Operator (oil and gas)
An operator is the company legally responsible for drilling, producing, and managing a well, even when other companies own a share of it.
An operator is the company that runs day-to-day operations on a well or lease, even though ownership of that well is often split among many parties who hold a working interest. The operator makes the operational decisions — when to drill, complete, or work over a well, which vendors to hire, how to manage costs — while non-operating partners share in the costs and revenue without running things directly. Operators range from small private companies with a handful of wells to large publicly traded firms managing thousands.
Because operators are the customer for nearly every service company in the industry, from compression to chemical treatment to land services, understanding how a given operator makes decisions, and how much need they have for a particular service like gas compression, is central to how those service companies plan their growth into new territory.
Heard on the show
“it would take some of the cost off the price of oil for the operators”
“operators like Diversified, of course, have more need for gas compression than other operators with the drilling program because they have less focus right on their gas compression side of the business”