Angie BarlowBrad Wittrock sees Kingfisher, Oklahoma as the embodiment of rural America, with hometown values and the opportunity to make a living through hard work and hardy character.
“Oklahoma runs on oil and gas,” he says. “If you look at any research, Oklahoma is oil and gas.”
He remembers growing up on the family farm, helping his dad work the cattle in the mornings before school. Wittrock says he was planning to continue the farming tradition but “fell” into the oil and natural gas industry.
Today, he is the president and owner of TerraStar Inc., an oil and natural gas service company that provides pressure washing, steamers, roustabouts, supervacs, welding and post-drill cleanup to producers across the country.
“There were no excuses for not performing hard work,” he says. “My dad gave me the work ethic that gets me where I am today. I learned the industry from the ground up. Started working at the bottom, worked on the drilling rig, worked through the positions on a drilling rig and more.”
In his 13 years of experience in the oil and natural gas industry, Wittrock says he’s seen a lot of advances in technology that both minimize impact on the environment and increase efficiency in production.
Wittrock’s work took him across the country to the Marcellus Shale formation in Ohio. In 2011, he started his own company, operating in Ohio and Pennsylvania. But when his wife got pregnant with their second child, Wittrock knew it was time to go back home.
“We looked at schools of decent size, looked at the ratings of the schools and landed right back in Kingfisher,” he says. “The schools are solid, the town is strong and we had the support of our family, which is key.”
After reestablishing TerraStar in Kingfisher, Wittrock’s work became much more of a personal mission- to provide economic opportunity for people living in the rural community.
“Working in oil and gas has enabled me to grow and become a leader,” Wittrock says. “TerraStar is an oil and gas company, but it’s also a group of families who come together to form a team. The number one goal is to allow them to provide for their loved ones.”
By providing quality job opportunities for hundreds of families, there is a deep connection between the industry and the communities it helps support. Wittrock says that creates a lot of pride.
“Oklahoma’s home,” he says. “My people take pride in their state. The industry as a whole gives back to the communities where they work, and are willing to be generous in how they do that. It’s a betterment for everybody.”
For more on community impact in Kingfisher, watch this video: https://energyhq.com/2018/10/stack-driving-progress-in-kingfisher-ok/.