CALGARY, Alberta – It has been said that necessity is the mother of all invention. Here is a case in point from an entrepreneurial point of view in the oil patch.
A group of out-of-work oil and gas subsurface professionals recently launched a consulting company that is different from any other. The company, aptly named Rez-Rescue, is run out of a salvaged and bespoke City of Red Deer ambulance that offers around the clock emergency reservoir engineering, log analysis, petrophysical, and seismic interpretation services. The legal name of Reservoir Rescue was dropped in favour of edgier graphics on the corporate response truck, and the letter Z was popular with focus groups.
The company’s co-founder, senior geophysicist Rhomas Pickletin, describes the thinking behind the idea.
Well, I can’t even count how many times I’ve been in a project approval meeting only to learn that the technical team was ill-prepared. I see team members scrambling around, sweating in front of the VPs looking for answers all of the time. Although I could answer many if not most of the questions on the geo side, I’d typically keep quiet because I hated my job and I was waiting for a package. Anyhow, I figured this must happen at most other companies and that’s when I heard the cash registers ringing in my head.
So at the end of the day, I describe it as a food truck, but instead of walking up to buy food from it on the cheap, it comes to your office and delivers knowledge – very expensive knowledge – to get our clients out of a pinch. And so far, our clients are tickled pink with our expert technical prowess and yeoman customer service. – Rhomas Pickletin, co-founder Rez-Rescue
According to promotional pamphlets that 2P News found beside a recycling bin in the Bankers Hall food court, Rez-Rescue offer its various emergency services at quite the premium price starting at $5000/hour. Its target market is everyone. Startups, juniors, mid-sized wanna-be’s, eager intermediates, and major oil and gas legacy companies, both privately and publicly held. Mr. Pickletin continues, “We’ll pretty much offer our services to anybody who is willing to pay, including other consulting firms. We’re like a mobile, run down, geological brothel. You’ve got the money honey, we’ve got the time.”
When asked for feedback about hiring Rez-Rescue last week when her team was in a pinch, Susan Y’Doer, a reservoir engineer with Bendovus Energy, said she loved it.
Our team was prepping for a project approval meeting that was due in a few hours when the geologist asked whether or not the newly acquired 3D seismic was considered, and when the reservoir engineer (who was speaking on behalf of the absent geophysicist) replied no, that’s when all hell broke loose.
At that point, according to Miss Y’Doer, the project engineer lost his mind and screamed, “IS THERE SOMEBODY HERE WHO CAN INTERPRET THIS SEISMIC?! WE HAVE A PROJECT APPROVAL MEETING IN 45 MINUTES!!!
According to witnesses, it took no longer than 5 or 6 minutes after placing the call to Rez-Rescue before a team of 3 subsurface professionals burst into the meeting room donning lab coats and 2-way radios. Indeed, their emergency response vehicle was haphazardly parked on the sidewalk in front of the building with lights flashing. The issues were solved and the invoice of roughly $34,000 was well worth it, as it likely saved Miss Y’Doers career.
Hey, my name is Susan, the same Susan mentioned in your article. You have the story only half right, but that’s okay. Funny nevertheless.