Our Team

Randell Ford "Click To View Resume"

President

Randy Ford grew up on the western shore of Bridgeport Lake and in Jacksboro, Texas in the shadow of the derricks of Jack County. Roughnecking at the age of 16 and drilling by 23, he worked the local rigs for the likes of contractor F.L. “Red” Livingston for Megargel Drilling and legendary driller Dub Morris. In 1978, he brought a rig to West Texas for a “four well project” that turned into a “one hundred and forty-three well project.” After promotion to Toolpusher and a first foray into consulting for Myers & Moritz, his “can do” reputation spread quickly. After Randy was asked to watch rigs as a Drilling Foreman for Santa Fe Energy in 1983, he perfected the art of drilling “kick-to-kick”, uncovering zones in Southeast New Mexico that had been masked for years by over-balanced drilling. In 1989, Randy became Division Drilling Engineer for Grace Drilling, where he ran turnkey operations. Upon the Nabors takeover of Grace in 1993, with himself as the only participant, Randy founded R.K. Ford & Associates, got some cards printed and went to work consulting.

Randy currently owns and operates the firm, serves as partner and President of Western Drilling, structures oil and gas deals and trades used rig equipment from one of the largest privately held inventories in the world. Randy’s innovative and sound solutions to unusual drilling situations have developed his reputation as a “go-to” problem solver for many of the drillers of the Permian Basin and elsewhere.

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Drilling Operations Manager

Doug Young broke out roughnecking for Noble Drilling in 1975 on their Rig N85 near Albuquerque, New Mexico. Working his way up through the rig ranks to Drilling Superintendent in Yukon, Oklahoma, he found himself supervising 12 rigs ranging in size from a Cabot 900 to a National 1625, as well as building two OilwellE-2000 rigs from the ground up. In 1994, when Noble shut down all land drilling operations, Doug took early retirement and went first to Trinidad and then to Venezuela for Helmerich & Payne, where he pushed tools on one of the largest land rigs in the world at the time, the 3000 HP Rig #127.

On a return trip from South America in 1997, Doug tagged along with a friend who wanted to meet Randy Ford about a potential job while Randy was consulting for Cobra Oil & Gas on Patterson 19 outside Jal, New Mexico. Doug met Randy, became intrigued with Randy’s underbalanced drilling style, and their professional relationship began. Doug began relieving Randy while on his days off from H&P, giving Randy some much-needed time away from the rig. Six months later, Doug left H&P for good and went to work consulting full time for R.K. Ford & Associates. Doug was Randy’s first hire as Drilling Consultant, and has been with the firm ever since.

Doug is well versed in all aspects of well planning and drilling supervision from preparing AFE’s, staking wells, building locations, purchasing all necessary equipment and services; getting wells drilled start to finish to an operator’s satisfaction. Since coming in from the field in 2008, Doug has been supervising much of the firm’s drilling operations in-house, providing guidance and knowledgeable backup to the firm’s drilling consultants in the field. With his take-charge attitude and fun but firm approach to drilling, Doug has been able to step into some of the worst of drilling situations and get them tuned around post-haste. Doug has been on many high profile wells in his career including the Apache Key #3 well drilled to relieve the infamous Apache Key #1-11 blowout in Wheeler County, Texas. His extensive knowledge of field drilling operations has been a great asset to our clients as he often fills the role of Drilling Superintendent on their behalf and manages the bulk of the drilling efforts of the firm.

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Court Adkins "Click To View Resume"

Operations Manager, Drilling and Completions

Court Adkins began his oilfield career cleaning drill pipe and dressing handling tools at an Oil Field Rental Service yard on McCarty Drive on Houston’s east side. Following a desire to see how those tools were actually used, at 21 he broke out as a Roughneck for Goldrus Drilling Company on their Rig 1 in Simpson County, Mississippi, where his first trip out of the hole was from nearly four miles deep. Finding the oilfield more interesting than accounting, Court abandoned the pursuit of an accounting degree at Baylor University and transferred to Texas A&M in College Station where he graduated in 1983 with a B.S. in Petroleum Engineering. After three years in Reading & Bates Drilling Company’s rig management training program, Court first ran and then designed downhole tools for TAM International, Davis-Lynch, Baker Oil Tools and Weatherford. He was named co-inventor in three US patents earned while designing equipment for Weatherford in Houston. Between TAM and Davis-Lynch, there was a one year stint as a Ballast Controller for Zapata Off Shore on their Lexington and Neptune semi-submersible drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.

Pursuing a desire to eventually work for an operator, Court joined Hunt Oil Company in 2001 and moved to Midland, where he served as District Drilling and Production Engineer. In 2003, Court met Randy Ford and began the most rewarding portion of his career thus far; designing, supervising and managing his clients’ drilling and completion projects while enjoying a professional camaraderie with both his clients and fellow consultants.

Court is accomplished in all aspects of drilling and completions from procedure design and cost estimation to procurement of all services and equipment to supervising and managing the drilling and completion process from start to finish for a variety of well types in locales throughout the Permian Basin. He has also helped numerous clients with a myriad of issues including coordination of wild well control efforts, pipeline and facilities construction and project viability analysis. His tenacious attention to detail and problem-solving aptitude coupled with an understanding of mechanical and wellbore issues have equipped him to deal with any number of issues. He is always eagerly awaiting the next challenge.

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Sales/Marketing

Jim McKay has been with R. K. Ford and Associates for two years. He has over 40 years experience in the oil field with over 30 years in oilfield sales. He spent 8 years with NL Acme Fishing & Rental Tools followed by two years with T & C Frac Tank & Safety Anchors. This was followed by four years as Executive Sales Representative with Black Max Downhole Tools helping to open a facility in West Texas.

He later spent approximately 10 years with Parker Drilling/Quail Tools initially as a field/city salesman for approximately two years before being promoted to Executive Account Representative with responsibility for activities in Oklahoma and west of I-35 In the state of Texas.

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Consultants