News

Customer visit sparks new business opportunities, builds knowledge of NOV technologies

We brought several employees from a Latin American operator to the United States to learn more about how our wide range of capabilities can help them improve performance and efficiency.

Jul 22, 2019

NOV is a very large, very diverse company. Something that we have been increasingly working towards is helping our customers understand the interconnectedness of our businesses, the way we can come together to provide greater value. The proverb “It takes a village to raise a child” comes to mind here, because we recently did just that—we brought together people from across the company in an extremely impactful and well-received customer event for Latin American operator GeoPark to highlight our diverse and intertwined capabilities.

Several key members of GeoPark explored our facilities to learn more about what we do and the technologies we have that can help them in their operations. Our guests included Jorge Alvarez, Drilling and Completion PCE Manager for Perú, Colombia, and Ecuador; Mario Niño, Drilling Engineer, Colombia; Yamil Yubran, Senior Drilling Engineer, Colombia; Simon Fernandez, Drilling Engineer, Argentina; and Guilherme Moreira, Drilling Engineer, Brazil.

On the first day of the trip, GeoPark toured our Grant Prideco facility in Navasota, Texas, where they received an inside look into our drill pipe operations and manufacturing optimization at the facility. On the second day, we visited our Conroe, Texas, facility to provide GeoPark with insight into our latest bit, cutter, borehole enlargement, and coring technologies, as well as showcase our downhole tools’ manufacturing processes. On the third day, GeoPark was introduced to recent developments in our directional measurement and steerable technologies and saw downhole tool capabilities with motors, jars, and Agitator™ systems at our Air Center facility. Day four saw a return to Navasota at our Research and Development Technology Center, where GeoPark was able to visit our live test rig, learn more about the overall offerings of our Wellbore Technologies segment, and see a demonstration of NOVOS™ process automation in real time. On the fifth and final day, we went to our Breen Road facility for a discussion of downhole motor power sections and how NOV is leading the way with more reliable, longer-lasting products in this domain.

GeoPark is a leading independent Latin American oil and gas explorer, operator, and consolidator with assets and growth platforms in Colombia, Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Ecuador. The company is currently ranked the third-largest oil operator in Colombia and the first private oil and gas producer in Chile, and it also has a non-operating working interest in one of the largest non-associated gas field in Brazil. We are very excited about new opportunities to work with GeoPark across Latin America, and our dedication to customer service and showcasing our technology differentiators paid off when we received excellent praise from Jorge Alvarez. Jorge commented, “From the Drilling Group in GeoPark, we would like to thank you for the perfect organization and execution of the NOV Customer Experience Tour for GeoPark. We’d like to highlight the good predisposition of the people at the facilities, all of whom shared with us their commitment and passion for good work. It is the good energy from people that makes NOV a different company. In my opinion, I’ve learned from the event a very different idea than what I know from NOV, even more in regard to its latest technology developments. Many of the things that we saw in Houston will certainly be applicable for the growing operations of GeoPark in Latin America.”