“We can move our work force where we need it, expand when we need it and cut back when we don’t need it,” Vice President Charles “Bud” Kitchingham (pictured) says.

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Charles “Bud” Kitchingham, vice president of Ergon Exploration Inc. in Monroe, La., acknowledges that his subsidiary of Ergon Inc. is a “small fish in the big pond” of oil and gas exploration. But it is that manageable size that keeps Ergon Exploration ready to jump into the next big play.

“This helps us keep our base costs down; that way we can move our work force where we need it, expand when we need it and cut back when we don’t need it,” Kitchingham says. “We can move quicker than some of the larger independents if we see something we like.

“Being smaller, we’re quick on our feet, so we can jump into the middle of something. And if we see something we don’t like, we can get out of it just as quick.”

Ergon Exploration was founded in 1977 and first began working on the Monroe Gas Rock oil field in northern Louisiana. The company began with 15 oil wells and has had as many as 600 at a given time, according to Kitchingham.

Today, Ergon Exploration has capabilities in every aspect of oil and gas exploration, including geology, geophysics, land acquisition and leasing, drilling, production, gas processing, pipelining, and marketing. The company’s geographic reach is as far as the Northeastern United States and as far south as Texas.

Kitchingham says the company’s production has grown 200 percent in the last five years. Parent company Ergon Inc. was founded in 1954 as a petroleum retailer with two employees, the company says.

Today, the company boasts a network of companies and employs more than 2,500 people. With headquarters in Monroe, Ergon Inc. says it and its nationwide subsidiaries stand as industry leaders in refining and marketing, asphalt and emulsions, transportation and terminaling services, oil and gas operations, embedded computing, and real estate development.

“A culture of innovation and dedication ties all of Ergon’s endeavors together,” the company adds. “Ergon’s corporate strength stems from the personal commitment of its engineers, scientists, marketing professionals and support staff. Their forward thinking has earned Ergon’s status as a pioneer by introducing new technologies, inventing new products, and discovering new markets.”

Kitchingham, who has been with Ergon Exploration since 1977 and its vice president since 1984, took time to speak with U.S. Business Review about finding experienced employees, future developments and the strength of Ergon’s work force.

U.S. Business Review: How is the market changing?
Bud Kitchingham: In terms of work force, there was a long time where no talent was coming in. After the last downturn in the mid ’80s, there was no talent coming into the business. People left, and when they left, the next generation left with them. We had nobody coming in to fill the gap.

Once prices started going up in 1999, 2000 and 2001, they were interested in coming back. We had two generations of work force at all levels – drilling hands to geologists and engineers – that were not available in the work force, causing the old guys to work longer than they hoped to. Just now we’re seeing colleges reopen departments and graduates turned our direction again. The oil and gas community is very small.

USBR: How did you maintain a work force during the lean years?
BK: The people that should’ve retired came back as consultants and were making great money. I know some companies, like the major independents, that have attractive programs for new hires.

USBR: What distinguishes your company from the competition?
BK: Our people. We have a very good, loyal, dedicated group that has been with us a long time. They are all very knowledgeable and very dedicated to Ergon as a company.

Each and every one of them is capable of taking on my job if I walked out tomorrow, and the company would never miss a lick. We have three employees at 30 years and four over 20, which is unusual for an oil and gas company.

USBR: How did you retain these employees during the downturn?
BK: We made hard decisions when times were tough and pared down and kept our good people and kept them busy. We also pared down just to good properties. Then, we sat back and weathered the storm.

USBR: How do you train your employees?
BK: It depends on the job requirements. If we have a job coming up that nobody is familiar with, we acquire training through the industry courses available to meet the requirements at hand.
    We’ll also use different service companies, which are always offering refresher courses on some aspect or another.

USBR: What is your vision of the future for Ergon Exploration?
BK: We’ve grown a lot in the last five years in terms of overall production. We’re hoping to continue to grow, which will be difficult because of the increased amount of competition for new plays.
    With the price of oil and gas going up to where people are interested to prospect again, we’re still having success at buying acreage.