Client Testimonials

All Strategic Lean Drilling™Lean Manufacturing Value Delivery

I have worked with John on several assignments over the past ten years, ranging from corporate strategy development to lean manufacturing to business development for a company focused on emerging markets. In each case, he provided valuable insight and concrete recommendations that we executed with positive results. His action items resulted in, among other things, the sale of a multi-billion dollar company, a material reduction of operating costs, and the development of a successful acquisition strategy.

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.

Thomas R. Bates, Jr., Managing Director, Lime Rock Partners.

John de Wardt and his concept of Lean Drilling™ has been used by Statoil on a number of wells with the objective to increase efficiency and reduce cost in Statoil's drilling and well operations. The systematic approach used offers great advantages in establishing ambitious goals and defining risks in a costly offshore drilling and well operations project. Statoil has seen significant improvements in results and has adopted the principles in our planning and operations efforts.

Mads Grinrod, Vice President, Drilling and Well Processes, Statoil.

NATCO Group Inc. engaged John de Wardt for corporate wide adoption of Lean Management. John played an instrumental role in building a keen understanding of the benefits from lean functioning from the shop floor to senior management. His ability to connect with key decision makers involved in each business system is unique. We are capturing efficiencies, driving unit costs down, eliminating waste and building a shared vision around our business priorities. As a result, revenues and profitability are at record levels. John"s guidance has been a key contribution to our success of late.

John U. Clarke, Chairman & CEO, Natco Group Inc

I have known John de Wardt since his earlier Shell days. In the recent past, I have been involved in two Oilfield Technology start-ups that have used John to help set Strategic Corporate Strategy. He worked with key people (in both cases Board Members were involved) to conduct a SWOT and GAP analysis and establish strategic marketing and technical plans for the Companies.
His background and his facilitation skills make his contribution invaluable. He has the credibility and insight to ask the hard questions.
There was solid value creation and I look forward to working with John in the future.

Larry Hibbard; Chairmen of Xact Downhole Telemetry, Board Member XtremeCoil Drilling

I have known John de Wardt for a number of years, and his keen knowledge of the oil and gas industry gives him a unique insight that manifests itself in strategies and action plans that deliver real value. His recent corporate strategy development work with Hercules Offshore resulted in a set of strategic initiatives that are already beginning to deliver value only a few months into their implementation. As a new and growing company, it was essential to have the right strategy based on realistic strategic alternatives, and that"s what John helped us develop. We plan to utilize John"s talents in the future to help execute and refine many of the key initiatives that he helped develop.

Randy Stilley, CEO & President, Hercules Offshore

At Balance (A Shell Technologies Venture Fund Company) engaged John during our early start-up phase to initially lead the management team through a three day commercialization strategy workshop. John came back to review with us how far we had come, check the direction we were headed in, and refocus our efforts.
John's process and active participation, not just facilitation, helped us build a concise, understandable plan. As we progressed through commercialization John was always accessible as a sounding board for new ideas. 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.

John G. Samuell Sr., President and CEO, At Balance

John has provided tremendous insight into our corporate strategy, business planning and organization design. He brings many insights from best practices in all industries. We are an independent E&P Company involved in a major growth - and therefore change - process. One of the main values of John's involvement in this process is the practical application of his ideas and contributions in our operations and planning processes.

He has also introduced industry best practices into planning, design, costing and delivery in our E&P company. He has achieved this through a combination of his proprietary products (Lean Drilling™), facilitating teamwork (getting the best out of people), his thorough technical and operational knowledge and his experience of the E&P industry coupled with an ability to put that in an environment with local / regional constraints. 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 continues to work with us to reap other benefits from the processes and "can do" philosophy that we kicked off some 12 months ago." He is a great team player and motivator who is able to "read" an organization and helps departments / teams and Corporate Leadership with tools and processes to get back on track (and then strive for "best in class").

Indeed, his direct involvement in our new drilling organization, that replaced a broken team, has contributed to a step-change in performance!

Evert Jan Sibinga Mulder, COO, Addax Petroleum

Smith International utilized John's expertise and proprietary methodology in guiding us in the development of our Drilling Optimization offering. John facilitated and worked diligently with our senior management and engineering teams over a one and a half year period in providing us with a foundation to offer a truly revolutionary concept to the industry. Through these processes we are not only able to deliver increased value to our clients'; we are able to participate in this value creation thus improving our bottom line. We could not have achieved this without John's insight and perspective of the oil industry.

