GSI celebrates 45 year milestone

In September of 2023, Gulfstream Services, Inc. (GSI) celebrated 45 years of opening its doors. Founded by Robert “Bosco” Bond, Sr. and Harry “Booger” Roth in 1978 here in Houma, LA, the original name of the company was formally “Bayou Pump Rentals”.  The company rebranded in the 1980’s and changed the name to Gulfstream Services, Inc. when inventory grew beyond only pump rentals. “The company has grown globally since those humble beginnings and has continued to focus on world-class quality and innovation,” said Bobby Bond, current GSI CEO.

SMALL COMPANY, LARGE OPERATIONS

The company really began to grow in 2004 with an expansion to Lafayette, LA to better service its clientele.  That was soon followed by several locations throughout the U.S. in Texas, Pennsylvania, and the Rocky Mountains.  This expansion also included an international location in Aberdeen, Scotland.

Many long-term employees reflected on this period of growth. Malcolm Kraus, Business Development Representative (30 years of service), shared how he was one of nine employees including the two founders when he came on with GSI. “We started with a single store location in Houma, eventually grew with locations across North America and overseas in Scotland.” As facilities increased, so did GSI’s service offerings. Kraus noted, “We had a tremendous amount of growth. Senior Management had a lot of great ideas with incorporating the Cement Heads into our product line as well as opening locations on land.”

In addition to the Rotating Cement Heads systems, the GSI leadership team saw additional opportunities to increase its service portfolio to include Wireline Pressure Control, Deepwater Frac Assist & Gravel Pack Equipment, Large Bore Frac Manifold Systems, Iron Restraints and Decommissioning solutions. Jose Siwady, Cementing Systems Operations Coordinator (15 years of service), commented, “I am impressed at the speed of the growth of the company during my tenure here. A big part of that is due to the great leadership from the core upper management team.”

Today, GSI currently operates in over 30 countries with seven (7) facilities across the globe—four (4) in the U.S., one (1) in Scotland, and two (2) in Malaysia.  “We are back in growth and expansion mode,” said Bond. “We are opening a facility in Africa in 2024, as well as, planned expansions in the U.S., United Arab Emirates, Australia and South America in the coming months.

INNOVATION

Since its inception, GSI has been known throughout the industry for bringing unique innovations to the market. One example was the introduction of Hydraulic Shears as a cold-cutting method for P&A (Plug and Abandonment) of oil and gas wells.  “Soon after introducing these to the market, we had a couple of very active hurricane seasons with multiple storms doing some significant damage to many platforms in the Gulf of Mexico,” said Bond.  The shears were originally built to be used above the surface, but GSI’s R&D team was able to incorporate a design change to allow for long-term saltwater submersion and at depths surpassing 5000’.  By introducing this method, GSI helped to shape the standard of safety as noted by former CEO, Mike Mire. “By having the capability of utilizing our equipment below water, GSI was able to introduce a method which significantly reduced the exposure for human personnel against injury and fatality,” he stated. Following the clean-up efforts in the Gulf of Mexico, GSI began to expand internationally with this product line being used in the North Sea, Africa, the Middle East, and recently seen demand in the Asia Pacific region.

Additional service lines, including a patented product developed internally—the High Tensile In-Line Rotating Cementing Heads were originally developed in conjunction with one of the largest international service companies to support their cement jobs and liner jobs.  The capability to actuate the heads remotely through air or wireless was added to allow for the elimination of personnel working at heights. GSI currently has their cementing systems deployed around the world with additional systems in production as we continue to spread our GSI brand globally.

BATTLING THROUGH ADVERSITY

Just like other companies in its industry, GSI experienced a challenging period as the company was faced with the drop in oil prices followed by the worldwide pandemic of COVID-19. “The oil and gas industry in our history was used to the ups and downs of commodity prices, but we had never seen anything that we experienced during that time,” reflected Bond. After seeing many other companies struggle during the oil downturn and covid impacts around 2019-2020, GSI shifted their mindset and persevered, while proud to note the company is on its growth trajectory again.

As the global challenges subsided, GSI revised strategies to begin once again expanding out offering its different services throughout the U.S. as well as internationally. GSI Operations Manager, Kyle Sadler shared, “As part of our growth strategy, we identified international markets as a major component of that.” He continued to note, “In executing that strategy, we partnered with a company, Kontinental Energy Services (KES) to expand into the African continent.” GSI will initially enter this market with its Rental Tools & Equipment product service line, consisting of high-pressure treating iron, cementing packages, valve packages, and much more. Also, as part of the growth strategy, Sadler also noted the expansion in the Asia-Pacific market. Over the past two years, GSI has opened 2 facilities and increased personnel locally to support the growing presence in the region.

COMPANY ROOTS

As the company continued to expand, one thing that has remained consistent is the positive impact of its people during the steady growth. When speaking to the Vice President of Operations, Brian Bordelon, he shared how he was very proud of the team that has supported the company to get us here. “The world-class people, both men and women, that we have working here sets us apart from our competition,” Bordelon praises. “They’re constantly on a daily basis providing that service, helping us meet our business plan, providing the quality products that we are known for, and driving our business growth throughout the U.S. and internationally.”

In closing conversations with Bobby, he noted he is excited to see what is to come in the next few years for GSI. With many opportunities still on the horizon in the Gulf of Mexico and domestic U.S. land with oil and gas, the international markets are also trending positively for GSI and all our product lines.