News

Probe Holdings, Inc. (“Probe”) announced today that Federico Casavantes, currently Vice President of Marketing & Sales, will succeed the company’s current President and Chief Executive Officer, David Coppé, who will be leaving the company next month to pursue another job opportunity in the energy sector with a leading fund manager.

David Barr, Chairman of Probe, said: “Federico has an impressive track record in the wireline industry, having previously held management positions for Schlumberger, GE Oil & Gas and EV. As our Vice President of Marketing & Sales since 2016, Federico already has familiarity with the company and its markets, products and customers.

The Board is very pleased to be able to promote such a strong internal candidate to follow in David’s shoes as CEO.” He added, “I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank David for his significant contributions to the company, particularly his strong leadership during the industry downturn.

We wish him and his family the best for the future.” Mr. Coppé, who became CEO of Probe in November 2012, has committed to a seamless transition and will remain to help Mr. Casavantes until he officially takes over as CEO on February 14, 2017. Mr. Casavantes will be based at the Company’s headquarters in Houston.

He will continue to hold overall responsibilities for Sales & Marketing functions until a successor is designated. For more information please contact: Probe Holdings, Inc. 6824 North Sam Houston Parkway West, Houston, Texas 77064.

Amidst the news of the imminent deployment of Probe’s iSet™ Non-Explosive Electro-Hydraulic Setting Tool in the Middle East region, multiple customers and interested parties visited Probe in Hall #4, Booth 4110.

Following wide adoption by service companies in the North Sea, Continental Europe and West Africa since its launch in Spring 2015, the iSet has arrived in the Middle East, and will be used for the first time in the region.

Service companies are expressing growing interest in running demonstration jobs for operators in the region. “Unlike traditional setting tools, the iSet doesn’t require explosive setting charges,” said Neil Duncan, Regional Manager-MENA & Asia for Probe. “We expect to see high adoption rates in the Middle East.”

The Kuster™ Quantum downhole memory gauge series, renowned for its increased memory capacity and extended battery life, recently achieved a performance milestone in Mexico. The Quantum series tools have a memory bank comprising 4 chips which jointly store up to 8,000,000 sets of data.

Depending on the selected battery pack, the Quantum series power will last from 60 to well over 200 days recording at 10 second rate (when tested at 140 °C). John Jacobson, General Manager of Kuster Co., a subsidiary of Probe Holdings, Inc. was congratulated by our customer during his visit to Mexico during the month of June for producing consistent and highly reliable equipment.

“The customer advised that 2 of tools run in tandem for 6 months at 160 °C performed to 100% of their capabilities and returned to surface in perfect conditions. This is an impressive milestone, and quite likely a record for the Kuster™ Quantum K177 Quartz memory gauge,” said John.

“Achievements such as this one, and an unparalleled passion for after sales support, are why our customers around the world consistently equate our brand to reliability and cost-effectiveness.” Probe sells and supports a wide range of slickline, e-line and coiled tubing conveyed downhole memory gauges through its subsidiary Kuster, Co. in Long Beach, California.

The SPE-KSA ATS&E annual event is considered one of the prime events of the Middle East oil and gas industry. This year’s event, which took place at the Dhahran Expo Centre from April 26th to 28th featured technical sessions, e-poster sessions, courses and workshops, and a panel discussion.

Probe exhibited at ATS&E 2016 with GoTECH, the company’s representative in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. During the course of the event, Probe showcased the iSet, its advanced electro-mechanical setting tool for bridge plugs and packers, much to the acclaim of visitors and all those attending the formal presentation of Technical Paper SPE-KSA-207.

 “The iSet addresses many of the issues associated with traditional setting tools”, stated Neil Duncan, Probe Regional Manager MENA & Asia.

 “For example, it does not involve the use of explosives and operates on standard AA alkaline batteries when run in Memory mode. Whether in SRO mode on E-Line or in Memory mode on Slickline or Coiled Tubing, running the iSet is very efficient as it does not require highly trained personnel to operate or service the tool. Subject to well conditions, on return to surface the tool does not need to be serviced for up to 50 runs and can be reset and prepared for redeployment in less than one minute between consecutive runs.”

Since its commercial launch in 2015, more than 20 iSets have been deployed in the North Sea and West Africa through various customers. At the time of writing, the iSet had successfully completed an excess of 30 field runs with 100% field success rate.

The tool’s reliability, safety features, and efficiency offers Probe customers a robust solution for providing setting services for everything from bridge plugs to packers, high-expansion gauge hangers and other similar wellbore tools. For more information and to download a specification sheet on iSet, click on this link Specialty Tools and then click on iSet Electro-Hydraulic Setting Tool on the bottom of the Specialty Tools drop down on this website.

On May 2nd, during the week of OTC 2016, Probe announced the appointment of Federico Casavantes in the newly created role of Vice President of Sales and Marketing.

Federico started in the oilfield as a wireline logging engineer with Schlumberger in 1985, and after a brief introduction to the industry in Mexico, embarked on an international career that has since seen him undertake various leadership roles in field operations, management, product development, sales and marketing.

Over the past 30 years he has held extended assignments in the North Sea, the Borneo jungle, the Antarctic Circle and the Andean Regions, and he has conducted business with IOC’s, NOCs and Service Companies in most of the major oil producing countries of the worked, including the Continental U.S. “I am delighted to welcome Federico to the Probe Executive Team,” said David Coppé, Probe CEO.

“In spite of the severe industry downturn, we continue to selectively invest in building our business: Federico comes to fill a critical role in executing our worldwide sales and marketing strategy. He is an industry veteran who brings a demonstrated track record of success and will be charged with implementing actions that increase value to our customers, ultimately improving their overall experience with our products.”

When questioned on his expectations, Federico remarked, “I am very excited with the opportunity of joining Probe to help drive our domestic and international presence. The business already has a very strong position and has gained recognition in the U.S. market, and increasingly in Latin America, Europe and the Middle East. I believe that Probe’s customer focus, flexibility and engineering excellence provide us with an unmatched set of values that are aligned with our customers’ needs.

This places Probe in an ideal position to proactively respond to current industry requirements as we continue to invest to be better prepared for its recovery.” David Coppé concluded: “We are excited to be working with Federico to expand Probe’s leadership as the independent supplier of choice for downhole instrumentation and measurement technology.”

Probe exhibited at OTC as planned and had the opportunity to engage with customers and interested parties from around the globe. As customary we showcased our new down hole and surface measurement technologies.

This year we kicked-off commercialization of an unprecedented number of new technologies related to down hole measurement and logging tools. Demonstration of new technologies such the iSet, iWheel, DataTrap 3D, iPro and our new Production Logging Suit, Corrosion string etc. was received with great interest.

We thank all those that attended and look forward to any feedback you would like to share with us!