By Amanda Leon, founder of OilMoney.io. Houston-raised, came up in the Houston marketing team of Vallourec, and has run Unrth, a brand and growth studio for oil and gas and industrial companies, since 2017, with her boots on client locations in Midland and Odessa. Last reviewed October 20, 2026.
Your trucks are lettered, your crews can run every job on your list, and there's an operator you want to work for. Somebody tells you nothing happens until you're under their MSA. So you start chasing the paper, and you wonder whether the phone will ring once it's signed, or whether the call-out will keep going to the shop whose name the engineer already knows.
Getting an MSA with an oil company starts with getting set up as a vendor (our guide to getting on an operator's approved vendor list covers that step), then carrying the insurance the operator's form calls for and reading that form with your lawyer. Getting called once it's signed is a different job: the people who make call-outs have to know your name.
What the MSA Does and Does Not Do
The MSA sets the rules for work that hasn't happened yet. Operators frequently present their standard form as non-negotiable, and it fixes the insurance you carry and the indemnity you accept, according to a May 2026 Foley and Lardner piece we unpack in what an MSA is in oil and gas. So find out the operator's insurance minimums early, price the policies before you need them, and have a lawyer read the form before you sign. None of this is legal advice.
Nothing in the agreement promises you a single job. The work comes later, one call-out and one PO at a time, when somebody at the operator picks your name.
Hard and Slow to Get, Even With More Than 340 on File
Drilling Tools International, a public company, reports more than 340 master service agreements in its 10-K for 2025 and calls them hard and slow to obtain. If they're slow for a company that already holds that many, plan on them being slow for you.
The same filing shows two things an owner should take to heart:
- The sales force is still on the payroll. DTI keeps a sales force of 40, split into city-sales and field-sales teams, alongside all those MSAs. The agreements don't sell on their own. Somebody still has to get the call.
- First call is its own paper. DTI reports a first-call supply agreement with one of its largest customers, in place since 2013 and extended through 2026. Holding an MSA and being first call are two different places to stand.
If you're the whole sales force, you're both of DTI's teams at once, city sales and field sales, and you need some way to stay in front of the office people while you're on location. A Monahans supplier's September 2026 posting for a business development rep puts leading new MSAs and winning access to engineers and supply chain managers in the same seat; we walk through it in clearing the vendor gate and getting known by supply chain. If you haven't hired that person, the seat is yours.
Where New Work Is Being Permitted
If you're picking which operators to chase for an MSA, start where the permits are. In September 2026, District 8 (Midland) led Texas with 323 permits to drill new oil or gas holes, out of 759 original permits statewide, according to the Railroad Commission of Texas. A permit isn't a rig on location, but it does tell you where operators filed to drill. Find out which operators are behind those permits, check which of them you already hold an MSA with, and put the rest at the top of your list. For the rest of the basin's dated numbers, see our Permian Basin page.
If most of your work comes from one operator, our guide on growing an oilfield service company in the Permian without betting on one customer covers how to spread it out.
The Company Man Is Earned in Person
Once the MSA is signed and the first call-out sends your crew to a drilling location, they answer to the company man, the operator's representative on location (more in selling to the oilfield company man). He's watching your crew's safety and efficiency, and nothing you post replaces a clean job in front of him.
What posts can do is reach the office side, the engineers and supply chain people who may never see your crew work. For what to hand them when they ask what you do, see our capability statement guide.
Putting Your Own Name Out There
Then there's the part no form covers: putting your name and face where the whole yard can see it. Get over worrying about the one judgy person who reads your post and thinks, "Who do they think they are?" When people see you rising and speaking up for yourself, some will try to pull you down. But what's the alternative, staying like everyone else? There's an old saying I always come back to: the people who mind don't matter, and the people who matter don't mind.
I respect all religions, and I know a lot of people in the Permian are Christians. To me, not living in your gift, and not giving the world that gift, is a sin. If God gave you a talent and nobody knows about it, you don't get to use it as much. An engineer who never heard of your crew can't call you. Tell more people what you're good at, and you get to use those gifts more.
A Founder Who Was Allergic to Fake Branding
The founder we work with, a fourth-generation oilfield man who founded a service company in the Permian, stands at a podium in a suit when the job calls for it, works in the field the rest of the time, and is allergic to fake branding. His board nearly killed the project over ROI, and LinkedIn's Social Selling Index ranks him in the top 1% of sales professionals in oil and gas. Read the full story.
The Warm Walk-In™ is how we built his name without turning him into somebody else: his stories, in his voice, with his yes on every post. If your partners ask the ROI question his board asked, it's a fair one. Give them the straight answer: this compounds. It doesn't snap.
When a Field Sales Hire Is the Faster Path
If you need call-outs this month, a field sales hire who already knows the superintendents and company men on your route is the faster path. He walks in with relationships that already work. A personal brand builds over quarters, and you should know that before you spend a dollar on one.
The two can run together. The hire works the route this month, and your name works the offices he can't get to. If the MSA you're worried about is one you already hold, with a customer who just got bought, read what happens to your MSA when your customer gets acquired. For the rest of what we do for owners, see our page for oilfield service company owners.
Get Your Bison Walk-Around
Send us your LinkedIn. We'll send back the Bison Walk-Around: five minutes of plain English on what's costing you callbacks and what we'd build. No call. No invoice. We give first.
Sources and As-Of Dates
- Foley and Lardner, Your MSA Is Not a Formality (Scott D. Ellis), May 5, 2026. Operators frequently present their standard MSA as non-negotiable, and MSAs set insurance minimums and indemnity.
- Drilling Tools International Corp Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025, fiscal year ended Dec 31, 2025. More than 340 MSAs called hard and slow to obtain, a sales force of 40, and a first-call supply agreement in place since 2013.
- BP Supply Inc, Business Development Representative (job posting), posted Sep 29, 2026, viewed Oct 17, 2026. One Monahans supplier's business development role.
- Texas Drilling Permit and Completion Statistics for September 2026, September 2026 data, released Oct 12, 2026. District 8 permits and the statewide total.
- SLB Energy Glossary: company man, accessed Oct 18, 2026. The company man as the operator's representative on location.
- The founder proof story. Our working notes with the founder and his LinkedIn Sales Navigator Social Selling Index screenshots (capture date pending), held by Unrth, name withheld. As of October 19, 2026. His background, the board's ROI question, and the Social Selling Index rank.
The Warm Walk-In™ is an original method created by Amanda Leon and owned by The Valours Creative Innovation LLC.