How Much Is Professional Service Worth? A Survey of How Kunlun Lubricant Won the Favour of the Daqing Oilfield

In the more than two years since the Lubricant Company began providing professional equipment lubrication services to the Daqing Oilfield, not only have drilling teams done away with their oil stores, but grassroots units have achieved zero lubricant inventory. Data show that in 2015 the Daqing Oilfield's lubricant procurement costs fell by 20 percent over the previous year and equipment repair costs fell by 10 percent, saving more than 240 million yuan in costs over the year, making it a new model of 'professional service, mutual benefit and win-win'.
'Tailor-Made' Service for All Equipment
As China's largest oilfield, the Daqing Oilfield currently has 153,400 units (sets) of equipment of all kinds. Achieving low-maintenance or maintenance-free operation through high-quality lubrication is one of the Daqing Oilfield's important means of reducing costs and increasing efficiency. In March 2014 the Daqing Oilfield and the Lubricant Company began cooperation on specialized equipment lubrication management and service.
'After taking on the task we visited every drilling team, lubrication station and repair shop in the Daqing Oilfield, carried out research into on-site equipment working conditions and management models, collected more than a thousand items of information on users and equipment oil use, and carried out testing and analysis of the more than 500 kinds of oil collected under different working conditions.' Zou Gang, director of the Daqing Oilfield special oil service centre in charge of coordinating the project, says with confidence that after 27 batches of oil blending experiments comparing the original oils with Kunlun lubricants the number of lubricant varieties was finally reduced from 839 to 503, improving the versatility of the oils.
Not only that, the Lubricant Company also drew up procedures for materials procurement, oil change service and oil change operations, and formulated replacement plans for Kunlun lubricant at 33 second-level units of the Daqing Oilfield.
By the end of 2015 the Lubricant Company had replaced 850.9 tons of lubricant and delivered 4,524.47 tons of oil products, strongly guaranteeing the smooth operation of the Daqing Oilfield. At the same time, centralized procurement of lubricant by the Daqing Oilfield saved on packaging costs and other items, and oil prices fell accordingly.
'Personal Butler' Around-the-Clock Service
The drilling and oil production units of the Daqing Oilfield all operate 24 hours a day, and the Lubricant Company proposed an around-the-clock 'personal butler' service to guarantee continuous production at the oilfield units.
Zhang Zhuo is the leader of the oil change team responsible for No. 2 Drilling Company. In summer, when Daqing has a lot of rain and the filling vehicles cannot get in, he and three colleagues carried the oil in one 30-liter drum after another on their backs. Over one summer they delivered oil to 27 drilling teams, 15 tons in all, without delaying production once.
At the same time the Lubricant Company also established a file for each oil well, tracking equipment operation. After an oil change a follow-up visit was made within one month to re-check the oil.
Once, during a follow-up visit to a drilling team's mud pump, the Lubricant Company's quality technicians found that the lubricant in the team's mud pump had been contaminated with drilling mud, and that if the equipment continued to run there was a risk of the shaft seizing. After consultation between the two sides, Kunlun lubricant was urgently added, ensuring the normal operation of the mud pump and averting a major equipment accident, sparing the drilling team more than 400,000 yuan in economic losses.
During an oil change for a drilling team the technicians found that the model of the diesel engine's oil seal did not match the equipment and did not seal tightly, so that contaminants could easily enter the oil tank and affect oil quality. They contacted No. 2 Drilling Company in good time, and it adopted the suggestion and promptly modified the oil seal.
The person in charge of the assets section of No. 2 Drilling Company said: 'The workers of Daqing No. 2 Lubricant Plant have given us a feeling of reassurance with their professional qualities and value-added service. This kind of professional service, replacing the old way of delivering and changing oil, can save us more than one million yuan a year in costs.'
The 'butler-style' service provided by the Lubricant Company has greatly raised the quality of oil changes, and oil change efficiency has also increased by more than 50 percent, improving the quality of equipment operation at the Daqing Oilfield while sharply reducing equipment failure rates and repair costs.
The Standardized Service of the 'Kunlun Model'
Yan Hong, chief accountant of the Daqing Oilfield, spoke highly of the Lubricant Company's professional service: 'The Lubricant Company has a strong service awareness and a very high level of professionalism. It is precisely because of the Lubricant Company's first-class product quality, professional technical service and solid work style that grassroots units of the Daqing Oilfield are willing to entrust the servicing of their lubrication equipment to the Lubricant Company.'
The charm of professional service is becoming ever more evident at the Daqing Oilfield. Today, through its oil change work on pumping units, the Lubricant Company has distilled a complete set of standard procedures, including 'preliminary research, careful preparation of the plan, technical briefing and meticulous execution', forming the 'Kunlun Model' of equipment lubrication.
In June 2015 the Daqing Oilfield issued in document form the 'Specification for Oil Changes on Beam Pumping Units', providing that the oil production system of the Daqing Oilfield must carry out specialized management and service according to the 'Kunlun Model'.
'What the Lubricant Company sells is not just oil products but more professional service and first-class personal character.' Li Desheng, leader of the Daqing Oilfield's vanguard No. 1202 drilling team, said: 'We feel very reassured handing things over to such a professional team!'
Professional service has brought the Daqing Oilfield and the Lubricant Company ever closer together, and both sides are moving toward win-win cooperation.
(Guo Yong)