Ryder Scott Petroleum

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When it comes to understanding the value of building and preserving a great reputation, Houston-based petroleum consultants Ryder Scott have got it pinned.
“Our company was founded in 1937 so we have about 70 years of experience in the business” Howard Lam, Managing Senior Vice President at Ryder Scott Canada explains.

It is this wealth of time and experience within the industry which has allowed the company to enjoy successful operations in their Canadian office too.
With about 120 employees spread throughout the Houston, Calgary and Denver offices, the Canadian office is home to about 15 employees.

“The ten professionals in our Calgary office consist of engineers, geologists and petrophysicists” Lam says.

“In Houston there are about 81 so they are a lot bigger than us. The larger projects tend to be done in the United States, whereas here we do the bread and butter stuff.”

THE CANADIAN OFFICE
‘Ryder Scott Company Canada conducts a full range of geological and reservoir engineering studies to estimate petroleum reserves and field economics for about 100 clients worldwide, including juniors, royalty trusts, independents and major integrated oil and gas companies’ their website reveals.

The Ryder Scott Canada team is a go-to group for ‘year-end independent reserves reports compliant with National Instrument 51-101’ and have ‘conducted technical due diligence and fair-market appraisals for property acquisitions and divestments valued from several thousand dollars to almost $2 billion.’ From offshore east coast operations to the western basin, the expert team has been serving ‘an expanding Canadian clientele’ for 15 years.

“The Calgary office was opened in 1995 at the request of one of our clients in the United States who has a subsidiary up here. That and Calgary being the oil and gas capital of Canada, it made sense for us to have an office here too” Lam says. 

This exemplifies the lengths the company will go to in order to meet their clients’ needs.

“The head office covers locations all over the world. It doesn’t mean that we (the Canadian  office) don’t do projects outside of Canada, we do occasionally if our Canadian clients have properties outside of Canada or if the Houston office can’t handle the workload we take some of those projects on too” Lam says.

“You name it and we are there. We’re doing work for a client with properties in India and Bangladesh.  We did some work in Tunisia, Jordan and we’re doing some work in Australia too.”

FACING CHANGE
At Ryder Scott’s Annual Reserves Conference in May this year, CEO Don Roesle addressed the packed crowd on the impending new guidelines just released by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He said it is critical that they ‘begin clarifying new reserves reporting rules for companies filing year-end disclosures’ according to Ryder Scott’s latest newsletter and conference round-up.

“All the major oil and gas producers have to report their reserves using those new guidelines and at the moment everyone is just trying to understand what those guidelines are. It’s going to be a big learning process and it’s going to be a challenge for the industry and for us” Lam says.

“Here in Canada we had some changes in regulation about two or three years ago when they came out with National Instrument NI51-101 which is the Canadian standard for oil and gas disclosures. We had to adapt to that and we are still working our way through it.”

The new SEC guidelines come into effect at the end of this year.  Although Lam freely admits that “It will take some time to really understand the nuances of the new guidelines” Ryder Scott are greatly placed to take this in their stride.

PEOPLE AND PRODUCT
“Everyone in our business is doing the same thing; trying to come up with an estimate of the reserves in the ground and the value of them and we use the same tools to do so. What differentiates one from another is really how reliable the work is and how acceptable the product is to the financial communities and to the various exchanges” Lam says.

“Now at Ryder Scott we’ve been in the business for a long time. We know what we’re doing and we’re considered reliable by most of the financial institutions. What really sets us apart is the quality of our people. It’s our people who evaluate the reservoirs and interpret the data.  It’s how they apply their knowledge and experience that determine the quality of the product.”

The passion and expertise of the Ryder Scott team is of paramount concern to Lam.

“Everyone from our geoscientists to our engineers come from different backgrounds. They’re all highly dedicated, well-trained, and usually come to us with years of experience with oil and gas producers” he says.

And here lies the heart of the Ryder Scott reputation for reliable, efficient and successful services.

“Over the years we have built a top notch team of geoscientists and engineers which delivers consistent results. When we take on a project, no matter how big or small it is, we always evaluate it to the highest standards both professionally and ethically and . I think our core value is to provide a product of high quality” Lam says.

With their track record firmly placed at the top, Ryder Scott look set to continue their growth and first-class services in Houston, Canada, Denver and beyond.