Doing what it does best and getting down to business, Wednesday’s Permian Basin International Oil Show saw the 750 exhibitors cementing their relationships with established customers and in some instances getting new ones from throughout the nation and the world.
One of those was the Beaumont-based Dragon Products, whose vice president of sales, Ricky Plymell of Odessa, said his company has sold its workover-completion rigs and other equipment “everywhere there is oil” in the United States and in countries like Argentina, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and Russia till those sales were prohibited with the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.
A 125,000-pound Dragon workover completion rig is on display at the show’s entrance through 4 p.m. Thursday, having been driven 500 miles at 55 mph from Dragon’s manufacturing center at Victoria in South Texas. Plymell said those rigs sell from $1 million to $1.5 million each and about 350 of them are in service around the globe.
A workover rig fixes ailing oil and natural gas wells while the completion side finishes new wells.
“We have all types of equipment, frac pumps and tanks, drilling rigs, centrifugal pumps and dump trailers and other production equipment,” Plymell said. “Dragon has been successful because we have good service after the sale.”
“We put our customers at the top of the list.”
Combined with affiliates AmeriFlush and AmeriTrace, Odessa’s AmeriVax Co., is into the oil patch in a big way with hydro excavation trucks, vacuum trucks, roll-off, combo trash trailers, portable toilets, freshwater, cement water, line locating and diesel generators and light towers.
AmeriVax Sales Representative Z’Anna Martin explained that hydro excavation trucks are used to find water pipelines or electrical lines needing repairs and put them back into service.
“We had two trucks when I joined the company six years ago and now we have 22 and 250 employees,” Martin said. “We provide quality customer service. Our operators make us look good.”
Specializing in Ingersoll Rand and Doosan equipment, Air Compressor Solutions President Brian Stubbs’ company has been in Odessa for 43 years and is opening a new shop in Carlsbad, N.M., to go with its operations here and in Albuquerque, Amairllo and El Paso.
“We cover the Oklahoma Panhandle to the Mexico border through New Mexico,” Stubbs said. “We just started a fabrication group, putting instrumentation on them to replace the natural gas valves with air compressors and switching to air.
“We also have a new design of skids.”
He said Outside Salesman Brett Ridgeway has aided the company’s success while he concentrates on the technology.
“We’re showing our brand, seeing old customers and making new ones,” Stubbs said. “We like seeing the new technology that we haven’t seen before here at the show and partnering with people who have solved problems that we haven’t solved yet.”
Permian Tractor Sales owner John Kelly handles Case backhoes, skid steers, excavators, bulldozers, mini-loaders and other equipment. “All this is very needed in the oilfield,” Kelly said.
Asked how he has been scucessful through all the booms and busts since buying the company in 1990, he said, “Just being steady.
“It’s keeping your people and still giving good service for your customers.”
Kelly said Permian Tractor Sales’ principal territory is the Basin’s 17 counties and Eastern New Mexico.
