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M.D. Totco drills through hard times

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Filling up a car with gas is a stressful and dissatisfying activity as of late - Terry Tarvin knows this just as well as anyone else. However, the experience for Tarvin isn't entirely negative because the more money he puts in his car, the more money he is making.

Tarvin does acquisitions for Martin-Decker Totco in Cedar Park, after spending 15 years as the vice president and general manager of the Cedar Park facility.

Unlike other businesses, M.D. Totco is fairing well despite the slumping economy. While gas prices have had a negative effect on some businesses, for Totco, which makes instrumentation for oil rigs and drilling equipment, business couldn't be better.

“With the price of oil as high as it is, we're doing well right now,” said Tarvin. “Our business is continuing to grow, primarily because of oil prices.”

The high price of oil has made it more economically feasible to drill in a lot more areas of the U.S., Tarvin said. It's now worthwhile to go back and drill in areas that didn't produce enough oil because the price is high enough.

Though Totco saw about $260 million in revenue last year, “We're expecting revenues to be a little over $300 million this year,” including everything invoiced out of the Cedar Park facility, Tarvin said.

About 60 percent of Totco's revenue comes from North America - the United States and Canada specifically. The rest comes from the international market. Internationally, Totco provides instrumentation for China, the Middle East, Australia and most recently the North Sea area.

“Both continue to be strong markets right now,” Tarvin said of the U.S. and international oil markets.

He said the instrumentation Totco builds makes drilling quicker and gets production up, which is essential to all drilling companies right now.

Because many major companies, such as Exxon, pulled out of the U.S. to drill elsewhere, it has allowed others to come in, start their own companies and focus on the U.S. market, Tarvin said. He is estimating there to be about 15 new drilling contractors in America this year.

While he doesn't expect oil prices to decrease any time soon, Tarvin doesn't expect them to increase too much higher either. He attributes the rise to the increase in world demand.

For this reason, he believes Totco will continue to see good business in the future. “I see our business looking good for the next five years and probably beyond that,” he said.

Totco moved to Cedar Park in 1991 from Houston and merged with Martin-Decker, which had been in Cedar Park for years before the merger. The company currently has about 305 employees.

E-mail jennifer@hillcountrynews.com

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