American Oil and Gas Reporter - November 2016 - 81

SpecialReport: Drilling Fluids Update
The concept is to replace systems that
generate data manually at the rig site and
transmit the information to an engineering
platform that then makes a set of assumptions, he says. Instead, the system
is designed to measure fluid performance
parameters in the wellbore and feed those
data into hydraulic software to generate
insights in real time, he concludes.
One component of the advisory system,
the WellSETTM application, already is in
commercial use, he points out. This application matches lost circulation strategies
to the wellbore, cutting costs, eliminating
downtime and minimizing formation
damage.
The system uses a huge database of
all lost circulation materials (LCMs).
"Given wellbore conditions, whether
that is the hydraulic stresses when
drilling the well or is just the geological
conditions, the system is able to formulate and predict the stresses placed on
the wellbore, determine the size of fractures and the required LCM treatment,
so operators can seal that off with the
right blend of lost circulation materials,"
Mota describes.
The WellSET application also predicts
how much material is being stripped out
through the solids control equipment,
and therefore how much and what type
of materials are needed to replenish the
loss, he says.

Young And Growing
Uncertainties in the commodities markets reward the most nimble of oil and
gas producers. Micah Bray, president of
Stellar Drilling Fluids LLC, says his company, takes advantage of its size to meet
customer expectations. The company,
which started in March 2015 with a single
employee, now has 13 workers serving
Texas customers operating vertical and
horizontal wells. From its initial home
base in Houston, the company offers its
services from offices in Midland, and
will be in Fort Worth and Oklahoma City
in the very near future, Bray says.
"We are a fairly new company that
has been willing to grow through the
people we are hiring," Bray describes.
"In terms of long-term expansion: we
would like to head to the Rockies and
the Marcellus at some point. Right now
though, more than half of the U.S. rig
count is in West Texas and Oklahoma, so
that is where we see a huge opportunity
to grow our company."
Stellar Drilling Fluids' 13 employees,
including Vice President of Operations
and partner Mike Davis, combined have
more than 150 years of experience in the
drilling fluids business, Bray says, and
its workers are ambitious and well-versed
to meet the needs of its customers.
The company provides services ranging

from in-house project engineering and
well planning, to hydraulic software and
laboratory testing as well as its drilling
fluid offerings, Bray says.
"We work hand-in-hand with suppliers
to come up with what customers truly
need, but we keep it basic," he points
out. "As a young company, we have done
a real good job on keeping cost of goods
down. We work with suppliers to pass
on cost savings in this tough market. We
want to maintain a steady client load."
The company name comes from its
investor, which established three Stellarnamed companies, he says. The aim is to
secure brand recognition and perhaps
provide a degree of reputation in Stellar
Drilling Fluids' early days, he poses.
Customers appreciate the more personalized service, attention to detail and
lack of bureaucracy that Stellar Drilling
Fluids provides, Bray says.
"For a mud company, if you do not
have strong people, you really don't have
anything," he says. "It is all about the
guy who comes to your location and the
team backing him. That is where Stellar
is striving to succeed: We are finding
the best mud engineers and people the
market has to offer. We are growing
through our people, and think that will
take us far."
❒

Report Quantiﬁes Energy Revolution
WASHINGTON-The second report in
the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Institute
for 21st Century Energy's Energy Accountability Series finds that America's economy
would be much weaker today if certain
politicians and special interest groups had
gotten their way and suppressed development
of oil and natural gas resources.
The chamber describes the Energy Accountability Series as a substantive look
at what will happen if energy proposals
from anti-energy-production candidates
and interest groups actually are adopted.
Inspired by the "keep in the ground movement," some candidates and their allies
have pledged to stop fossil fuels and make
hydraulic fracturing difficult, if not impossible, the Chamber notes. This report,
titled What if America's Energy Renaissance
Had Not Actually Happened?, uses data
from 2009 through 2015 to imagine what
the American economy would look like if
North America's unconventional play rev-

olution had not occurred.
The report determines that, without
the energy renaissance, America would
have lost 4.3 million jobs and $548 billion
in annual gross domestic product. If not
for the growth and development of oil
and gas production, today's electricity
prices would be 31 percent higher, and
motor fuels would cost 43 percent more.
"The keep it in the ground movement
completely ignores the vast benefits to
our nation's economy that the energy
renaissance has brought us," says Karen
Harbert, president and chief executive
officer of the Institute for 21st Century
Energy. "For instance, lower electricity
and fuel prices have spurred a comeback
in manufacturing that alone is responsible
for nearly 400,000 jobs. It costs consumers
less to drive a car and heat their homes
today. And all the while, our nation has
been decreasing its energy imports and
lowering emissions."

Forgoing Jobs
The chamber says the report takes a
closer look at four states that, in different
ways, have realized some of the biggest
benefits of expanded energy development.
It finds that Pennsylvania and Ohio would
be $13 billion poorer and would have
missed out on nearly $10 billion in GDP,
respectively. The report also includes an
analysis of Texas, which would be short
675,000 jobs, and Wisconsin, which would
lack 46,000 jobs.
"From Pennsylvania's paper industry,
to iron and steel in Ohio, to petrochemicals
in Texas, to cheese manufacturing in
Wisconsin, the energy renaissance has
been responsible for the preservation and
growth of industries across America,"
Harbert describes. "This is not only about
the oil and gas industry-this is about the
investment that has taken place and would
SEE REPORT PAGE 103
NOVEMBER 2016 81
American Oil and Gas Reporter - November 2016

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