Jacobs Engineering Group Inc.
Countless engineering firms claim to have expertise and resources to operate in the competitive oil sands market of Alberta. However, Jacobs Canada has the advantage of a global network in Jacobs Engineering Group that it can access to better support clients operating throughout Alberta. “In Alberta, it is a very cyclical business, and when demand comes, it is in big waves,” says Ken Murray, vice president and regional manager of business development for Jacobs Canada’s western region. “What we’re trying to do is use our global resources to help deal with that demand.
“We spread our expertise outside of Canada, taking the resource base already on hand around the world,” Murray continues. “We’re also focused on taking advantage of our international resources. Clients don’t like the boom-and-bust cycle, and we don’t like it.”
Jacobs launched its Canadian operations more than a decade ago. Jacobs Canada has more than 7,000 employees, > 1,500 of whom are in Calgary. In the energy sector, Jacobs Engineering has myriad capabilities for every aspect of the oil and gas industry, including upstream, midstream, downstream and refining operations. Also, the company says that it is among the world leaders in the area of steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) technology.
In this capacity, Jacobs Engineering offers engineering, procurement, maintenance and operations services. The company explains that it also serves as a consultant for its customers, providing case studies and alternative solutions to its clients’ initial plans.
Latest Technology
SAGD uses two horizontal wells drilled into the oil sands – one at the bottom of the formation and another about five meters above it. As an advanced form of steam stimulation, low-pressure steam is continuously injected into the upper wellbore to heat the oil and reduce viscosity, causing the oil to drain into the lower wellbore, where it is pumped out.
Although Jacobs Canada has worked with SAGD for about 10 years, Murray explains the company has devoted more resources in an effort to continue developing this technology. It uses SAGD to help production clients in the Alberta oil sands reduce the energy required to take the oil from the sand pits, which is one of the most costly elements of working with this type of crude.
“We serve as a consultancy group perfecting the energy cycle with these facilities because they use enormous amounts of energy,” Murray says. “It is the single-biggest operating expense our clients face.”
SAGD optimization benefits are twofold, he notes. Not only does this process increase the economic efficiencies of production facilities, it also reduces the overall carbon footprint.
“This is just one of the techniques we use to reduce energy consumption per barrel of oil,” Murray explains. “This works for everybody because it is a more efficient, cheaper product and it reduces the environmental impact.”
Information Sharing
Similar to the way Jacobs Canada can access resources from Jacobs Engineering’s global network of offices, other offices within Jacobs can benefit from the Canada operations’ progress with SAGD. “Jacobs is an integrated company where all offices work together on the same design platform,” says Mark Bello, vice president of operations for Jacobs Canada. “We have the tools and relationships that allow us to work together to serve the needs of the client.
“We bring technologies to all the world when they are needed by our clients,” Bello adds. “If we have specific expertise in Houston, we use our network and tools and relationships to bring it to Canada.”
An example is the sulfur technology Jacobs Canada brought to North America from Jacobs Comprimo Sulfur Solutions in Leiden, the Netherlands. Jacobs Comprimo, which Murray says has unparalleled sulfur technology, has many capabilities in working with sulfur, including gas sweetening, sulfur recovery and tail gas treatment plants.
“We have used the technology in Asia, the Middle East, Canada and the United States,” he says. “We’re able to use that expertise throughout the world because we leverage the technologies within our organization with the work we’re sharing, drawing our expertise out to where we’re working remotely. This is very good for us because sulfur touches every part of the world.”
On the Horizon
Murray believes that there will be a boost in construction work in the Alberta oil sands, but he doesn’t expect the boom to arrive until at least 2012. When it comes, however, Jacobs Canada will have to address labor resources because the opportunity for growing its employee base is expected to increase dramatically.
To ensure Jacobs Canada will be ready for the next boom in Alberta, it focuses on three factors: relationships with clients, the value of employees and the value to shareholders.
“We’re strengthening our markets and providing more for employees,” Murray says. “Until we have a more significant share of the world business, that is not going to change.”
Jacobs Engineering provides for its employees in a variety of ways, such as its focus on safety. It adheres to “Beyond Zero, A Culture of Caring,” which is its health, safety and environmental effort. Jacobs says this goes beyond the typical safety program by instilling this attitude deep within the culture.
“We hit a plateau with our employees, and it came down to capturing their hearts and minds,” Murray says. “If they believe they are safe, they’ll make other people feel safe. We’re movie beyond making sure we all follow the rules to making it okay in our culture to make sure we’re safe.”
Jacobs Engineering also encourages its employees to take advantage of the numerous training opportunities available through Jacobs College. This is the company’s internal school – located at its headquarters in Pasadena, Calif. – where Jacobs trains its future managers.
Murray says executive managers teach the next generation of leaders in the company’s philosophy and culture.
“There is no one brought in from outside to deliver the courses; it’s a hands-on effort by our senior people,” he says. “‘Powerful’ is the right word – it is amazing to sit and listen to them talk because they know our business.”
Along with Jacobs College, Jacobs offers a bevy of continuing education options for its employees, including:
- Classroom and online learning;
- Graduate development programs;
- Management development programs;
- Conferences on skill building; and
- Leaders who serve as mentors.
“When our employees are happy and inspired, our clients will be happy and inspired, and they will give us more work,” Bello says. “It just supports itself and gets stronger and stronger.”