ITAG Tiefbohr GmbH

Drilled to perfection

ITAG is a leading drilling contractor and manufacturing company with more than 500 employees.

Founded in 1908 by Hermann von Rautenkranz, ITAG is still privately owned and located in Celle, Germany. The owner is Dr. Jaber Al-Marri from Qatar. The organisation’s main products are drilling equipment, ball valves, truck winches and wellhead equipment and X-mas trees.

With a background of nearly 100 years of worldwide experience in drilling and workover activities, ITAG puts all of its know-how and engineering expertise into the development of innovative equipment for the oil and gas industry.

In August 2007, ITAG Tiefbohr GmbH – the drilling division of the group – experienced a change in management, which saw Joachim Beuchner appointed as new managing director. Joachim has been involved with the company for many years and also has a long professional career in the oil and gas industry. The business’ focus will continue to centre around providing high quality services, which satisfy all of its customers. Together with Joachim’s experienced heads of departments and his proven drilling crews, ITAG Tiefbohr will remain a reliable partner for its customers.

With approximately 60 per cent of the ITAG group’s main activities acting as a drilling contractor, the organisation has become one of the leading drilling companies in Europe. Joachim comments: “Within this division we operate six rigs, with hook load capacities from 180 to 700 metric tonnes. In addition, we have two oilfield winches. Our main activities are in Europe, especially in Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and France. Currently, all of our rigs are under contract until at least 2010.”

One of the guiding principles of the ITAG group is to continuously serve its customers’ needs by providing safe and reliable services and ensuring constant satisfaction. The company’s products boast many benefits including high quality, durability, reliability and high efficiency – ITAG’s highly skilled employees compliment these even further. With outstanding expertise in all of its operations, the business’ workforce achieves results through both commitment and creativity.

Joachim explains: “ITAG has operated as a drilling contractor since 1912, therefore it has become one of the oldest companies in this area. As a result, our employees have developed an unrivalled knowledge of the market and what it requires. Some of our key customers include the main players in the oil and gas industry, such as Exxon Mobil, Shell, Wintershall, Gaz de France, NAM and RWE-DEA. Currently, our overall operations consist of approximately 70 per cent oil and gas projects and the remaining 30 per cent is geothermal.”

Geothermal power is energy generated by heat stored beneath the Earth’s surface. This type of energy offers a number of advantages over traditional fossil fuel based sources, including many environmental, efficiency and cost benefits. Joachim continues: “Our rig 23, with a hook load capacity of 600 tonnes, is currently working on a geothermal project near Munich. We believe that this field of activity will provide us with a significant number of opportunities in the future.”

It is a major objective of all employees working for ITAG to provide reliable products and excellent services, which consider health, safety, environmental standards, laws, regulations and economical aspects. Over the years, ITAG has established the highest standards of health, safety and the environment in its HSE policy and safety management system.

Furthermore, audits, HSE information sessions, HSE inspections, risk analysis, accident and incident reports, and training and exercise programmes are all carried out on a regular basis. The reports from these are then passed on to operations managers, supervisors and specialists in order to see how certain factors can be improved. The company’s high safety requirements have resulted in its continually improving safety statistics.

These high HSE standards are complimented by some of the most modern onshore drilling rigs in Europe. Not only do they boast state-ofthe- art equipment and easy-to-use controls, but they are also capable of operating in highly sensitive areas, which is ideal for the up and coming geothermal market, on projects such as the Munich contract.

With the entire ITAG rig fleet currently being used in projects across Europe, the main challenge, which the company is facing, is the lack of skilled employees. Joachim elaborates: “This problem is affecting the whole oil and gas industry at the moment. In order to overcome this we have developed training programmes in accordance with our quality management system. For example, before a driller becomes fully qualified they have to attend a training school for 1 year and then carry out on-the-job experience. They can then go on to be trained as a supervisor for another two years at the German Driller School in Celle. As a result of this, our entire workforce is highly educated.”

Since the business was formed in 1912, ITAG’s drilling division has steadily developed into a modern and highly qualified company. Today, the organisation offers a full range of drilling and work-over services, which are designed for drilling wells to depths of 7500 metres and for almost any environment. A flexible management system and highly qualified drilling crews guarantee the success of ITAG’s customers’ operations. In addition, a formalised and systematic maintenance programme ensures optimal field efficiencies at all times, therefore reducing downtime.

Looking to the future, Joachim comments: “We are one of the biggest players in the drilling market in Europe. Our main aim for the next few years is to expand the company by adding additional rigs and replacing older ones. This year we expect to extend our fleet by acquiring a rig with a capacity of 220 tonnes, and next year a second rig is planned to be joining us with a capacity of 350 tonnes. This will hopefully be followed by more rigs in the future.”

He concludes: “We also have plans to increase our activities in both Germany and France. Currently ITAG’s rig 40 is contracted to work on a project in France until 2011, and we intend to gain another contract in this area in the near future. Overall, the turnover of the organisation is approximately 50 million euros – our main aim is to increase this figure.”

ITAG Tiefbohr GmbH

Industry Drilling services