PESA President Leslie Beyer
Last week, PESA held its 2020 State of the Association meeting with members of our Board, Advisory Board and Committee members. We had the opportunity to reflect on these tumultuous months and what our Committee Chairs along with their workgroups have accomplished in support of PESA’s membership.
As PESA Chair Rod Larson said in his remarks last week, these are unprecedented and historic times. We’ve never seen anything like it. We’ve all been forced to make difficult choices and painful cuts due to the catastrophic double impact of a price war and the COVID-19 pandemic. In April alone, the OFS sector had to eliminate 60,000 jobs, the biggest one-month drop in history.
[su_quote cite=”PESA President Leslie Beyer”]Confronted with the new reality, the PESA team adapted. Our goal was to expand resources for members and the sector, provide forums to share intelligence, offer opportunities to connect, and serve as a clearinghouse for the information, tools and best practices needed to navigate this new era. All in remote format. [/su_quote]
Since the onset of the pandemic, PESA has held 77 remote events, including:
- committee and task force meetings to develop best practices and share knowledge,
- webinars with experts on restructuring, mergers and acquisitions, or accessing economic stimulus funds, and
- townhalls to hear from elected officials and political experts.
During the pandemic, PESA’s advocacy work helped ensure OFS companies were designated as critical infrastructure, increased flexibility of economic stabilization programs like the Paycheck Protection Program that’s helped keep millions of workers on the payroll, and spearheaded the reauthorization of tariffs exclusions that will save our companies tens of millions of dollars over the next 12 months.
Our team conducted new research on the OFS workforce that provided insight into the concerns and attitudes of OFS workers, and quantified the number of jobs we provide. This research is establishing PESA as a credible source of information about the oilfield sector, which has led to coverage of PESA and our industry in major media outlets including BBC, Reuters, Bloomberg, Houston Chronicle, Axios and Politico.
[su_quote cite=”PESA President Leslie Beyer”]We also stayed on top of long-term strategic issues for PESA issues such as ESG and Inclusion & Diversity. In April, the association launched the ESG Center of Excellence to share information and best practices. We’ve solidified our position at the forefront of the industry on Inclusion & Diversity with a sector-led Inclusion & Diversity Business Champion Certification program.[/su_quote]
And as awareness of racial injustice has taken center stage in our communities, we established a Task Force on Racial Equality to develop recommendations that will help our Members drive accountability and foster equality. As a sector, we have considerable work to do in each of these areas. I look forward to partnering with our Members to make this industry and subsector a safe and welcome space for the diverse talent required to lead our industry forward.
Our goal at PESA is to provide Members with the tools and resources they need to thrive — regardless of what is going on in the world. Times are challenging right now to say the least, and it’s critically important that we position the industry and our sector as innovative and essential to the energy supply chain.
The Association has an excellent, nimble team and the resources necessary to help the sector manage through this crisis. It is my sincere hope that each of our Member Companies have realized value from the investment in PESA, especially over these past few months.
PESA is here to serve as a resource for all our Member Companies. Please reach out to me or any of the PESA staff at any time to discuss an issue important to your company or find ways to engage and utilize our support. In these extraordinarily difficult times, PESA will continue to adapt to provide the resources you’ve come to expect from your trade association. We stand ready to help.
Thank you for your support.
