DEPARTMENTS • PERSPECTIVES
Barrett Zuskind,
Z-Tex Services:
Curiosity helps
people make
the most of
opportunities BY STEPHEN WHITFIELD,
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
For much of his life, Barrett Zuskind has
been driven by a curious nature, a sense
of adventure, and a love of oil and gas. As
a child, he spent summers on his grand-
father’s ranch in Caldwell, Texas, hunting,
fishing, wrangling cattle and doing odds-
and-ends jobs.
However, the one thing he enjoyed the
most on the ranch was getting to visit the
Desta Drilling land rig. His grandfather –
who owned a pipeline company – started
taking him up the rig floor when he was
just 8 years old. He would get to meet with
rig crews and watch in awe as the com-
plex machinery that makes up a drilling
rig worked in sync to make a hole in the
ground. By the time he reached junior high
school, he knew he wanted to learn as
much about those rigs as he could.
That curiosity has led Mr Zuskind to a
career that’s spanned several sectors of
oil and gas drilling, from casing and pres-
sure control equipment sales to operations
management and now, running an oilfield
equipment sourcing and repair company.
His jobs have required him to travel to near-
ly every basin in the US, from the Bakken
and the Eagle Ford all the way to Alaska.
The willingness to take on new challenges
as they come, he said, has been critical
in helping him make his way through a
changing industry.
“If you want to really thrive, you have to
know something that other people don’t.
You can’t just sit there and only do what
you’re told,” Mr Zuskind said. “It’s impor-
tant to see and do as much as possible. If
you get a chance to work with equipment
52 you’ve never worked with before, say yes.
Volunteer to work in different areas. You
never know what’s going to be critical.”
While studying petroleum engineering at
the University of Oklahoma from 2007-2011,
Mr Zuskind spent his summers intern-
ing wherever he could. One summer was
spent working as a floorhand on an H&P
FlexRig in the Eagle Ford, another summer
was spent working on MWD equipment
for Baker Hughes, and during a third sum-
mer he served as a production engineering
intern for a small operator in Oklahoma.
By the time he entered his senior year of
college, he already had several full-time job
offers from drillers, operators and service
companies. He ended up deciding to join Unit Drilling
as an operations engineer, under the prom-
ise that he “would not be stuck in a cubicle.”
He quickly worked his way up to Gulf Coast
Engineering and Sales Manager. Working
primarily in East Texas and Louisiana, he
served as the point person for rig upgrades
and for negotiating daywork contracts with
operators. The experience of finding work
for Unit’s rigs, he said, was a delicate bal-
ancing act.
“It’s a big numbers game,” he recalled.
“You have to look at dayrates, when you
can plan a rig move if you have to move it,
and what region you’re looking to work in.
Some operators may have windows where
they want to drill two or three wells, or they
might want a six-month drilling window.
You’re trying to balance everything so that
you can keep all of your rigs running.”
After spending three years with Unit, Mr
Zuskind built up his experience working
for several oilfield service companies and
NorAm Drilling, a Permian-area drilling
company. This gave him the chance not
only to see different rigs working in dif-
ferent areas like the Bakken, Marcellus,
Permian, DJ Basin and Alaska, but also to
engage directly with drilling engineers and
rig crews.
In 2020, motivated both by a nagging
feeling that he needed to do more with
his career and by the pandemic-induced
industry downturn, Mr Zuskind decided
to go into business for himself. That year,
he founded Z-Tex Services, a consultancy
that sources and refurbishes aftermarket
rig equipment for drillers and operators,
mainly in West Texas.
Barrett Zuskind, Vice Chairman of the
IADC Permian Chapter, said the chapter
is actively focused on building member
engagement through sponsored net-
working events and a program recog-
nizing short-service employees.
“At the time, I saw that a lot of companies
were good at handling their own one or two
pieces of equipment, but I didn’t see any
companies that were good at everything,”
he said. “So I formulated this plan to be
a one-stop shop for drillers. If you had a
leaking cylinder, call Barrett. If your BOP
needs a recertification, call Barrett. If you
need a mud pump overhauled, call Barrett.
It took some time, but we’ve grown a cus-
tomer base that now really understands
and enjoys the concept.”
Mr Zuskind first got involved with IADC
in 2011 while he was at Unit Drilling, simply
as a means to network with other people in
the industry. More recently, he’s stepped up
his involvement, particularly through the
newly reinvigorated IADC Permian Chapter,
serving as Events Chair in 2022 and as Vice
Chairman this year.
The chapter has been focusing on build-
ing member engagement by providing
sponsored networking opportunities, like
hosting its first Permian Basin Regional
Forum last year, as well as its annual
golf tournament. This year, the chapter
also created a Rewards and Recognition
Committee, which has launched a pro-
gram to recognize short-service employees
(SSEs) working in the Permian who show
outstanding dedication to their employer’s
HSE policies. Winners of the SSE Employee
of the Month award then receive a $1,000
check from the chapter. DC
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2023 • DRILLING CONTRACTOR
A M E R I C A N A S S O C I A T I O N O F D R I L L I N G E N G I N E E R S
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Submit an abstract related to one
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