Cold Bore Technology

About Cold Bore Technology

Based in Calgary, Alberta, Cold Bore Technology provides a pivotal data and software solution for the oil and gas industry, specifically targeting hydraulic fracturing operations. The company was co-founded in late 2014 by Brett Chell and Blair Layton, emerging from their direct experience in the energy sector. Chell began his career working on drilling rigs, an experience that provided him with a ground-level understanding of the industry's operational challenges and technological gaps. This hands-on background was crucial when, after a stint in technology financing, he returned to oil and gas to establish Cold Bore, aiming to digitize and standardize the completions process. The company faced significant early challenges, including the 2015 oil price crash, which forced a strategic pivot from drilling technology to the more complex and costly world of fracking completions.

Cold Bore's core offering is the SmartPAD™, a completions operating system that functions as a centralized hardware and software platform. It addresses a critical market need for oil and gas exploration and production companies by unifying the disparate data streams from various third-party service providers on a well site—such as frac, wireline, and water management—into a single, standardized timeline. The business model combines Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) with software and field support, generating revenue by deploying its proprietary hardware and providing access to its data analytics platform. This service enables clients, including major producers like bpx energy and Hibernia Resources, to move towards automated and remote operations.

The SmartPAD™ system integrates military-grade sensors and an onsite edge server to capture, timestamp with high precision, and structure operational data in real-time. Its key features include live data visualization dashboards, automated workflow tracking, and advanced analytics tools like "FracACTION," which allows for real-time comparison of frac stages to optimize performance. By creating a single source of truth for all pad activities, the platform reduces operational waste, enhances collaboration between service companies, and significantly improves safety and efficiency. For example, clients have reported substantial reductions in program duration and costs. The system's ability to provide clean, labeled data streams directly supports clients' ESG commitments by enabling better emissions tracking and operational footprint reduction.