R. J. Aab Vice President Business Processes, Smith International

Over the past four years, National Oilwell has gone through a period of significant expansion through acquisitions. The disparate corporate cultures that need to be combined when expanding through acquisitions pose extreme challenges to the success of the integration. Mr. John de Wardt provided both tremendous insight and valuable guidance and expertise in helping National Oilwell achieve success in bringing together different organizations and creating the structure for the new organization. Without the talents of Mr. de Wardt, the success of these acquisitions could not have been realized.

Mr Merrill A “Pete” Miller, Chairman, National Oilwell

John de Wardt is an outstanding consultant on well engineering issues. He is also very versed in facilitating process improvement and can work with any team to identify shortfalls in performance and how to overcome this. Besides providing expert service in this regard, he is very committed to his clients and follows up to see that the decisions made or actions agreed to be taken result in the expected outcome. He does not walk away after the job is over, but stays in touch to see the successful outcome of his work with the team. His service is one beyond the call of duty and has been very much appreciated by all who have worked with him in Addax Petroleum.

Horace Awi, General Manager, Drilling; Addax Petroleum Development Nigeria Limited

I have worked with John since 1998. Why? Because his processes add value to the organization each and every time. Be it delivering ownership by empowering the right group of people, building detailed execution plans, or tailor making organizations to the environment they are in; De Wardt & Company is a yardstick of quality that we like to associate ourselves with.
The oil and gas business in Russia is evolving rapidly in different directions; High Tier, High Volume and Nationalization. John's scenario planning routine helped us build an organization capable of handling such a disparate market environment, still focusing on our and our customers' values.

Halle Aslaksen, Vice President, Smith Drilling Tools & Remedials and Bits & Applied Technologies<

I have worked with John for three years on multiple projects that encompassed numerous manufacturing locations throughout North America. John was able to bridge the gap from the manufacturing floor personnel to the objectives of the Senior Management and the workings of Lean Manufacturing. John's methods of training and implementation were key to our success. He was able to achieve manufacturing personnel buy in and understanding in a positive and energetic manner.
The implementation of Lean practices was done with the existing manufacturing plant culture in mind, and driven by molding the existing culture into a new and dynamic culture of Lean implementation and sustainability.
John utilizes the tools of Lean while developing implementation plans that fit each individual location. To see the achieved success and each employees display of pride and commitment achieved through John's leadership was very rewarding and instrumental in bottom line growth.
Brian Berdusco, VP Manufacturing, NATCO Group Inc

The Industrial Company hired John de Wardt in 1998 to take us through a strategy development process for our construction business. His method of creating future scenarios and describing our business in these different scenarios was extremely beneficial for us to identify the key initiatives we needed to implement to cause and support growth. We are very proud of the changes we have made as a result of this development program and feel confident that these have created a stronger company to carry us through the significant growth we are now experiencing - doubling our revenues in the 2 years after John's intervention. We would not be in the strong position we are today without the support John de Wardt's program gave us. The value we gained with this program caused us to re-hire John to undertake the same strategy development program for our other group company - Western Summit, a water and waste water treatment construction company. Again this program delivered great value to this business.
Ronnie McKenzie, Chairman, TIC Holdings

Over the last twelve years I have had the privilege of working with John de Wardt concerning issues of organizational effectiveness, strategic planning and business development at National Oilwell Varco(NOV). Most recently I engaged John to lead a drilling controls and automation workshop at NOV which resulted in harmonizing and strategically focusing NOV's future direction and efforts around this crucial topic. In my role as Chairman of the 2010 IADC/SPE Drilling Conference, John also assisted me tremendously in helping our committees to prepare the conference agenda, organize workshops and streamline our selection process for technical papers and presentations. John's exceptional knowledge of oilfield technologies, manufacturing, process management and business model design can provide companies with an invaluable resource for enhancing business strategies, minimizing costs, and creating greater customer value.
Robert L. Bloom, Sr. Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, National Oilwell Varco

John de Wardt's rigorous process helped Weatherford's new Underbalanced Services group to fully quantify its value equation, competitive advantages and key competencies. He also assisted with valuable market surveys prior to our workshops. His contributions have been extremely useful.
Mr. Evert Jan Sibinga Mulder Vice President, Weatherford Underbalanced Services

Smith International first began working with John de Wardt in 1996. Resulting from positive experiences Smith Bits contracted DE WARDT AND COMPANY in January 2000 to assist us in establishing a business model for a new service we saw as an opportunity in drilling optimization. John was instrumental in developing scenario plans with us as well as helping us determine strategic issues and processes that required improvement.

