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Key Energy Services

American oilfield services company

Image credit is listed at the end of this article.

Key Energy Services is an American oilfield services company.

01Background

The company, established in 1977, provides well services and is based in Houston, Texas with other offices in Midland, Texas and regional offices in Bakersfield, California; Farmington, New Mexico; Casper, Wyoming; El Reno, Oklahoma; Fort Lupton and Grand Junction, Colorado; Lafayette and Shreveport, Louisiana; and Arnoldsburg, West Virginia. Key has over 175 service locations (known as “districts”) in the US. Globally, Key Energy Services has operations in the Middle East, Russia, Mexico, Colombia and Ecuador.

02Business Segments

Service offerings include:

Rig Services
Rig-based well-servicing for workover or re-entries on existing wells, such as:

  • New well completions
  • PNA (Plug and Abandonment)
  • Stimulation of existing wells with declining production
  • Horizontal or directional drilling
  • SmartTongsm Rod Connection Service

Fluid Management Services
Oilfield transportation services (often referred to as “Trucking”)

Fishing Services
Process to recover lost or stuck equipment in the well bore utilizing a "fishing tool” or “jar”. The FRS operations also cut windows in well sidewall casings for horizontal re-entries.

Rental Services
Ancillary equipment such as generators, drill collars as well as proprietary tools such as the Hydra-Walkr automated pipe handling system.

Coiled Tubing Services (CTS)
Provides fracing aka Hydraulic fracturing, acidizing and cementing services.

03History and notable acquisitions

While Key Energy traces its roots to New Hope, Pennsylvania, operating under the name The Yankee Companies, the company's current name is a legacy of Yale E. Key, a West Texas oilman from Midland, Texas, who started his oilwell service business in the 1940s. After his death in the 1980s, his company, Yale E. Key, Inc., was sold to the Yankee Companies. As a result of the continued acquisition of oilwell service companies, the Yankee Companies changed its name to Key Energy in the 1990s. Key Energy has grown through over 1002 acquisitions. In 2016, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Key Energy Services, Inc. became a non-public (private) company on December 14, 2020 (Form 15, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission).


Notable historical acquisitions of Key Energy Services, Inc. are listed below.

Year Company Location
1993 Odessa Exploration Texas
1994 Oilwell fishing tools TX
1995 Clint Hurt and Associates Texas
1996 WellTech OK, MI, PA, WV and CA
Woodward Oil Service Oklahoma
Brownlee Well Service/Integrity Fishing & Rental Tools TX
Energy Air Drilling Services TX
Hitwell Surveys MI and WV
Brooks Well Servicing TX
B&L Hotshot MI
1997 Talon Trucking OK
Cobra Industries NM
Tri-State Wellhead & Valve TX
Kalkaska Construction/Elder Well Service MI
T.S.T. Parafin Service TX
Diamond Well Service OK
Drillers Argentina
Shreve Well Service WV
GSI Trucking & Kahlden Trucking various
Jeter Service TX
1998 Dawson Production Services Texas
1999 Six minor companies, adding 93 rigs to inventory various
2001 Three minor acquisitions, adding 34 rigs to inventory various
2002 Q Services TX, LA, OK, NM and Gulf of Mexico
2003 Lea Fishing Tools (oilfield services) NM
2004 Fleet Cementers CA & TX
2007 Moncla Companies LA, MS & TX
Advanced Measurements Incorporated (AMI) Canada
Kings Oil Tools CA
2008 Hydra-Walk, Inc. OK
Leader Energy (US operations) MI, ND, WV
Watch videos about Key Energy ServicesExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Key Energy Services, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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