How J&W Services turned steady growth and family values into Permian Basin success
While many companies in the oilfield industry are private equity-backed, benefitting from the ownership – and finances – of an investment firm, others are purely family-owned and grown organically through hard work, passion, and perseverance. One such business is J&W Services (J&W), an oil and wellhead services and equipment company, headquartered in Midland with multiple sites located across Texas.
Vice President of Operations, Connor Beck, tells us more about the origins of his family business and what the next chapter holds for J&W. “My dad bought J&W in 1999, kept the name and just started growing it slowly and organically from there, focusing on the Permian Basin and introducing vertical integration,” he begins. J&W’s organic growth trajectory continued upwards over the next 25 years, and the workforce increased to over 300 people. “My family has been in the oil and gas service business for three generations now and it’s a career I’ve always been drawn to – I’m lucky to be from Midland, and I’m making the most of the opportunities I’ve been given by working hard and continuing the J&W legacy,” Connor continues.
Disciplined growth
J&W offers several product and service departments, including the design and manufacture of drilling wellhead systems and penetrators, zipper manifold applications, ESP surface connectors and production trees – commonly known as Christmas trees – alongside frac valve rental and blowout preventer (BOP) rental. “J&W provides highly engineered wellhead equipment across the full lifecycle of the well. We deliberately target all three phases – drilling, completions, and production – and that diversity gives us stability when one phase softens. Our vertically integrated model lets us control design, quality, lead time, and cost from spud to production, which is what separates us from our peers.” This careful balance of all three aspects is a deliberate strategy rather than a byproduct of growth, and a decision that avoids overexposure to any single phase of oilfield activity while protecting it from the cyclical swings that define the Permian Basin.
Following J&W’s initial acquisition by the Beck family on the cusp of the millennium, the company has made two further strategic investments in more recent times – namely, PFT Systems and Connectors, and Divine Wireline Solutions; acquisitions which Connor says have complemented the organic growth already achieved. “Integrating the design and manufacturing capabilities for one of our four core products – connectors – and bringing that in-house with PFT has allowed us to be far more flexible and better respond to the needs of our customers, with a more hands-on approach,” he explains. However, the Divine acquisition was different. “The Delaware Basin has always been a priority for us, as a very active area with untapped potential relative to our legacy areas of activity. We were further along in the Midland Basin than the Delaware Basin, so that acquisition gave us the foundation, presence, and service capabilities we needed to really expand our market share and get closer to the cellar for our customers in New Mexico and the broader Delaware Basin.” J&W’s approach to these acquisitions further illustrate its continuous focus on disciplined, natural growth rather than rapid empire-building – a tactic that has worked exceptionally well for the business over the past two decades.
Responsive approach
Sticking to the tried-and-tested method of natural, steady growth has clearly been advantageous for J&W – however, wider industry trends have also steered the business to embrace innovation and new ways of working, too. “Things are constantly changing,” declares Connor. “Technology is advancing and everybody is always working to save time, lessen costs, and make operations safer. Higher pressure and more complex wells are impacting both surface wellhead equipment and the design of our applications. Not only has that created more opportunities, but it has also presented some challenges that we’re excited to solve, as technology advances and things become more complex.” For J&W, research and development is about staying in front of its customers, maintaining close contact and communication to monitor how their actions and requirements impact its equipment. “It’s more of a responsive approach than anything; there’s no clear-cut answer,” elaborates Connor. “It’s about gathering feedback from the field, staying in contact and collaborating with customers to hit the mark. We’re certainly more solution-driven than product-driven.”
First-rate communication and a commitment to working relationships have been pivotal in J&W’s success; notably, its long-term collaboration with Santa Rosa-based manufacturer, BIW Connector Systems. “We were BIW’s Permian Basin distributor for 20-plus years, and we still distribute their product today, alongside our own PFT product,” highlights Connor. “I think being in business for well over 20 years means a lot of our vendors are people we’ve built excellent relationships with and grown with over the years. That gives us a significant advantage – not only from a cost standpoint, but it gives us flexibility in our supply chain. Having good partners who understand our business and recognize what we’re trying to achieve is incredibly helpful.”
Delivering value
Family-owned and operated, the business is dedicated to Midland and the community within the city. “Midland is our home – we love it, we’re here every day, and it’s personal to us,” Connor reflects. J&W continuously strives to implement an employee-first culture and create a friendly, inclusive workplace. “We want everybody to enjoy coming to work and we enable people to take responsibility for their own work and perform to their best abilities. I believe our people are the best investment we’ll ever make, and we’ve been very lucky – we have talented employees and a low turnover rate. Even during Covid, at a time when there was less activity, we kept everyone on and in hindsight, it was the best decision we could have made. Afterwards, we still had all our teams in place and were ready to go. We always prioritize our employees and our customers – that’s what keeps us going.”
As it remains focused on the wellhead arena, Connor emphasizes that discipline is key to J&W’s ongoing plans. “Remaining attentive and nurturing good relationships with our customers and vendors is how we’re going to keep moving forward. We’re constantly looking for ways to improve and create even more value for our customer base; if we can get one percent better every day, we’re going to like where we’re at!” Through staying active, involved, and delivering value to clients, J&W is sailing straight towards its target: “Keep doing what we’re doing – that’s the goal,” he ends.