Today, 1 1/2 years later, this unique new business segment "Advanced Services Engineering" has been a great success. We have nearly 30 service contracts globally being managed by 3 regional managers with expectations of doubling this service over the next 18 months.

In addition, new business processes have been developed that are core to our continued success " including 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.
Chuck Muren, Vice President Engineering, Smith Tool

BP Norway began using the Lean Drilling™ approach to drilling exploration wells in 1998 on single well projects. The project managed work style fit very well with the complex and high cost drilling projects here in Norway, so we decided to try to go to the next step -- take the "individual project approach" and apply it to the way we work in our development drilling projects as well.

The exploration activity has definitely exhibited a step change in delivery. Ranking against our peers regionally, we expect to drill first or second quartile wells now. Our Ula platform resumed work in 2000. We drilled two back to back, first quartile wells, the first being a new record well, for a platform which had been drilled out in 1998.

I remain confident in this approach to drilling difficult well projects. The cost structure in Norway is such that preplanning is critical to implementation success. Lean Drilling™ is a vital part of the way we do our work, everyday.
Tracy L. Mosness, Drilling and Wells Manager, BP Norway

We used John de Wardt's services in two separate workshops, the purpose of which was to assist in developing strategic plans that would increase the value to the customer of product lines within Intervention Services. The results of both workshops were very beneficial in defining our goals and developing a clear pathway forward.
Mr. John Roberts Vice President, Weatherford Intervention Services

Utilizing John de Wardt's Lean Drilling™ model the diverse Mad Dog Wells team, composed of BP multiple disciplines and suppliers, organizationally aligned and focused on performance, then implemented plan enhancement and other techniques to achieve best-in-class deepwater performance.
Rusty Cook, Mad Dog Wells Team Leader, BP GOM USA

The teambuilding exercise with John de Wardt was the best introduction I ever had to a new job / transfer and was very effective from a communication and operational point of view. I felt really quickly at home with the problems / opportunities facing us. All involved in the Lean Drilling™ workshop were of the same opinion that it was a success.
Dick Swart - Well Construction Manager, Addax Petroleum, Nigeria

Of critical importance to implemention was the guidance and coaching provided by John de Wardt's Lean Drilling™ Program. In addition to firmly focusing the team on achieving a world-class outcome, the program instilled the discipline of absolute rigor in the management of the well as a project. In particular, the program highlighted the requirement to employ a professional scheduler with the resulting benefits to project control, a thorough and detailed people selection process, and organizational architecture with clearly defined roles, responsibilities and accountabilities
J Thorogood, M Jackson & O-H Thorsen - in their paper Delivering World Class Drilling

To optimise the planning process and make further improvements, Saga engaged John de Wardt to apply his Lean Drilling™ program. This is a planning method based on giving "ownership" of the project to all involved parties, in the operator, drilling contractor and service companies, both offshore and onshore. Each party is required to take full responsibility for their input, both in the planning and execution phase, in contrast to the usual approach in which "ownership" is concentrated mainly on those in charge in the operating company. De Wardt"s method also puts great emphasis on risk management and contingency planning.
Due to this planning, all the well objectives were met below AFE and under planned time. This planning process contributed to the drilling success of the Gjallar deepwater well.
F Stene, J T Helgesen, R T"nnessen in their paper Deepwater Cementing in Gjallar

Lean Drilling™ three template wells ahead of schedule, $4.8 million under budget and surpass all the reservoir objectives Key to the success was the alignment of the alliance partners
Senior Drilling Engineer, Major Oil Company - North Sea

You accomplished more in this three day workshop than we did in one year of re-engineering
Vice President, Major Service / Supply Company - USA

"The strength of Lean Drilling™ is that it is the project team who build the organization and thus who have a direct stake in its success - it is not a process that can be copied'
Project Manager, Major Oil Company, N Sea Region

"An alliance with these diverse companies was wishful thinking until the organizational architecture you guided us to develop created a team'
Manager, Major Service Company - North America

Lean Producing™ immediately added tremendous value to our project
Production Manager, Major Oil Company - North Sea

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Case Studies

Addax Achieves 77% Drop in Project NPT
Performance was poor as non productive time in the operation was over 30%. John de Wardt defined a project delivery process and got it to be accepted by all in the department. This process requires the application of a number of steps at all stages of the planning and execution processes with appropriates gates that check and sanction each step before the next stage is carried out. The application of this process had a dramatic impact on performance as non productive time dropped to about 11% the following year. By the second year non productive time was about 7% - a total reduction of non-productive time of 23%.

