By Tim Leeds
Area businesswoman Florence M. Belcourt is included in the 2000-2001 edition of Nationwide Register's Who's Who in Executives and Businesses.
Belcourt, who opened Montana Oilfield Services Company in July of 1995 with her husband, Ron, said she only recently received notice of her inclusion in the registry. She said she was called and notified of her nomination, then had a phone interview. A couple of weeks ago, she said, she received notification and a plaque recognizing her award.
Belcourt said their business services various oil and gas companies in the area, including the Havre Pipeline Company, Xeno, Gulf Canada, J. Burns Brown Operating Company and K.B. Drilling.
"It's quite a list in the area," Belcourt said.
Their business helps in the installation, maintenance and removal of oil and gas wells, Belcourt said.
Belcourt said the drilling business is picking up in the Hi-Line area. She said it hit a slump about five years ago. The industry was more active even eight years ago than five, she said. She said it increased last year, and it looks like it will get even busier in the near future.
She said the oil and gas industry is often cyclical. Canada had a boom about 15 years ago, she said, and seems to be entering a slump in production now. With the cyclical nature of the business, she hopes production will take off in this area now, she said.
Belcourt said she has a variety of jobs to do with the company.
"You name it, I do it," she said. "Office work, payroll, scheduling of work, PR, hot shot runs. If they need something out in the fields, I take it to them. That Cadillac has gone places it shouldn't go."
She said they maintain a variety of equipment to do their job, including a large service rig used to install the tubing to set up a new well, to remove the tubing and plug dry wells, and in fixing landscaping of the area once a well is plugged.
Belcourt said they also maintain a coiled tubing rig, which is used to install and pull plastic tubing on wells. She said many companies have gone to plastic tubing instead of steel because it is easier to use and more economical. She said the plastic tubing is also easier to use for separating and removing the water produced in oil and gas drilling.
She said they also have a water truck which they use to haul water in well installation and removal, as well as hauling production water from well operation. Belcourt said this is an ongoing process, and they usually have to haul production water for the Havre Pipeline Company a couple times a week.
Belcourt also said the company uses roustabout crews which go out to put up fencing, restore landscaping, haul tubing, and so on.
She said her husband supervises all of these activities.
"He runs all the rigs," she said. "He's both the CEO of the company and the crew foreman."
Belcourt, who grew up on a cattle and wheat farm in northern Saskatchewan, said she met her husband abut 10 years ago in Canada. She said her background at the time was in nursing and interior design. She was nursing in northern Alberta at the time, she said.
He has in the oil and gas industry for about 35 years, she said. She said they were married in 1991, and she emigrated to Havre. Belcourt said her husband was a supervisor for J. Burns Brown Operating Company and K.B. Drilling at the time. She said they decided to go into business for themselves and opened their company in 1995.
Belcourt said their business is doing well, and it keeps increasing. She said they are adding to their business and their equipment inventory regularly.
