00:00:02 Russell Stewart
This episode of the Energy Pipeline is sponsored by Caterpillar Oil and gas. Since the 1930s, Caterpillar has manufactured engines for drilling, production, well service and gas compression. With more than 2100 dealer locations worldwide, Caterpillar offers customers a dedicated support team to assist with their premier power solutions. Welcome to the Energy Pipeline Podcast with your host, Russell Stewart. Tune in each week to learn more about industry issues, tools and resources to streamline and modernize the future of the industry. Whether you work in oil and gas or bring a unique perspective, this podcast is your knowledge transfer hub. Welcome to the Energy Pipeline. Hey everybody. I'm excited to welcome as my guest on the show today, Matt Austin. Matt is the director of sales and marketing for company. Matt, thanks for coming on the show.

00:01:07 Matt Austin
Hey, thanks for having me, Russell.

00:01:09 Russell Stewart
Okay, well, Matt, I hate to do this to you and we are going to talk about Billy Pugh Co. And we're going to talk about what you do because there's actually something really unique about the Billy Pugh company that I'm interested in talking about. But actually Caterpillar asked me to reach out to you. It's, it's actually been two or three months ago because at that time I think you were in sales and marketing for a company called Korva, is that right?

00:01:39 Matt Austin
Yes, sir, that was correct.

00:01:42 Russell Stewart
And actually your email address back then, I think it was Corva AI, Is that right?

00:01:48 Matt Austin
Yes, sir.

00:01:50 Russell Stewart
So what is. I started to say what was. It still is. What is Corva?

00:01:56 Matt Austin
You know, Corva, they're a drilling and completions analytics company. So what they do is they take all of your EDR data and they turn it into different visualizations and different engineering tools for your drilling engineers, your drilling managers, your well site leaders, even, even the drilling contractors can kind of utilize some of the applications that they have.

00:02:19 Russell Stewart
Okay, all right, so we're not going to, we're not going to talk about them today. We're going to talk about Billy q. Billy Pugh Co. But you know, would you, you've been. So do you have. You have some kind of computer science degree since you were with this AI company?

00:02:38 Matt Austin
No, sir, I don't. I actually started my, my background is started off as a roustabout offshore deep water and kind of worked my way through the operation side, ended up moving to land rigs when it got slow offshore and kind of just progressively kept moving up. And I actually ended up taking an HSE role and I was very fortunate. I had some great superintendents that I got to work alongside and we would create different Presentations and different things of that nature for performance wise and ended up. That kind of transitioned me, that got me an opportunity to actually move into the office doing all the performance data for independence contract drilling.

00:03:26 Russell Stewart
Well, now that's quite an interesting story. So you start out as a roustabout on an offshore drilling rig. How did you do that?

00:03:38 Matt Austin
You know, pretty much, you know, I'm a second generation oil fill worker, so you kind of got to know somebody to get into the industry. So my father.

00:03:46 Russell Stewart
Where are you from originally?

00:03:48 Matt Austin
Originally, Liberty, Mississippi. So there, there's not much else to do there besides work in the oil field or in the logging industry.

00:03:56 Russell StewartOkay, all right, so. So your dad was in the oil. Oil field. He was offshore. And so you just kind of followed in his footsteps?

00:04:04 Matt Austin
Yes sir. My dad started out, started out as a electrician training and kind of worked his way all the way up. He's held, you know, director of maintenance, a worldwide maintenance for, you know, multiple drilling contractors. He currently general manager. He's moved to the manufacturing side. Excuse me, he's moved to the manufacturing side of things now. But he was definitely, you know, one of my role models. Looking, you know, growing up, I saw how he progressed through the industry and you know, he was able to give me a lot of tips and tricks throughout the years to, you know, making sure I stood out between him and my mom. You know, my mom was always one of those, she never put limits on me. Always. She always believed you could do whatever you wanted to do as long as you, you know, put all you had into it. So.

00:04:53 Russell Stewart
Well, I find that an inspiring story, Matt. So, so you. And then what's even more unique to me. So offshore slows down so you're able to, to transition to, to onshore of. And you're still, you're still a roustabout or what are, what are you doing then? Because not very many roustabouts get into.

