Oil’s Downward Spiral Leading to Innovation

While drivers are celebrating falling gas prices, companies and countries that rely on oil prices to sustain their economy are heading into recessionary times. One such company, Cenovus, is looking to innovation as a way to save money and move forward.  Bloomberg sat down with Brian Ferguson, CEO of Cenovus to discuss the changes that he is making.

Ferguson noted that he’s been in the business for over 30 years and has seen eight down cycles in oil during that time. He noted with confidence that eight down cycles meant seven up cycles previously. Since he has seen down cycles in the past, he offered that this current cycle appears to be different than the other ones.

Noting this one appears to be more structural. As such, he chose to review the processes the company was putting into place, to determine if there were areas that could be tightened up.  Some areas for review were the current technologies used in the course of business.

He looked to see if there were innovations that could be put into place that would save time and money. Additionally, he reviewed the general company business processes as well. In doing this, he was looking to eliminate or reduce the number of redundancies. The goal would be a company that worked smarter.

One such way of working smarter is to reduce the well pad design. Ferguson stated that they were looking to reduce their well pad design by between 25 and 50%. This reduction would not be just for during these economically challenged times, though, but be a permanent change.

Another way of working smarter would be to make improvements to their supply chain as well. Ferguson sees these changes as a way to reduce the costs of doing business and as a way to run a more efficient company. What are you doing to make sure you’re staying innovational during rough times?

Call (403) 457-1478 or email us at info@ctechgroup.net to assist you with running a more efficient company. CTECH Consulting Group is here to handle all of your information technology needs – making sure you’re always operating efficiently, despite any rough times in the economy.

Written by Carl Fransen

posted on February 22, 2016

Carl Fransen

My passion is to make my mark on the world in a positive and lasting way. I want to set an example for my son that his father can compete with integrity in today’s world, be very successful, and leave the world a better place for him.

Combining my technical/business-based education with a long career steadily progressing up the corporate ladder, I decided to build a company that held true to my values. So, I founded and designed the next generation of IT support firm: CTECH Consulting Group Inc. We are a completely automated, cloud-based IT company designed to compete against any other IT firm without the overhead. We promote a lifestyle to all our staff where they can work anywhere, at any time, access any information on any device that is relevant to their job, and collaborate with anyone they want to.