Becoming a part of AES’ Support Services Lab has been an extremely challenging and rewarding experience for me. I joined the team in 2018, and I couldn’t be more grateful for the growth and opportunities that I have been a part of.
I started my career in a drilling fluids field support lab. I worked closely with some great oilfield veterans that taught me the ins and out’s of testing and formulating water, oil, and synthetic-based mud. After I became proficient in testing and analyzing results, I was off to mud school!
After mud school, I came back to the lab with a newfound appreciation and understanding of what mud is and how it can greatly affect operational performance. Now that I could put the testing “how” with the testing “why”, I started to love working with fluids in the lab environment.
After a few years, I joined up with a production chemical group and expanded my view of the oilfield to include downstream processing. I appreciated seeing a different side of oilfield chemistry with entirely different challenges and solutions. However, I missed working with mud and decided to go back downstream to explore drilling fluids further.
Coming to AES was an incredible opportunity! My previous company’s fluid testing was highly compartmentalized, so I did not get to see the full scope of fluids testing. I had become very familiar with field mud testing, but I hadn’t been able to explore product development or analytical chemistry as it pertained to drilling fluids.
Here at AES, the Support Services Lab is comprehensive. Being in this group has allowed me to explore R&D for new products and mud systems, as well as hands-on experience with analytical equipment that helps optimize our fluids for our customers. It was a daunting challenge at first, but I am grateful for the challenge. The team of workers in the lab grows and learns together, and I’m grateful for the exciting variety of projects I get to work on and be a part of.
I’m proud to say that I have been a part of the last few years of exciting growth here at AES, and I am eager to see where our continuous hard work can take us!
Blog Author: Greg Terpenning, Support Services Engineer
