Private Investigators see surge in Energy clients
Posted on Wed, Nov 16, 2011
BY DEON DAUGHERTY
HOUSTON BUSINESS JOURNAL
In more prosperous times, energy companies may have been more likely to write off internal theft, but as the economy has stumbled, the industry is less willing to look the other way, local private investigators say.
Rob Kimmons, president of Kimmons Investigative Services, Inc. in Houston, said during the past 18 months his business has seen a spike in oil company contracts of up to 40 percent. At one oil company, former employees were breaking into warehouses and stealing expensive oilfield parts and valves. Kimmons’ team of retire Houston police and Department of Public Safety officers waited in the warehouse and apprehended the burglars, holding them until police arrived.
“A lot of what we do, you’d think would be law enforcement, but the police just don’t have the manpower to put the hours into every case,” Kimmons said. One client told me, ‘Y’all are just the rich man’s police.’”
Kimmons retired from the Houston Police Department in 1981 to start his own business. Today, he has 11 full-time investigators and more than 20 contractors who supplement teams of investigators on 24-hour jobs. Surveillance is priced at about $85 per hour, per investigator. Depending on the complexity and needs of a case, the cost can range from roughly $5,000 to $30,000, he said.
Kimmons and another private investigator, Bill Pellerin, President of Texas Investigative Network Inc. in Houston, said another significant part of their work comes from major oil companies that institute regular sweeps using electronic countermeasures – debugging devices – through their conference rooms and boardrooms prior to meetings in which sensitive data and plans will be discussed.
“Before they meet and put their cards on the table, they want to take some comfort that the information will remain confidential,” Pellerin said.
Confidentiality agreements preclude Kimmons and Pellerin from revealing their clients.
In some instances, an energy company will hire a private investigator to perform surveillance work when there is suspicion that an employee might compromise sensitive data.
Kimmons said a recent case involved the vice president of a company that develops seismic technology use in oilfield exploration. Kimmons’ team learned the executive was selling information to a competitor. Although the executive was dismissed from the company, no charges were filed.
Pellerin, whose business with energy companies has grown by 25 percent during the last 18 months, said that in a recent South Texas case, an oil company working a large project was losing parts and equipment. When his investigation revealed that a site supervisor was involved, the company stopped short of filing charges and handled the matter internally.
“In that industry, they are very, very sensitive to word getting out of internal losses or anything else that may lead shareholders to believe there is a problem internally,” he said. “The higher it goes up the ladder, the impact can be more devastating and more upsetting to shareholders. Our job is to fix it and keep our mouths shut.”
Alex Mills, president of the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers, said the oil and gas industry has always been secretive.
“Companies are notorious for leasing under assumed names to outsmart their competition so they won’t know exactly who is leasing the land and cause a rush that drives up the cost of the leases,” Mills said.
However, while a generation ago a well could be drilled for $100,000 or so, it may cost $10 million to drill a single horizontal well in the Eagle Ford shale formation.
“The stakes are real high these days,” Mills said.
-- deondaugherty@bizjournals.com, 713-395-9627
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Private Investigators see surge in Energy clients
