CASE STUDY

Capturing clients earlier in the project lifecycle to stay competitive in oilfield services

The challenge

Our client, an international steel company, was losing market share due to pricing, availability and a move towards integrated contracting. They were considering increasing their service offerings through acquisition to enhance their technical capability and to gain an inside track on upcoming projects. There was some internal uncertainty as to whether acquisition was the best option, and whether the target company was a good portfolio fit.

WSS Energy were initially engaged to review their M&A strategy and to conduct commercial due diligence on an acquisition option.

Result highlight

45

Voice of customer interviews

14

Competitors analysed

5

Areas for improvement identified by the customers

The project resulted in the client moving from an inorganic to an organic growth strategy, supported by intelligent partnering to fill capability gaps. Marketing gaps identified by the project were filled by closer industry engagement in collaborative projects, resulting in the client being able to successfully prove the value of their products to technical influencers rather than commodity buyers.

Related Sectors

OGTC
Oilfield Services

Related Consulting Services

Growth Strategy
Business Case Development
Voice of Customer
Competitive Landscape

Our approach

Using our knowledge of the target market structures we quickly realised that the acquisition was likely to carry considerable risk and was unlikely to unlock the benefits that the client anticipated.

Our proprietary insights into E&P contract structures and trends showed that the underlying challenge was that the client was too far from the customer for the differentiated value of their products and services to be recognised.

Key activities

Defined the business case for M&A considering operational, cultural, technical and commercial factors to allow the acquisition target to be assessed against consistent and agreed performance metrics.

Light-touch commercial and technical due diligence on the acquisition target and comparison with similar segment companies from WSS Energy’s internal database to create a relative value proposition for the acquisition.

Interview program with current and potential clients to test the value proposition and identify risks and uncertainties from a client perspective. Financial modelling of the acquisition under three value proposition-based scenarios.

Identify alternative business growth opportunities through a market and competitor assessment of five key markets to identify how the client could better compete for strategic clients under integrated contracts.