Mad Dog GOM Well sets the bench mark.
BP Mad Dog's first Deep Water Development well (4,600 ft water depth) in its pre - SPAR drilling phase achieved a planned TD of 21,330' using Diamond's Ocean Confidence 5th generation semi submersible rig in 21 days per 10,000 ft. The team exceeded the best of best performance in all well segments, except one, in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. This S shaped well drilled through a thick salt section to faulting and a pressure regression below. BP utilized DE WARDT AND COMPANY to take them through the key process steps to achieve the organization alignment, focus on performance, plan enhancement and other attributes they were looking for.

"ELITE" - A success for GF Satellites.
The Lean Drilling program was applied to a 4400 meters development well with an 1100 meters horizontal section, which was planned to include an intelligent completion, in the Norwegian sector of the N Sea. The well was drilled in 25.4 days with an overall drilling performance of 171 meters / day compared to a historic average of 80 meters / day, using a type 2 semi-submersible unit in some 350 meters of water (left plot). The completion activity was performed in 12.9 days compared to a historic completion time of 24 days (right plot). Statoil stated in their magazine "Well Informed" that the result was even better than the Technical Limit Curve for this well. This result realized capital cost savings of US$ 7.5 million and additional value from earlier production of oil.

One of the fastest offshore gas developments.
Sangu achieved first gas only seventeen months from the Field Development approval and just over two years from the discovery by Cairn. Cairn and its co-venturers were able to remain on schedule with the field development notwithstanding the many problems caused by the difficult operating conditions that are a feature of the Bay of Bengal. This is the first project to develop and supply gas from the Bay of Bengal into the domestic market of Bangladesh. Cairn and its co-venturer Halliburton jointly undertook this project that included sub-surface modeling together with the design and construction of the wells, platform, pipeline and onshore plant. DE WARDT AND COMPANY organized this multi-discipline, multi-location team and implemented management processes that aligned the team to very aggressive goals through their Lean Hydrocarbon Development program.

Multiple projects achieve Best in Class
Lean Drilling has been applied to many projects offshore Norway. The plot on the right shows the results from three projects with different challenges benchmarked against other N Sea results. These wells were drilled with different operators, different drilling contractors (and rigs) and to a large degree different service companies. These results show the ability of the Lean Drilling program to consistently differentiate the performance of our clients against their peers.

Excellent performance in a challenging environment
When depletion strategies for BP Amoco's Valhall field on Norway's continental shelf required the drilling of extended reach drilling (ERD) wells, problems appeared which threatened the project economics. Average trouble costs approached 35% and occasionally exceeded 50%, while some wells failed to reach their objectives. Lean Drilling was applied to a very challenging ERD well. Starting with a slot recovery that historically took 29 days being completed in 18, the well concluded 31 days (30%) ahead of past performance including a 1000m horizontal section. The challenges that were overcome to achieve this performance included active faulting in the over burden section, very tight equivalent circulating density (a narrow band between rock strength and pore pressure), lost circulation, over pressurized shale, proximity of well bores, distorted seismic date with non-homogeneous pressure depletion and flowing chalk in the reservoir.

Breakthrough reverses a deteriorating trend.
A semi submersible drilling campaign for multiple operators showed a significant deterioration in performance during the initial three wells. This caused the operator planning the fifth well to seriously reconsider the planning and execution methodology traditionally applied. They selected Lean Drilling as the tool to deliver a step change improvement in performance and reverse the deteriorating trend. The base well plan was 46 days in duration. The project team improved this to a trouble free time of 29 days as they built their detailed plan and focused on high performance. The actual result of 27 days confirmed the success of Lean Drilling in delivering the desired step change (left plot). Beyond this excellent performance, the value delivered by this exploration well in terms of the quality and breadth of data acquired exceeded all past experience.

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