About de Wardt & Company
Established in 1994, de Wardt and Company provides specialized management services and proprietary programs that consistently increase productivity and profitability primarily in the Oil and Gas business.
These leading edge services were developed from personal experience in both customer and supplier organizations and from research of world class companies in all industries. The programs are continuously upgraded through experience of application and ongoing research. They bring the best facets of Scenario based Strategic Planning, Lean Manufacturing Techniques and Project Management Methods to organizations.
We work closely with you to develop ownership in the solutions. Our proprietary organizational programs create new architecture with aligned business drivers that traverse all functional boundaries and customer supplier interfaces in the value chain. These programs are designed for both short-term projects with specific requirements and long-term strategic planning and business implementation. Our proprietary strategy development program creates growth with significant insight into an uncertain future.
de Wardt and Company tailors services to meet the specific needs of its clients – recognizing the value of profitability and long-term relationships throughout the industry.
About John de Wardt
John de Wardt is President of DE WARDT AND COMPANY INC.. and Managing Director of World Class Projects, firms he founded to assist companies to increase their profitability through improving business processes. DE WARDT AND COMPANY INC. specializes in developing strategies using scenario planning techniques, applying Lean Manufacturing techniques and improving project performance.
Mr. de Wardt graduated from the University of Newcastle in England with an Honors degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1976; he specialized in industrial processes and business management. During this period, he completed the Institute of Mechanical Engineers industrial experience program with Imperial Chemical Industries, a leading UK petrochemical company.
From 1976 to 1991 Mr. de Wardt worked in various engineering and contracts management positions for Shell International throughout the world. In 1990 he published the first in a series of papers discussing “Contracts in the 90’s”.
In 1991, he became Deputy Managing Director of Forasol / Foramer - an international drilling contractor based in Paris, France. In this position, Mr. de Wardt directed numerous successful projects applying the new business methods and practices he had developed.
In 1993, Mr. de Wardt led the Well Construction and Well Management Strategy Development Team for Halliburton and Brown & Root in Houston, USA, sponsored by the Vice Chairman. This work contributed to the integration of the two companies’ energy services organizations and deployment of a strategy that helped redefine the industry.
Since 1994, Mr. de Wardt has successfully implemented his proprietary programs with exceptional results. He is a recognized expert in Lean Manufacturing, organization development and strategic planning as well as being an accomplished facilitator. He has analyzed market trends and assisted with strategy development for numerous clients from oil companies to construction contractors in the highly competitive power generation and water / waste water markets. These clients have increased their market share, revenues and profitability. He developed and facilitated proprietary workshops for many clients that have resulted in world-class results on projects around the world. Mr. de Wardt has published more than 15 leading industry articles.
In 2008, Mr. de Wardt was retained for a 3 month assignment as the Acting COO of a manufacturing facility for an international growth manufacturing business in the FSU.
John de Wardt has Lived and Worked Around the World
John de Wardt has lived and worked in France, Malaysia, Netherlands, Thailand, the UK, and the USA.
He has also worked assignments in Abu Dhabi, Angola, Argentina, Austria, Canada, China, Dubai, Gabon, Germany, Myanmar
(Burma), Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Singapore, Switzerland, Ukraine, Venezuela, Yemen.
Conferences John de Wardt has Influenced
- Featured in Alexander Haig’s World Business Review television program.
- Moderator for the 1994 IADC/SPE Drilling Conference panel session titled "Impact of Drilling Operations on Well Life Cycle Cost Reduction" held in Dallas, USA
- Moderator for the 1995 SPE/IADC Drilling Conference panel session titled "Vision 2020 - Preparing for the Next Twenty Five Years" held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- Moderator for the 1996 SPE / IADC Asia Pacific Drilling Conference panel session titled "Alliance and Partnering: Defining the Terms/Methods/Results" in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- Moderator for the 1999 SPE / IADC Middle East Drilling Conference panel session titled "Integration - the Key to Reducing Drilling and Production Costs".
- Led a Middle East workshop titled "Introducing Practical Techniques for Implementing A Successful Partnership" for The Institute For International Research.
- Led Houston conference on “Alliancing in Oil and Gas” for the International Quality and Productivity Corporation.
- Led Singapore conference on “Best Practices in Project Management” for Universal Network Intelligence.
- He was a 1995/96 Society of Petroleum Engineers Distinguished Lecturer.
Other workshops / forums in which John de Wardt has chaired sessions and been a committee member include:
- SPE Drillstring Dynamics Forum, Austria
- SPE Wellbore Surveying Applied Technology Workshop, France
- SPE Emerging Technology Workshop, USA
John de Wardt is currently a committee member of the SPE / IADC Annual Drilling Conference.
Associations:
- Institute of Mechanical Engineers
- Society of Petroleum Engineers
- International Association of Drilling Contractors
Testimonials
We have seen significant improvements in results and have adopted the principles in our planning and operations efforts.
...substantial improvement in product delivery and resultant reductions of inventory. The catalyst for these new processes was the Strategic Planning workshop lead by John de Wardt.
John’s emphasis on rigorous planning has resulted in tangible and measurable results in the area of drilling and completing wells. A true step-change.
John de Wardt provided us with a straight forward, hard driving, no nonsense approach to strategic planning that is still helping us define and achieve new business goals.
His recent corporate strategy development work resulted in a set of strategic initiatives that are already beginning to deliver value only a few months into their implementation.
His insight into the oil and gas industry is invaluable, and his knowledge of best practice in manufacturing has added measurable value to several of our investments.
Case Studies
Consistently Differentiated Performance
The application of Lean Drilling to the Norwegian operations of bp, TotalFinaElf, Statoil and Saga (now Norske Hydro) has differentiated the drilling performance of these operators when compared to their internal and external peers. With daily drilling costs in this region ranging from $150,000 to $350,000, the savings achieved are worth many millions of dollars. The plot on the left presented to the AADC in Houston on November 13, 2001 shows the step change achieved by bp Norway in comparison to their regional peers. The plot on the right shows how the clients of DE WARDT AND COMPANY achieved the best performance on a comparison of depth versus time for all Norwegian deep-water exploration wells.
Far East drilling beats Technical Limit
A long drilling history with a traditional organization achieved a plateau drilling time of 13 days for these 2,500m wells with 50 degrees of inclination. A Lean Drilling reorganization lead to a step change in performance, which quickly achieved 7 days for the same objective. Simultaneously the costs of drilling fluid and bits were reduced significantly helping to reduce the overall cost of these wells. The resulting performance (right plot) beats the typically stated technical limit of 2 days per 1000 ft for these wells.