00:05:17 Matt Austin
Hse and no sir, I, you know, before I had left offshore, I was a shaker hand. And then when I came to land rigs, I had to start back off as a floor hand and I ended up working my way up to Derek Hand ad. And then from that point I ended up accepting a HSE position because I was ready to kind of do something else. I was, I wanted something that was on a resume that was transferable and you know, I'd been a part of an incident that kind of it. I wanted to be an HSC to try to make a difference. You know, a lot of people know that A lot of people think HSE personnel doesn't do a whole lot. So I kind of wanted to change that perspective and I wanted to be more of a hands on safety guy and more a lead from the front kind of guy.

00:06:08 Russell Stewart
I, I find that story inspiring too because of course HSE is, is near and dear to my heart. So you actually, a lot of times and, and it's changing now and I'm really glad that it is. And, and I even like to think that maybe some of our podcasts are the reason for that. But there was always this division, I guess you would call it, between HSE and you know, what we called the workers. Okay. And hse, you know, it was almost like they were the traffic cops and they were trying to catch you, you know, so they could write you a ticket or something like that, you know, and successful HSE programs do not operate that way and we've cataloged that many times. And fortunately, you know, HSE and the people out there who, you know, can get their hands caught in the, in the wrong things or fall from the wrong places and that sort of thing are learning to work together. So you coming from that, from that background, I would think that would have made you especially effective in hse.

00:07:33 Matt Austin
Oh, it definitely did. And you know, that was one thing I really recommend that company that I was at, you know, all of their safety personnel, almost all of them had had a background, you know, in operations and understood none of them were just strictly safety professionals. They were all had come up working on the rig side. So you brought a, there was a ton of knowledge. I mean, some of our HSE guides had been drilling superintendents at one point.

00:08:03 Russell Stewart
Yeah. So some of my HSE professional friends may not appreciate me saying that, but I'm tempted to almost say that ought to be a qualification for HSE to have, to have been there. It certainly I think can, can be a positive advantage. So, so you must, you must have had some talents and skills that your mother instilled into you because you go from Raft about now, you're, you're doing HSE and you're actually doing HSC presentations and the next thing you know you're, you're working for a, an analytics company. And now, and the way we kind.

00:08:47 Matt Austin
Of, and the way we kind of got to the analytics company was, you know, we were a very small drilling contractor, so we didn't have all the resources to, you know, build all the different power bis and write all the different scripts and all of that stuff. So we actually, you utilize Corva as a drilling contractor for all of our performance KPIs and the complete, you know, all of our QPRs. So that's kind of how I got into the analytics world.

00:09:18 Russell Stewart
Okay. All right. Well, that's. That's very interesting. And I'll probably have to reach out to Corvin and have somebody else from Korva come on, because what they do sounds. Sounds very interesting, but you had a chance to, I guess, better yourself by becoming the director of Sales and Marketing for Billy Pugh Company. So. So tell me, who is Billy Pugh Company? Where is it located? Where are you, Matt? As a matter of fact, you're not in Liberty, Mississippi anymore, are you?

00:09:51 Matt Austin
No, sir. I'm in Katy, Texas now. So I'm based here in Houston.

00:09:56 Russell Stewart
Okay.

00:09:58 Matt Austin
So Billy. So Billy Pugh, Our manufacturing facility is down in Corpus Christi, and that's kind of where it all started, you know, back. Back in 1956.

00:10:10 Russell Stewart
Okay. All right. And it started how it started. They kind of were pioneers in. In what? In the oil and gas industry.

00:10:22 Matt Austin
They were the pioneers of the personnel transfer devices. So Mr. Billy Pugh himself, you know, he. He worked on the rigs. And at, you know, back in that time, the. One of the most dangerous parts of, you know, weren't going out to the rigs was just getting onto the rig because they would just swing over a cargo net and you would jump on and, you know, the crane would take you over. And he knew there had to be a better way of, you know, coming up with something that had to be safer. So he. He went back to Corpus when he got off his hitch, went back to Corpus and he. He basically created and developed what we call our, you know, our 800 series collapsible basket. And, you know, it wasn't just a new product. It was kind of a revolutionary concept. For the first time, there was actually, you know, a piece of equipment that was engineered specifically to move people, you know, from the boat to the rig.

