Forum Energy Technologies Profile
Forum Energy Technologies, Inc. (FET) operates as a global company. The company serves the oil, natural gas, industrial and renewable energy industries.
FET provides value added solutions aimed at improving the safety, efficiency, and environmental impact of the company’s customers' operations. The company is an environmentally and socially responsible company. The company’s products include highly engineered capital equipment, as well as consumable products. These consumable products are used in drilling, well construction and completions activities and at processing centers and refineries. The company’s engineered capital products are directed at drilling rig equipment for constructing new or upgrading existing rigs, subsea construction and development projects, pressure pumping equipment, the placement of production equipment on new producing wells, downstream capital projects and capital equipment for renewable energy projects. In 2022, over 68% of the company’s revenue was derived from consumable products and activity-based equipment, while the balance was primarily derived from capital products with a small amount from rental and other services.
The company designs, manufactures and supplies high quality reliable products that create value for its diverse customer base, which includes, among others, oil and natural gas operators, land and offshore drilling contractors, oilfield service companies, subsea construction and service companies, and pipeline and refinery operators. In addition, the company offers some of its products to renewable energy and new energy companies.
The company focused on serving its customers in both oil and natural gas, as well as renewable energy applications. The company is also continuing to develop products to help oil and natural gas operators lower their emissions while also deploying its existing product technologies in renewable energy applications and seeking to develop innovative equipment.
Segments
The company operates through three segments: Drilling & Downhole, Completions, and Production.
Drilling And Downhole segment
This segment designs, manufactures and supplies products and provides related services to the drilling, well construction, artificial lift and subsea energy construction markets, including applications in oil and natural gas, renewable energy, defense, and communications. The products and related services consist primarily of capital equipment and a broad line of expendable products consumed in the drilling process; well construction casing and cementing equipment and protection products for artificial lift equipment and cables; and subsea remotely operated vehicles and trenchers, submarine rescue vehicles, specialty components and tooling, and complementary subsea technical services.
There are several factors that drive demand for the company’s Drilling & Downhole segment. The company’s Drilling Technologies product line is influenced by global drilling activity, the level of capital investment in drilling rigs and equipment replacement as drilling contractors modify or replace existing rigs to improve capability, efficiency or safety, and the number of rigs in use, and the severity of operating conditions. The company’s Downhole Technologies product line is impacted by the level of well completion activity and complexity of well construction and completion. The company’s Subsea Technologies product line is affected by global offshore activity, defense spending, subsea equipment and pipeline installation, repair and maintenance expenditures, and growth in offshore windfarm development.
Drilling Technologies: The company provides both drilling capital equipment and consumables, with a focus on products that enhance its customers’ handling of tubulars and drilling fluids on the drilling rig. The company’s product offering includes powered and manual tubular handling equipment; customized offline crane systems; drilling data acquisition management systems; pumps, pump parts, valves, and manifolds; drilling fluid end components; and, a broad line of items consumed in the drilling process.
Drilling Capital Equipment: The company designs and manufactures a range of powered and manual tubular handling tools used on onshore and offshore drilling rigs. The company’s Forum B+V Oil Tools and Wrangler branded tools reduce direct human involvement in the handling of pipe during drilling operations, improving safety, speed and efficiency of operations. The company’s tubular handling tools include elevators, clamps, rotary slips, rotary tongs, powered slips, spiders and kelly spinners. The company’s make-up and break-out tools, called Forum Roughneck, automate a dangerous rig floor task and improve rig drilling speed and safety. The company’s hydraulic catwalks mechanize the lifting and lowering of tubulars to and from the drill floor, eliminating or reducing the need for traditional drill pipe and casing pick-up and lay-down operations with associated personnel. The company also designs and manufactures a range of rig-based offline activity cranes and multi-purpose cranes.
In addition to powered tubular handling equipment, the company designs and manufactures drilling manifold systems and high-pressure piping packages. Finally, the company repairs and services drilling equipment for both land and offshore rigs. Many of the company’s service employees work in the field to address problems at the rig site.
Consumable Products: The company manufactures a range of consumable products used on drilling rigs, well servicing rigs, and hydraulic fracturing systems. The company’s consumable products include valves, centrifugal pumps, mud pump fluid end components, including P-Quip mud pump modules, Forumlok, rig sensors, inserts, and dies. The company is also a supplier of oilfield bearings, including FracMax, to original equipment manufacturers and repair businesses for use in drilling and well stimulation equipment.
The company’s primary customers in this product line include domestic and international drilling rig contractors operating land and offshore based drilling rigs.
Downhole Technologies: The company manufactures a broad line of downhole products that are consumed during the construction, completion and production phases of a well’s lifecycle.
