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Connect with David Crombie

https://nineenergyservice.com/about/our-leadership

https://www.linkedin.com/company/nine-energy-service/

[00:00:00] David Crombie: I'll never forget. I'll mention, there were some guys, I went over to some friends of mine. I said, Hey, you know, we got all these, well, I said, I'm just a nervous wreck. You know, we've got at the time, 18 cement pumps out and I laid down at night and I don't know what's going to happen. They said, well, your problem is you need to think about how much money you're making, not what's going to happen.

Michael Moore: On today's episode of the climb. Bob and I are joined by my good friend, David Crombie, chief operating officer of nine energy from humble beginnings in Jacksboro, Texas to the oil fields of Saudi Arabia. He has definitely lived the climb. His wife used one word to describe him. And that was devoted.

Listen to The Climb,

David Crombie, welcome to The Climb. 

David Crombie: How are you? Thanks for having me, 

Michael Moore: Bob and I are super excited about this one as, as we launched this thing and we talk about crossroads in defining moments. I've gotten the tag along in your career, in the oil field services industry, and there's no better climb. And so, um, I'm going to go ahead and throw this out there.

I got on the phone with Cara this morning. Cara is not only one of the most beautiful women you've ever seen in your life. She's put up with his shit since first grade they met in Jacksboro, Texas. 

Bob Wierema: So this is going to be, this is going to be good. I like it. 

But before we dive into that, Crombie just, we're all kind of scratching our heads. Right. I [00:02:00] mean, at the same time COVID was hitting. We get negative oil prices, which still I have and figured out the math on that, but I'm not very smart or just tell us in the industry, like, what's the sentiment what's going on?

Is there light at the end of the tunnel? Does wall street come back around? What are we looking at? 

David Crombie: Well, what I would say is, from my standpoint, the way I view it as there's two problems, I mean, Oh, you know, we, we get very good at what we do and we, we have too much oil and that's, that's one problem. And then the Covid is another problem.

That's separate from that. And so I think when we come out of COVID, we still have an old oil and gas problem. That's not solved. And it's to me, you know, I don't want to be negative, but I think it's a three, three year deal three to four years or something like that before it turns around. And it's just all supply and demand and that's, that's kind of where we're at, but I think there's some that can blame more on COVID.

But to me, it's just a supply and demand situation. And I think that that's, that's where we're at. 

Michael Moore: And so really that's a, that's a global issue. I mean, until we can figure out independence. 

David Crombie: Yes. 

Michael Moore: And so having been overseas, we'll get into that Saudi Arabia. I mean, give us, uh, your, your global perspective on that too.

David Crombie: Well, I mean, I think those guys, their economy depends solely on that. And they're going to, they're going to do whatever they can to make that be in their favor. The United States has gotten so good at what they do in the, in these shell plays that I think that basically, you know, is not what they counted on.

And so I think they're doing things to make it back in their favor, every chance they get. So until it, there just has to be a correction in general, in the whole one gas industry, until there is it's going to stay the way it is. 

Michael Moore: And so when you think about Saudi Arabia, you think about Russia, you think about Venezuela, and then you think about the United States.

Like I'm not going to say when, but how do we, how do we change the game a little bit? [00:04:00] Because we seem to repeat. This supply demand problem on a, not necessarily every five years. Like you can't plug it like that, but it's, it's a cycle that we seem to not always be able to figure out. 

David Crombie: Yeah. But what I would say now is you, is the shell plays have changed that again to where.

Now it's a matter of turning on the tap or turn it off. So until, you know, I don't think Saudi Arabia is necessarily going to run out of oil anytime soon or Russia, but I don't think that Saudi Arabia has what they. Claim they have anymore. And I think that, uh, as soon as it starts to turn around a little bit, we're going to get, we're going to get right back after to start adding rigs.

And then, you know, here you go, the problem starts to come in the next few years and it's just a matter, but if supply demand comes back and we can, we can balance that better, which I believe there's a happy medium. 

Michael Moore: So as, as COO of nine energy vertically integrated oil field services company, what divisions have surprised you in the way that they've done in all of this and what divisions are suffering because of this?

David Crombie: Well, surprisingly my old company that, you know, mine and Cody and Cole's old company, uh, depends on drilling a hundred percent and it has, it has survived probably the best of any of them right now. Uh, and that's very surprising to me, but we also are in a class there that we're competing with the Halliburton’s of the world and people like that.

So I think that. While it's surprising. I think that as, as what, we've lost a lot of competitors that were not very good. And when it comes back, we're going to be in a better shape, but there's really nothing. There's no rhyme or reason as to what's going on from my competitive landscape, because it's just, you don't know who's going to the next private equity is going to put money in this company and that company is supposed to go broke.

And then all of a sudden they have another. They get another laugh [00:06:00] line and here where they go and eat an anticipate they were going to be in the competitive landscape anymore. And so it's just not what you expected. So it's basically, it's, it's very hard to figure out, I would say private equity. Keeps pumping money in different different service lines.

But at the same time, there's gotta be an end to that at some point where there's a moment where they just quit doing that. 

Michael Moore: You 

Bob Wierema: mentioned private equity. I know there's been a lot of involvement in the industry there lately. How is that? How do you think that's affected the industry in general? 

David Crombie: In some cases, I don't think it's good because there's companies that.