00:11:21 Russell Stewart
Okay, and so you call those personnel carriers, I think. Right.

00:11:25 Matt Austin
Personnel transfer devices.

00:11:27 Russell Stewart
Personnel transfer devices. Okay. And so it was very dangerous getting on the rig. And Billy Pugh, he developed safer ways of actually getting people safely on and off, right?

00:11:42 Matt Austin
Yes, sir. He developed the 800 series collapsible basket. And that collapsible basket was actually used all the way up until 2005, where we actually developed our new X904 series personnel transfer device, which is still in use today.

00:12:03 Russell Stewart
And so that's what you're the director of sales and marketing over?

00:12:06 Matt Austin
Yes, sir. That's correct. We sell personnel transfer devices. That's what we're, that's, that's what we're known for. But we also have a ton of other safety related products that we sell. And then we also are always, you know, a lot of the deep water drillers come to us for these custom safety solutions. You know, they'll have an incident occur and then they'll come to us and we will work with them to develop something to kind of engineer out whatever happened with that incident.

00:12:36 Russell Stewart
And so that incident is getting on and off the rigs, or it's getting on and off the rigs and even other things that occur.

00:12:43 Matt Austin
Well, it can be any incident that happens on a rig. We can develop some type of safety product that could potentially eliminate it or at least mitigate the risk.

00:12:53 Russell Stewart
Okay, so Matt, can you tell me a specific incident where you actually did work with the operator to solve their problem?

00:13:07 Matt Austin
Yes, sir. We had some, we had an international contractor who they, I believe they had had some incidents, you know, slipping around the rotary table while, you know, working on different things. So we actually developed a rotary cover that goes around the pipe. It has an elastic ban the top and then it actually has magnets on the actual rotary cover itself instead of the old Velcro. And we actually ended up spraying it with like a non skid material to, you know, eliminate or at least mitigate some potential opportunities for slip trips and falls.

00:13:46 Russell Stewart
Okay, all right, well that's, that's very interesting. So with all this vast experience starting out as a rest. About how long ago was that, Matt?

00:13:58 Matt Austin
Back in 2014, actually.

00:14:00 Russell Stewart
Okay, so we're talking. That's just 11 years.

00:14:05 Matt Austin
Yeah, I was pretty lucky. I, you know, I had a lot of good. I had a lot of nice breaks. And I was, I was very fortunate to work with a lot of great people and had a lot of great mentors along the way.

00:14:18 Russell Stewart
Well, and so as a result, I think you got heavily involved in the iadc, right?

00:14:24 Matt Austin
Yes, sir, that's correct. When I was working for the drilling contractor, one of my VPs, he's actually the current chairman of the IEDC Golf Committee. And he got me involved and I'm actually going to be taking over AS chairman in 2026.

00:14:44 Russell Stewart
Okay, now this is, this is IDC national or is this a local chapter or.

00:14:49 Matt Austin
This is for the IDC Houston chapter.

00:14:52 Russell Stewart
Okay.

00:14:53 Matt Austin
So what. And what the golf committee does, you know, incredible group of guys and you know, our main mission is just to raise funds for student scholarships. You know, it's not Just organizing a golf tournament. It's just, you know, finding ways to raise money to, you know, invest in the next generation of our industry. And, you know, that's very important because all these students who receive these scholarships are going to be future leaders, you know, in this energy sector.

00:15:21 Russell Stewart
Yeah. So that's very important for you to, to point that out, Matt. And I want to not only just say about iadc, but you've also got, you've got the aade, they've got a local Houston chapter, API has a local Houston chapter. And all of them have a golf tournament. They all have a sporting clays tournament. And then they've got some other fun events like that that they put on. And they're all geared toward funding scholarship and educational opportunities for young people to, to do just exactly what, what you just said, you know, provide opportunities to, to bring young people into the business. And, and that's something that's very important. And since we do have a, a large Houston audience, and you don't just have to be in Houston, but you need to, you need to support these, these events, these golf tournaments and these sporting clay tournaments and, and the other things that they do. I've been the director for the API Houston Chapter Golf tournament, so I know how much work that is, Matt. So really, really appreciate you taking that on.

