AnTech is leveraging roots in traditional industries to explore renewable projects that accelerate the energy transition
With over 30 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, AnTech Ltd (AnTech) combines mechanical and electronic design expertise with software and firmware to deliver innovative products and specialist drilling services. The company’s operations are best explained in two divisions: products for oilfield service companies and specialist drilling services.
AnTech’s products and drilling projects are used worldwide. Although the company originally serviced the traditional oil and gas industry, it has since diversified to support and accelerate the world’s energy transition. AnTech offers directional coiled tubing drilling bottom hole assemblies (BHAs), which are applicable for underbalanced, re-entry, grassroots, and through-tubing operations on e-coil, including geothermal and hydrogen drilling, as well as carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) projects.
To learn more about the company’s evolution, we sit down with Clare Miszewska-Hall, Head of Global Sales and Marketing. “AnTech was established in 1992 by Toni Miszewski, and his at-the-time business partner, designing our own proprietary products for particular industry needs and sub-contract design and manufacturing services,” Clare begins. “The downturn of 1998-to-1999 affected us and we saw the sub-contract manufacturing part of our business be hit first and so we solely focused on our own proprietary products for the industry. From this, the business progressed in two areas, products and drilling services.
“On the products side, we’re perhaps best known for our wellhead outlets, which encompass Type X outlets, Type C electrical outlets, Type F fiber optic outlets, and Type H hybrid outlets. For the drilling side of the business, however, we design, manufacture, and develop 40-foot-long drilling tools, for directional drilling applications on coiled tubing, that go back into existing wells to revitalize the production from depleted reservoirs. These tools are used for projects where the infrastructure already exists and conventional drilling can’t be used or isn’t best suited, but our equipment allows operators to access the oil and gas by re-entering the existing wells.
“We’re headquartered in the UK and supported by a workshop facility in Texas, from which we often mobilize our drilling projects,” she adds. “On the products side, we export to over 50 countries around the globe, typically to service companies in the oil and gas industry. Our customer base is an unusual dynamic, as the service companies we sell products to are in fact our biggest competitors when it comes to our drilling services.”
Repurposing existing technologies
On a more personal note, we ask Clare about her career journey to date. “I can pretend that it wasn’t my intention to enter the family business, but I think it always was deep down,” she laughs. “During my time studying mechanical engineering at Cardiff University, I completed a year in industry placement with L’Oréal and later secured a permanent role in the visual merchandising team. I then worked for a skincare company to help them launch a range of cosmetics in their stores for the first time, but things were changing back home with AnTech. The business was in a transition period having secured capital investment, so it was a good time to return, and I’ve since worked my way up to my current role.”
As our conversation continues, talk turns to AnTech’s entry into more sustainable projects. “We must carefully consider the future of energy sources, as our research suggests that we’ll still be 20 percent reliant on fossil fuels by 2050,” she shares. “So, while it’s inevitably necessary to transition to greener markets and energy sources, there is still going to be an element of traditional oil and gas.
“Although we’ll still work in the oil and gas sector throughout the transition, we’ve recently focused our attention on promoting the importance of utilizing existing infrastructure, technologies, engineering processes, and companies in the traditional oil and gas industry to enable entry into new, greener markets. Many organizations talk about needing to invest or ‘reinventing the wheel’ but we don’t see this as essential in every case; there are existing technologies that can be easily applied to renewables projects. 
“We’re pushing this concept to gain exposure and raise awareness of what we can offer, while being mindful that we’re not greenwashing. The technologies already exist, and they simply require a different type of testing and certification to be used for other applications. Our wellhead outlets have been used for carbon capture projects, for example and although we’re at an early stage of this arena, we’re at the start of an ambitious journey, and we want people to know about it!”
Accelerating the energy transition
Turning to current operations and future growth, Clare says: “We’re currently working on a project in Alaska, and we’ve recently won a contract for a mining opportunity for critical minerals in Australia, which will commence shortly. The Alaska contract marks a change for the business as it provides us with longer-term work, as we’ve typically worked on smaller projects around the world.
“We’re steadily growing on the products side, and we’ll potentially explore expanding our offering to different areas of the market in the future. We’ll strengthen our in-house engineering team and field operations teams in preparation for such growth, as we strive to continue offering reliable technology that helps solve our customers’ technical challenges.
“However, while we’re aiming for rapid growth, we must consider how to stabilize our business through a period of change to ensure we continue meeting customers’ expectations while supporting the development of our employees. As we embark on a period of growth in terms of both employees and revenue, we’ll strive to maintain our culture and strengthen our teams. We have great pillars to build upon, with 16 languages spoken across our 65 employees and a one-to-three female-to-male ratio.
“I’d like to see AnTech not only offering today’s products and services on a much bigger scale, but also influencing the wider industry,” Clare concludes. “As demand for sustainable and renewable energy sources grows, we’ll increasingly diversify and strengthen our focus on greener markets to accelerate the global energy transition.”