Ridgetop launches energy services business
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Martin Comini
Courtesy of Ridgetop Energy Services
Schlumberger, Nabors vet takes helm.
Martin Comini
Courtesy of Ridgetop Energy Services
Ridgetop Capital Partners has launched a new business to capitalize on new opportunities from the energy sector downturn.
Ridgetop Energy Services LP is an engineering consultancy and acquirer of companies that provide core services for the oil and gas sector, such as explosives, cementing wells and hydraulics. It is chiefly focused on the Marcellus and Utica shale plays, said Principal Martin Comini[1], who has worked in the energy sector for three decades for companies including Schlumberger Ltd. and Nabors Drilling.
Martin Comini
Courtesy of Ridgetop Energy Services
“The energy industry has made a dramatic downturn and shrunk almost 70 percent so the services required to drill for oil and gas has shrunk almost proportionately to the commodity prices,” Comini said. “As a result, the price for services required to drill wells has to be right-sized to the rate of return.”
Comini and Ridgetop Capital CEO Brad Carpenter[2] believe there’s an opportunity to buy the assets of the service providers at a reduced price.
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“We can restructure the business model to provide the same quality of services to these (drilling) companies at a competitive market price,” Comini said.
The aim is to raise capital from high-net-worth individuals and private equity investors, many in the Pittsburgh region, to fund each transaction. Comini’s sweet spot ranges from $1 million to $20 million. He said it’s possible that a fund may be raised in the future, enabling Ridgetop Energy to have a pool of capital for multiple acquisitions.
It is the newest company to debut under the banner of Ridgetop Capital, the energy and real estate investment firm Carpenter started six years ago to capitalize on the development of the Marcellus and Utica formations. Carpenter raised a $200 million fund[3] in early 2015, Ridgetop’s sixth and largest to date, to purchase mineral rights and acreage in the region.
Last year, Ridgetop Hospitality LP, a unit that builds hotels[4], was launched. Ridgetop Health, an investor in biotech and life sciences companies[5], was announced in January. Carpenter described Ridgetop as “platform to incubate good people with good ideas” and to build businesses around them.
“With volatility comes opportunities and we’re well positioned with capital and contacts to take advantage of opportunities and part of that is in energy services,” Carpenter said.
Comini, a Peters Township native, began his career with Schlumberger Ltd, Offshore, which led to joining startup service company Superior Well Services. Superior, based in Indiana, Pa., went public in 2006 and four years later was sold to Nabors Drilling. Comini then served as senior director of the wireline department. He has known Carpenter for several years, and the two discussed the possibility of working together.
“We knew it was a matter of time before we saw a (energy market) correction,” Comini said.
In the fourth quarter of 2015, they joined forces. Ridgetop Energy's first project was an engineering consulting one that took about two months and concluded in early February. Comini served as a consultant to a Pittsburgh-region company he declined to identify.
“The project involved fracking the Marcellus with mineral oil and gas,” Comini said. “We didn’t use any chemicals or drinking water. Now (the company) is successfully selling gas.”
Ridgetop Energy is in discussions to do its first acquisition. It is steering clear of buying “anything related to the chemical end of the business,” Comini said, including acid and chemical trucks and hauling hazardous materials.
“I just don’t know that’s going to continue to be a core service,” he said.
Comini at present uses independent contractors at Ridgetop Energy though the company may hire in the future.
Patty Tascarella covers accounting, banking, finance, legal, marketing and advertising and foundations. Contact her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.[6] or 412-208-3832. .
References
- ^ Martin Comini (feeds.bizjournals.com)
- ^ Brad Carpenter (feeds.bizjournals.com)
- ^ raised a $200 million fund (www.bizjournals.com)
- ^ unit that builds hotels (www.bizjournals.com)
- ^ investor in biotech and life sciences companies (www.bizjournals.com)
- ^ This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (feeds.bizjournals.com)