00:16:46 Matt Austin
Well, not, not a problem. Like I said, we, we have a great committee. All the guys on the committee are very hard workers, and everybody works together just, you know, same as a drilling rig. If you communicate and have a good plan, just work that plan and, you know, stuff's going to come up. You just, you know, adapt and overcome and proceed on.

00:17:07 Russell Stewart
Okay, Matt, I've really enjoyed this conversation. As I said, your story to me is inspiring. Love what you're doing. Love what Billy Pugh is doing. Keep everybody safe. Make sure everybody comes, comes home safe before we close it out here. Anything else about Billy Pugh you want to talk about?

00:17:32 Matt Austin
Yeah, you know, Billy Pugh has actually been a part of some really cool things, you know, in our history. A lot. Many of you may not know it, but, you know, we actually designed and built the rescue nets that lifted the astronauts from the sea to the recovery helicopters during the Apollo missions, Apollo 11, all the way to the final Apollo 17 mission.

00:17:58 Russell Stewart
Okay, so a lot of people who aren't familiar, who aren't old enough to remember the Apollo missions, and all they remember are the space shuttle missions, and of course we landed the space shuttles, but back in that time, they actually, they came back down out of space. And they dropped those space capsules right into the middle of the ocean. And then they had to be, they had to be picked up out of, out of the ocean. And so you guys developed a system to do that, huh?

00:18:30 Matt Austin
Yes, sir. They, you know, they kind of entrusted us with developing the net sport. It was actually the are. The baskets were called the X872s and that's what they were actually picked up with. So it's a neat, you know, if NASA, you know, and NASA went through a pretty big process of, you know, trying out different people and you know, ultimately they ended up, you know, trusting us with, you know, to go with our net.

00:19:00 Russell Stewart
Well, that's great, That's a great story. And we, we like stories on this podcast.

00:19:05 Matt Austin
Yes, sir. Yeah, Bill, you know, Billy Pugh, we recently sold to a company called Forefind Industries. We're, we're owned by them and they're kind of in a buy and build mode. It's a long term investment company that, you know, that is called Forfend Industries. And they're looking to, you know, make other acquisitions of, you know, other safety related companies that can kind of fall underneath our umbrella.

00:19:34 Russell Stewart
Okay, all right.

00:19:35 Matt Austin
We, we recently acquired a company called Stiffy Safety Products. I'm sure a lot of people on this call, if you've worked offshore, you've heard of the original safety push pole. It's, it's, it, you know, it keeps, it keeps workers, it keeps their hands and bodies kind of out of the red zone. And you know, it prevents different crush injuries and you know, pinch points and amputations. We always say if, if one of our prod, if one of our stiffy push poles breaks, then we just, we just saved in a major incident from occurring.

00:20:11 Russell Stewart
Uh huh. Exactly. Exactly. Okay, well, Matt, I'm of course in the Houston area as well, so maybe I'll see you at IADC luncheon. I'm still on the board of API Houston chapter. And we actually have a joint meeting. IADC and API does, I believe, February. I want to say it's February of each year, if I remember correctly.

00:20:40 Matt Austin
Yes sir, I believe so.

00:20:42 Russell Stewart
And for those who are in the Houston area, we would invite you to join. Join that coming up here after the first of the year. Matt, I'm glad we were able to hook up. I actually had trouble finding you because I was trying to find you over at Korva and you'd already left. So I'm glad we were able to hook up. I really appreciate you taking time out of your day to talk to us. I've enjoyed the conversation and let's do it again sometimes.

00:21:12 Matt Austin
Yes, sir. Looking forward to it. Russell, thank you again for having me.

00:21:15 Russell Stewart
All right, well, thanks for again, thanks for coming on. And as always, thanks to everybody out there for listening. And tell your friends to listen. Post us on LinkedIn, leave us reviews and we'll see you next time. Thanks for listening to oggn, the world's largest and most listened to podcast network for the oil and energy industry. If you like this show, leave us a review and then go to oggn.com to learn about all our other shows. And don't forget to sign up for our weekly newsletter. This show has been a production of the Oil and Gas Global Network.