The 1998-99 industry downturn hit us hard and we found that our subcontract manufacturing service was the first to be affected. So, we made the strategic decision to concentrate almost exclusively on our own proprietary products and reduce our wide product range. Downturns, out of necessity make people think short term and short term thinking is the enemy of innovation. To take advantage of our strengths, we wanted to make products that were compelling in terms function, quality, specification or delivery. Our existing major product lines, wellhead outlets, coiled tubing tools and our coiled tubing drilling service are all a result of this change of focus.
Branching into CTD services, having previously sold only products, was a step change for the company but not as big as it might appear. We had already developed many components for a CTD BHA for other people and needed only a drilling orienter to complete the system. Using client requirements as a guide, we sat down with a clean sheet of paper and came up with a new design of a drill-by-wire BHA which is now the most technologically advanced in the industry. One of the advancements was the development of patented downhole gyro technology and this led to the development of a Gyro steered BHA which secured two world firsts on its field trials and formed the basis of the Horizontal Directional Drilling gyro navigation system (GNS) that we now offer to the trenchless drilling industry. Having technically demonstrated our technology by successfully drilling seven wells, we raised venture capital.
So, after over 30 years of innovation, we have built a strong portfolio of products backed by a talented and dedicated team of people who care passionately about serving our customers.
AnTech is now the only company in the world whose services are 100% dedicated to coiled tubing drilling (CTD). Between 2008 and 2017, we drilled 45% of all, non-long-term contract, wells drilled with CTD and are regularly consulted by operators around the world that are looking at CTD as a way of revitalising old wells. With the energy transition happening, customers are seeing the advantages of Coiled Tubing Drilling to lower the cost of wells in the mining of critical minerals, geothermal and carbon storage.
Our products division is the leading supplier in each of the sectors we serve such as wellhead outlets for permanent monitoring, e-coil logging heads and through riser detectors.
Since 1992, we have filed and been granted numerous patents and continue to generate new products and services to answer the needs of our industry. Every industry benefits from increased efficiency and our aim is to innovate to bring that benefit to the wider energy industry.
Where now? There is an increased demand for sustainable energy from renewable resources which will require more minerals from mining and Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) to hit the necessary carbon reduction targets by 2050 according to the IEA Net Zero Scenario 2021. In 2050, oil and gas will still be part of the energy mix but at 20% of current levels. Drilling activity will continue but with a different focus: Geothermal, mining and underground storage for carbon dioxide and hydrogen will increase.
The nature of AnTech’s product lines means that it is able to use its existing technology to address four of the five developing markets of the energy transition. The company has
specialist drilling technology to reduce the cost of drilling wells for carbon storage, geothermal and mining;
hazardous area technology for containing hydrogen; and high-temperature electronics for geothermal wells.
Toni Miszewski
Founder and CEO
