There are a lot of reasons why the Permian Basin International Oil Show is called “international,” the main one being that exhibitors selling equipment and looking for employees and attendees on high-dollar shopping trips come to Odessa from throughout the world.
PBIOS Executive Director Tony Fry says 22 Canadian companies will be here for the biennial exhibition Oct. 17-19 at the Ector County Coliseum along with companies from China, India and Germany and attendees from nations as distant as Guyana and Libya. “A lot of the international companies coming in are trying to develop new businesses and hire personnel,” Fry said. “For some, it’s their first time here.”
He said the Leistritz Advanced Technologies Corp. from Germany and Santo Protectors USA with thread protectors and lifting bails from India will be here.
“Leistritz has multi-phase systems and screw pumps,” Fry said, explaining that all the equipment on sale will be for onshore operations.
“Santo has a presence here and Leistritz is partnering with Knighten Industries in Odessa for distribution,” he said.
Fry said the PBIOS sold all 723 available spaces months ago, 297 of them outside, and it has a waiting list of 80 companies that want to show if any exhibitors cancel.
The ceremony to introduce the PBIOS honoree, an outstanding Permian Basin oilman of long experience, will be at 9:30 a.m. Oct. 17 at the main entrance with Show President Larry Richards and other dignitaries in attendance. The gates will open at 10 a.m. for the show to continue each day till 6.
Richards said the exhibition with an expected local economic impact of over $14 million “has always been fortunate to have attendees from across the globe travel to Odessa in October to see our show, but this year we definitely anticipate greater international interest.
“I’ve personally received calls from folks working to bring executives from as far away as Guyana and Libya,” he said. “These new next generation wells are just different than conventional wells. Instead of a vertical wellbore, you’re drilling down a mile, then turning 90 degrees and drilling horizontally for up to two miles.
“Then massive quantities of sand are pumped into the formation to create a porous formation where one didn’t exist beforehand. When they come in, these wells come in hard with large volumes at higher pressures and they often carry a lot of sand with the production.”
Comparing the effect to a sandblaster, Richards said, “That high pressure flow can wreak havoc on traditional production and completion equipment, spurring huge innovations and new equipment designs to tackle the issues.
“National oil companies can go through a decade of tearing up equipment in remote locations and learn on their own how to engineer solutions or they can come here and benefit from the innovations already developed and working in the Permian Basin.
“They’ll see everything from huge sand separators to automated electric wellhead chokes that can be configured to keep more sand in the formation. It’s a no-brainer for them and our local companies benefit by selling their products and services to a much broader market.”
Richards said big advances have also been made to reduce and eliminate the venting and flaring of natural gas and utilize associated gas in the field to drive a whole new generation of electric equipment with little to no emissions.
“This year that electric equipment now includes the ‘big iron’ on location and we’ll have the largest display of that type of equipment for the onshore market in one place in our industry from Warren Cat’s 2,500-horsepower frac pump engines using 80 percent associated gas to Dragon’s new 60-foot-long enclosed four-megawatt turbine generator,” he said. “The U.S. leads the world in technology advancement in this arena and our region leads the U.S.
“Attendees can lay their hands on leading-edge technologies that are actually proven in the field, not science experiments, and place orders for the equipment before they get back on a plane. This will be the only time many of these visitors ever see our region, so it’s a great opportunity to build relationships and show them some West Texas hospitality.”