Downhole Protection Systems: The company offers a full selection of downhole protection solutions and artificial lift accessories through its various brands, such as Cannon Services and Multilift. The company’s Cannon Services protectors are used to shield downhole control lines, cables and gauges during installation and to provide protection during production enhancement operations. The company designs and manufactures a variety of downhole protection solutions for electrical submersible pump (ESP) cabling, encapsulated control lines, sub-surface safety valves and permanent downhole gauges. The company provides both standard and customized protection systems, and it utilizes a range of materials in its products for various downhole environments. SandGuard and Cyclone branded completion tools extend the useful life of an ESP by protecting it against sand and other solids during shutdown and startup. Forum’s GasGuard branded product also extends the useful life of an ESP by breaking down gas slugs, creating an uninterrupted flow of liquid.
Casing and Cementing Tools: Through its Davis-Lynch branded downhole well construction operations, the company designs and manufactures products used in the construction of oil, natural gas and geothermal wells. The company supplies a full portfolio of centralizers, float equipment, stage cementing tools, inflatable packers, flotation collars, cementing plugs and surge reduction equipment. The company’s products are used globally in the construction of onshore and offshore wells.
The company’s primary customers in this product line are oil and natural gas producers, and service companies providing completions, artificial lift and other intervention services to producers.
Subsea Technologies: The company designs and manufactures capital equipment and specialty components used in the subsea sector and provide a broad suite of complementary technical services. The company has a core focus on the design and manufacture of remotely operated vehicle (ROV) systems, other specialty subsea vehicles, and rescue submarines, as well as critical components of these vehicles. Many of its related technical services complement its vehicle offerings.
Subsea Vehicles: The company is a leading designer and manufacturer of a wide range of ROVs that the company supply to the offshore subsea construction, observation and related service markets. The market for ROVs can be segmented into three broad classes of vehicles based on size and category of operations: large work-class vehicles and trenchers for construction and installation activities; drilling-class vehicles deployed from and for use around an offshore rig; and observation-class vehicles for inspection and light manipulation. The company is a leading provider of work-class and observation class vehicles.
The company designs and manufactures large work-class ROVs through its highly respected Perry brand. These vehicles are principally used in deepwater construction applications. In addition to work-class ROVs, the company designs and manufactures large trenchers that travel along the sea floor for trenching, installation and burial operations. The largest of these trenchers is able to cut over three meters deep into the seafloor to lay pipelines, power cables or communications cables for customers in the pipeline, offshore wind power and telecom markets.
The company’s Forum Sub-Atlantic branded observation-class vehicles are electrically powered and are principally used for inspection, survey and light manipulation, and serve a wide range of industries.
In addition to ROVs, the company designs and manufactures subsea rescue vehicles capable of a range of tasks, including submarine rescue operations, diver support, seabed survey, port security, under hull search and a variety of other tasks.
The company’s subsea vehicle customers are primarily large offshore service companies that serve the oil and natural gas, telecommunications, offshore wind power, and other industries operating in marine environments. In addition, the company sells products to a range of governmental organizations including naval, maritime science and geoscience research organizations.
Subsea Products and Technical Services: The company is also a leading designer and manufacturer of subsea products and components utilized in conjunction with ROVs for the oil and natural gas, renewables, telecommunications and defense markets. The company manufactures Dynacon branded ROV launch and recovery systems, linear cable engines, Sub-Atlantic branded ROV thrusters, and a wide range of hydraulic power units and valve packs. The company designs and manufactures these ROV components for incorporation into its own vehicles, as well as for sale to other ROV manufacturers. The company also provides a broad suite of subsea tooling and technical services.
Completions segment
Completions segment designs, manufactures and supplies products and provides related services to the coiled tubing, well stimulation and intervention markets. The products and related services consist primarily of capital and consumable products sold to the pressure pumping, hydraulic fracturing and flowback services markets, including hydraulic fracturing pumps, cooling systems, high-pressure flexible hoses and flow iron, as well as wireline cable and pressure control equipment used in the well completion and intervention service markets; and coiled tubing strings and coiled line pipe and related services.
Demand for its Stimulation & Intervention and Coiled Tubing product lines is impacted by the level of shale or tight sand basin hydraulic fracturing activity and the level of workover and intervention activity.
Stimulation and Intervention: The company provides a broad range of high-pressure pumps and flow equipment used by pressure pumping companies during stimulation, intervention (principally plug and perforation activity) and flowback processes. The company sells power end assemblies, industrial heat exchanger and cooling systems, manifolds and manifold trailers, high-pressure flexible hoses and flow iron. Frequent refurbishment and recertification of flow equipment is critical to ensuring the reliable and safe operation of a pressure pumping company’s fleet. The company performs these services and position inventory in strategic locations in North America.
