About Petrotranz
Background
Petrotranz Inc. is the result of a unique collaboration between Serial Technology Entrepreneurs, a Respected & Retired Crude Oil Midstream Industry Executive, and an Industry Leading Technology Company to automate an inefficient crude oil industry process with significant financial implications.
The Technology Entrepreneurs
Brent Stankowski and Kevin Hein were co-founders of two Calgary based, sector leading technology companies. They grew their first company Vertical Technologies Inc (VTI) from a basement start-up to a top 100 Canadian Software Company, providing a comprehensive ERP solution to mid-sized and large professional service firms - throughout North America. VTI was acquired by Thomson Corporation (NYSE:TOC). Brent & Kevin's second company, Teamplate Inc. was the first to market with a Microsoft .NET Workflow and Business Process Management technology platform. Working closely with Microsoft, Teamplate experienced explosive global growth with a Blue-Chip customer list that included companies like Verizon, Costco, Boeing, Burger King, Astra Zeneca, Fiat, US Navy, DARPA, NASCAR, the IRS, Pemex, and Petro-china. Teamplate was acquired by Captaris Inc (NASDAQ:CAPA).
After fulfilling their management obligations at Captaris, as members of the Executive Team, they launched EmergingISV Capital Partners (EmergingISV) www.emergingisv.com. EmergingISV is an investment vehicle that has allowed them to leverage their experience, expertise and capital to accelerate the growth of select technology companies. After making a strategic investment in Pandell Technology Corporation www.pandell.com , a Calgary based technology company, Stankowski and Hein began to actively explore opportunities in the energy sector where they could leverage their expertise in using technology to streamline and improve business process inefficiencies.
Through industry and family contacts they were introduced to Ron Gagnon.
The Midstream Energy Executive
In 2005, Ron Gagnon retired from Plains Midstream Canada (Plains), previously CANPET Energy Group Inc. (CANPET), after holding a variety of executive-level positions including Managing Director of: Crude Services, Information Services and Transportation Services and finally as Vice President of Operations. An engineering graduate from the University of Saskatchewan, Ron started his career with Saskatchewan Energy and Mines, whereby in his role as Manager of Crude Oil Market Analysis he began dealing with CANPET, a rapidly growing energy trading company. As a result of mutual respect Ron joined CANPET in 1987. CANPET experienced spectacular growth through the 1990's culminating in an acquisition by Plains All American Pipeline in 2001 to form Plains Marketing Canada, L.P. Throughout his career with CANPET and then Plains, Ron continued to take on additional responsibility and provided leadership through his industry expertise combined with a direct common sense approach to doing business.
The Inefficent Industry Process
Through a series of exploratory conversations, Gagnon, Stankowski and Hein identified an interesting automation opportunity relating to the communication and collaboration between Producers, Pipelines, and Shippers (Marketers).
Of particular interest was the pain around managing production forecasts (Form A's) and forecast amendments and the inability to provide and receive accurate and timely information in an electronic format. In fact, Gagnon had been actively involved in two previous industry attempts to provide electronic solutions to this problem, both of which failed for the following reasons:
- Concerns about the security of confidential information.
- The cost to develop and deploy a solution.
- The inability to establish acceptable standards for the industry
- The lack of technology infrastructure, particularly for the Producers.
- The inability to consolidate each company's agenda.
Upon analyzing the reasons for failure, it became apparent that given the significant changes in technology, the standardization provided by the Petroleum Registry of Alberta and the ubiquitous nature of the internet, it was the opportune time for a 3rd attempt, particularly if the right technology and industry partners were found.
The Industry Leading Technology Company
Pandell Technology Corporation was identified as the perfect technology partner for the following reasons;
- Pandell's Liquid Intelligence Platform (PLI) is an ideal toolset to develop a highly scalable web based Software as a Service (SaaS) solution.
- PLI was used in the development of the Alberta Purchasing Connection, a secure, mission-critical application that serves the Government of Alberta. The PLI platform is audited annually by Price Waterhouse Coopers for data integrity and security.
- Pandell has a major presence in the Oil & Gas Sector with over 300 companies using its JVNexus, GeoNexus, AFENexus and EANexus products, resulting in a deep understanding of the needs and economic realities of Junior Producers.
- Pandell is a portfolio company of EmergingISV and Brent Stankowski served as a member of the Advisory Board, resulting in a high degree of confidence with Pandell's ability to deliver a solution.
Based on this synergy it was agreed that EmergingISV would fund a prototype with Ron Gagnon serving as the subject matter expert to coach and manage Pandell through the development.
The Industry Users
A spectrum of industry users were introduced to the prototype for collaboration and feedback. The net result was the following positive feedback;
- Automation of Manual Processes - Industry users saw Petrotranz as a potential platform to automate painful manual processes. For example, the process for gathering forecasts (Form As) from Producers consists of gathering information from a variety of unstructured sources such as faxes and e-mails and then under considerable time constraints enter the relevant data into multiple systems. Furthermore this process is an administrative burden for all stakeholders.
- Timely Access to Relevant and More Accurate Data - Industry users saw Petrotranz as a platform that could provide timely and accurate information to Shippers and Producers.
- Enhanced Customer Service - Industry users saw the potential in Petrotranz as a powerful communication and collaboration platform allowing them to improve customer service and significantly reduce the communication risks associated with the transportation and sale of crude oil.
As a result of this feedback and industry need, the prototype was deemed successful and the decision was made to move into full development mode for a production-ready offering.
Petrotranz Launched
The Petrotranz Crude Oil Transportation System (COTS) was launched on
February 21, 2008.
