EV portfolio company, Abrado, appoints new CEO

Tuesday 11th August – Abrado, the industry leader in the surgical removal of multiple casing sections downhole, has appointed Jason Broussard as President and CEO. He will be based at the company’s office in Broussard, Louisiana.

With a global remit, Mr Broussard will play a critical role in driving company growth and continuing to create operations and technical excellence in plug and abandonment (P&A). Since its inception, Abrado has developed one-of-a-kind patented technologies for dual string section milling that reduce cost and increase efficiencies throughout well abandonment operations.

As a senior leader with two decades of experience in upstream well operations, Mr Broussard joins Abrado from US-based Wellbore Fishing & Rental Tools (WFR), where he held the role of Senior Vice President of Operations.

Prior to that, he spent four years working for Schlumberger, where roles included Director of Operations for North America and Global Product Line Manager for Wellbore Intervention Technologies. He also held a number of management positions with Baker Hughes over an 11-year period, latterly as Regional Operations Manager for Lower Completions in the Gulf of Mexico.

Commenting on his appointment, Mr Broussard said: “I am joining Abrado having followed the company’s success and global growth for many years. It is undoubtedly a challenging time for the energy industry, and this has resulted in many operators opting to shut down aging oil wells as production continues to decline. Abandoning wells is fraught with risk however, and therefore operators need innovations that de-risk P&A operations, whilst maintaining efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

“Abrado is leading the way when it comes to harnessing data and state-of-the-art proprietary technology to drastically improve milling operations, which in turn drives down P&A costs and delivers value to operators around the world. It is very exciting to be a part of this.”

The addition of Mr Broussard’s strong credentials and technical background is a clear signal of Abrado’s plans for continued growth as it brings established well engineering and optimisation methodologies in drilling engineering into milling using data, modelling, workflows and interpretations.

Abrado Chairman, Martyn Fear, commented: “We are pleased to welcome Jason to the Abrado team. He brings a wealth of industry experience and technical know-how to the role. This, in addition to his dedication, passion for innovation, proven leadership capabilities and the ability to address industry needs, ideally positions him to take the reigns as President and CEO. I am looking forward to working with Jason to grow the business and continue to bring revolutionary section milling tools to the global market.”

Mr Broussard will replace Matt Anstead who took over as Interim CEO in March, whilst retaining his position as Senior Partner at EV Private Equity, which has backed Abrado since 2013 and remains its largest shareholder.

Matt Anstead said: “It is a pleasure to hand over the role of CEO to Jason, who has an excellent track record of driving innovation as well as identifying and capitalizing on key growth markets. Abrado has carved out a niche as the only technology provider in the world with a successful track record of supporting the removal of casing sections by milling. I’m confident that Jason will provide the strategic direction required to build on this success. At EV Private Equity we are proud to back world-class technology companies that make an impact in the energy sector and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and Abrado is a great example of this.”

Overview