Acknowledging our bias upfront. Patterson-UTI Energy is our favorite mid-cap OFS stock, so we were particularly pleased to host its President & CEO, Andy Hendricks for a wide-ranging conversation. A Texas A&M petroleum engineer, Mr. Hendricks’ professional path has been an intriguing one — he began the journey as a roustabout in the US GOM for offshore drilling pioneer ODECO during the vicious industry downturn of the late 1980s. Schlumberger lured Mr. Hendricks away in 1988. He spent the next 24 years tenure in a variety of leadership roles, including running the Western U.S. region and culminating as President of Schlumberger Drilling & Measurements, in which he oversaw a biz with ~10k employees in ~90 countries. Mr. Hendricks joined PTEN in 2012, and since then the company has adeptly broadened and high-graded its portfolio of oilfield services/assets, such that PTEN is now the 2nd largest U.S. land drilling contractor, a large and highly regarded pressure pumper, and a leading provider of directional drilling services, among other products/services. Mr. Hendricks reminded us that it is the frontline workers out in the field who enable PTEN to deliver value to its customers day in and day out, and the key to successfully managing a workforce in an inherently cyclical industry is dealing with folks openly, honestly and fairly. We concur.
Alex Somers, Andy Hendricks, Max Barrett, BJ Walker