productivity and capture its value?

Culture — How to:

  • measure our culture and know how to manage it?
  • establish improvement areas and address them?
  • use cultural drivers to improve our competitiveness?
  • train our team members to achieve our desired outcome?

Process — How to:

  • improve our communication and alignment?
  • move us from “event driven” to “results driven?”
  • easily move team members across different assets?
  • reduce “workover” and “drilling” time by 25%?
  • accomplish a 10%  per BOE cost reduction?
  • use process to win our cost/create-value paradox?

For Case Studies, Leadership Insights and other materials and information Contact:

Bill Rutherford
214.675.7562