The History of BPB Wireline

A History

A History of BPB Wireline (1970-2004) is currently in draft form. It is primarily based upon archive files and personal recollections.

Timeline

  • 1917 British Plaster Board (BPB) founded on £20,000.
  • 1960 Mining Director J.R. Gunn starts a Geophysics Section at East Leake, UK, and in May of that year geologist Dick Reeves joins the firm. The section mainly worked on seismic surveys of gypsum deposits.
  • 1968 Dick Reeves manages the new Geophysics and Nucleonics Department, expanding operations to logging for external customers such as the National Coal Board. The first overseas operation was in Canada in 1969.
  • On 1st April 1970 BPB Industries (Instruments) Ltd was started as a separate company within the group with 30,000 £1 shares. This was the origin of BPB Wireline and the start of the international Slimline logging business still active today.
  • 1980 Mike Spencer joins, becomes Engineering Manager and development begins for Oilfield equipment. Mk I and Mk II equipment was launched in 1981 and 1983 respectively and included the world’s first array induction tool.
  • In July 1995 BPB Wireline left the group with a management and staff buyout supported by 3i. Development began on the highly successful Compact family of wireline tools that became operational in 1997.
  • Compact milestones include:
    • Compact triple-combo entered service in 1997 as 125ºC tools
    • Compact Memory Logging commercial operations began in September 1999, with unique ‘Shuttle’ conveyance since December 2001
    • A Compact tour de force, the MFT Formation Tester, was introduced in October 2001 and also used in memory logging since May 2009
    • The industry-leading Imager tool launched 2006
    • Dipole sonic added 2009
    • 2015-2016 saw a complete redesign of Compact to create 150ºC and 160ºC tools
    • The Intelligent Conveyance System began work in February 2019
  • 1st January 1999 the company name changed from BPB Wireline to Reeves Wireline.
  • The company was sold to Precision Energy Services in May 2004. At this time Reeves had more than 400 people worldwide and around 90 people at East Leake.
  • In June 2005 PES was in turn bought by Weatherford. East Leake continues as the wireline open hole product centre.

‘The Museum’

Some BPB history on display at East Leake. Potentially the most boring museum in the UK…

Please contact me at neillgilhooley@gmail.com