Connecting with long-term customers, meeting interesting prospective clients, marketing our products, and meeting partners. We have been to OTC Asia and AOG Australia and had some great experiences!
By Joachim Åkesson, Sales Director
Both these events have their unique and interesting flavours, but the high point was probably meeting up with our new partners in the Asia – Australian market, R&D Solutions. We had a good time getting to know them a bit better in Perth, during AOG Australia.
R&D Solutions is an oil, gas and renewable energies equipment and services provider. Based in Perth in Western Australia, R&D Solutions provides a broad spectrum of equipment and technology solutions in both well construction and completion. They will market our products in the entire Australian market, and also have the competence to install Ace products.
We are specially satisfied with the installation aspect. As we grow our market shares in Australia, we want to keep our CO2-footprint down. As always, we will ship products directly from production facilities to the end user. But we will also provide R&D Solutions with the training and competence to install our ratchet collars and other equipment. One of our goals is to create simple, easy to use downhole solutions that clients can install themselves with basic, remote training. This eliminates long-distance flights and unproductive time spent traveling, reduces our CO2-footprint and creates value for our customers.
Strong interest in the ACLC
For both OTC Asia and AOG Australia we invested in event stands to best showcase our transformative products. A stand provides us with a visible storefront and a base for networking and connecting with customers. At AOG Australia we were fortunate to secure a roomy stand at the Norwegian Pavilion, hosted by Struktur and NORWEP, benefiting from a larger exposure and the mark of excellence that the Norwegian flag projects in the broader energy sector.
We met with major regional operators at both events, as well as a cross-section of representatives from most of our major customers. As a tool provider, our bread-and-butter business stems from good relations with operators and service providers globally. What better way to connect than a good golf game! Ace was happy to sponsor a hole at the friendly golf tournament kicking off AOG Australia. The golf event was hosted by OGV and provided a great meeting place for industry professionals for casual conversation.
Business opportunities in both regions are currently centred around West-Australia, Malaysia, and Thailand. But we also received interest from newer markets like Vietnam, India, and Indonesia. These are lesser-known markets for us, but interest is picking up. With increased exposure in the region, we are excited to see what will materialise.
Interest in our existing products is great, but even greater was the interest in our latest product, the ACLC. Our Ace Control Line Clamp along with the automated installation process that we are preparing for commercial release at the end of the year generated many questions. There is broad interest from operators globally. The automated ACLC reduces manual work in the drill floor red zone where crews are exposed to the greatest risk and has the potential to greatly improve safety during completion work with mounting of control line clamps. Check out the April issue of World Oil , where the ACLC is showcased in a feature describing how we solved the challenges with automating this procedure.
Gearing up for OTC Houston
The entire Norwegian energy sector is of course busy preparing for ONS in Stavanger this August. But first we need to take care of OTC Houston, coming up in May. The North American market is important to us, so we are really gearing up for the show.
We have secured stand space and will be fielding a strong team for the event. I will of course attend, along with Mike Moffitt, our VP for the Western Hemisphere, and Mark Holland, Business Development Manager Western Hemisphere. The team will also include Business Development Manager Ken Erik Steine.
As always, we at Ace recognise the importance of being present at industry events. This is where we meet are customers, old and new, and keep up to date with the latest business trends and developments. We look forward to meeting you at both OTC Houston and ONS in Stavanger!