That man is new regional manager David Bailey, who spent more than 11 years with ExxonMobil in Adelaide before another 10 managing operations across Santos' assets.

 

"David will be driving this strategic initiative, demonstrating our support for the local South Australian industry, and key to our growing east coast gas operations and maintenance business," Upstream PS executive general manager east Cameron Wills said.

 

He struck up a relationship with Upstream PS when it was doing contract work at the Patricia-Baleen gas field and associated Orbost gas plant more than a decade ago, and relationship progressed when both he and Upstream PS were involved in early pre-sanction work for Gladstone LNG, and then on the Narrabri gas development.

 

He left Santos in 2015 to progress his own company, Operational Integrity, which had a similar offering to Upstream PS, before the company approached him late last year to draw up a business plan for market entry into SA. 

 

Now he's being given the chance to test that work by opening up a base in Adelaide, and sees plenty scope to grow. 

 

The expansion is part of Upstream PS's national expansion where its western region, run out of its two Perth offices, will oversee the Northern Territory, its east coast business will handle Queensland and New South Wales.

 

SA and Victoria will be standalone regions.

 

Baily said the expansion strategy is about getting closer to the clients, understanding their need and adding value to their organisation at the lowest possible cost.

 

He sees the sector's growth initially in the conventional space, with Beach Energy doing some new conventional drilling in SA's Otway Basin, while back in the Cooper Basin there are shale programs by Real Energy, Origin Energy, Icon Energy and Senex Energy.

 

Bailey says the main differential for Upstream PS is industry's paramount driver: keeping costs low by having technical ‘streams of excellence', where a company provides support across regions, across conventional and unconventional, offshore or onshore areas.

 

While the unconventionals are a longer-term play, with cost and geological issues still dogging that market segment, Uptream PS will be watching what Chevron has to say at APPEA 2017 in Perth later this month to update its plans for the Great Australian Bight.

 

Chevron's work which is due to kick off with some drilling in 2018-19, with a supply base already there which BP established before abandoning its exploration plans for the Bight.

 

The supermajor has promised to drill five wells across EPP 44 and EPP 45 in the third year of its permits, as early as summer of 2017-18, at a cost of more than $400 million.

 

"Most people would think SA has gone to sleep to some degree, but there are a number of significant players here," Bailey told Energy News.

 

"It also has significant pipelines with the Moomba to Adelaide pipeline and SEAGas from Port Campbell to Pelican Point, so there is quite a hub of industry which we can add value to."

 

Bailey also said UPS could add value in terms of fit-for-purpose maintenance support for a Bight program. 

 

"APPEA is coming up this month and we expect to learn a bit more about Chevron's plan for the Bight at that forum," he said.

 

"The SA outlook is quite positive. The industry as a whole has had a period of five or so years where it's been tough going, but I think we're now coming up the other side of the curve.

 

"The key for us is sustainable growth, where we can maintain a sound safety record, deliver on production guidance and, which is absolutely key and which the industry is really dialled into, is keeping your cost structure under control, and that's where we believe we actually add the value back into the industry."