The company also manufactures pressure control products that are used for well intervention operations that are sold domestically and internationally to oilfield service companies and equipment rental companies. Products the company supplies include blowout preventers for coiled tubing and wireline units and its Hydraulic Latch Assembly, which is used to facilitate efficient zipper fracturing operations. The company also manufactures electro-mechanical wireline cables, as well as innovative EnviroLite branded (greaseless) cables. The company also conducts aftermarket refurbishment and recertification services for pressure control equipment.
The company’s primary customers in the Stimulation and Intervention product line are pressure pumping, wireline and flowback service companies. In addition, the company sells directly to pressure pumping unit original equipment manufacturers.
Coiled Tubing: The company manufactures Global Tubing branded coiled tubing strings, including DURACOIL (quench and temper), and coiled line pipe, and provide related services. Coiled tubing strings are consumable components utilized to perform well completion and intervention activities. The company’s coiled line pipe offering serves as an alternative to conventional line pipe and composite flexibles in onshore and offshore applications. In addition, its coiled line pipe offering can be utilized for carbon capture projects to transport carbon for injection into underground storage. The product line’s primary customers are domestic and international service companies that provide coiled tubing services and oil and gas operators.
Production segment
Production segment designs, manufactures and supplies products and provides related equipment and services for production and infrastructure markets. The products and related services consist primarily of engineered process systems, production equipment, as well as specialty separation equipment; and a wide range of industrial valves focused on serving oil and natural gas customers, as well as power generation, renewable energy and other general industrial applications.
The segment’s primary market driver is the level of spending associated with new producing wells as well as spending on midstream and downstream projects. In addition, demand for its Valve Solutions products is affected by activity levels in the power generation, process, petrochemical and mining industries.
Production Equipment: The company’s Production Equipment product line provides engineered process systems for capital equipment used at the wellsite and for production processing in the U.S. Once a well has been drilled, completed and brought on stream, the company provides the well operator with process equipment necessary to make the oil or natural gas ready for transmission. The company engineers, fabricates and installs separators, packaged production systems and pressure vessels, skidded vessels with gas measurement, modular process plants, header and manifold skids, process and flow control equipment and separators to help clean and process oil or natural gas as it travels from the wellhead and along the transmission line to the refinery. The company’s customers are principally the U.S. oil and natural gas operators or producers.
The company also designs and provides process oil treatment equipment, including EDGE and NU-STATIC branded desalters and dehydrator technologies, used in refineries and other process applications worldwide. The company has a team of highly trained technicians and field service engineers for repair and installation, and the company supplies a broad range of replacement parts for its equipment and other manufacturers. This equipment removes sand, water and suspended solids from hydrocarbons prior to their transmission or refining.
Valve Solutions: The company provides a wide range of industrial valves that principally serve the upstream, midstream and downstream markets of the oil and natural gas industry. The company’s valves also serve general industrial, power generation and process industry customers, as well as the mining industry. In addition, its Canadian operations provide significant exposure to heavy oil projects. The company provides ball, gate, globe and check valves across a range of sizes and applications.
The company markets its valves to its customers and end users through its recognized brands: PBV, DSI and Accuseal. Much of its production is sold through distribution supply companies, with its marketing efforts targeting end users for pull through of its valve products.
The company’s supply chain systems enable it to design and sell high-quality engineered valves, as well as provides standardized products, while maintaining competitive pricing and minimizing capital requirements. The company utilizes its international manufacturing partners to produce completed products and components for the majority of its valve products.
Depending on the product, the company’s valves are manufactured to conform to the standards of one or more of the API, American National Standards Institute, American Bureau of Shipping, and International Organization for Standardization and/or other relevant standards governing the design and manufacture of industrial valves.
Seasonality
The company’s customers are susceptible to exhausting their capital and operating budgets in the fourth quarter (year ended December 31, 2022). In addition, given the geographic proximity of a number of its facilities to the Gulf Coast, the company is subject to business interruptions caused by hurricanes and tropical storms. Furthermore, a small portion of the revenue the company generates from select Canadian operations often benefits from higher first quarter activity levels, as operators take advantage of the winter freeze to gain access to remote drilling and production areas.
Competition
The company competes with across the greatest number of its product lines include National Oilwell Varco, Inc., Cameron International Corporation (a subsidiary of Schlumberger), TechnipFMC plc, Tenaris S.A., and Caterpillar, Inc.
Governmental Regulation
In addition to environmental and worker safety regulations, the comopany is subject to regulation by numerous other governmental regulatory agencies, including the U.S. Department of Labor and other state, local and international bodies regulating worker rights and labor conditions.
The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and comparable state statutes, regulate the generation, transportation, treatment, storage, disposal and cleanup of hazardous and non-hazardous wastes. The company is required to manage the transportation, storage and disposal of hazardous and non-hazardous wastes in compliance with the RCRA.
History
The company was incorporated in 2005. It was formerly known as Forum Oilfield Technologies, Inc. and changed its name to Forum Energy Technologies, Inc. in 2010.
