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 Post subject: the way it is
PostPosted: Tue Aug 25, 2015 8:30 pm 
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Location: N Dakota
The oil patch is notorious for its boom and bust life cycle. With Dakota sweet crude below $30 a barrel we are in the bust. However if you are employed in the production end and not the exploration side your life expectancy is a bit longer. but not by much. Last year at this time there were 210 drilling rigs active, now only 75. Every company has had cut backs, a lot have shut their doors. I hear the end coming fast but its never a quick clean kill. Never are you fired, only starved out so you leave on your own. no unemployment paid out that way. So it starts, your 70 hr weeks are cut back to 60. Then 60hrs are rescheduled to 8 and 6 rotation. This cuts 40 more hrs out of your monthly pay. Then you can only work 8hr days on your rotation and you lose another pile of hrs and you cant pay for the fuel to get to work. Now if you still want this paycheck you can work another part time job to make up the difference but all those are filled. So what to do? I have worked the most hazardous positions in the oilfield, broken more bones and kept working than a professional fighter. transferred to the production side where I work pipeline maintenance. Stick my head in pipes carrying all the worst toxins we can squeeze from crude oil and send to a plant to extract them for fuel gas. propane, butane, methane, some other pain. Along with this is hydrogen sulfide H2S. And I do this for $$. Every year its less $$ and reduced benefits. Now that Im old and less hireable to anyone else for any kind of work, the company is weeding out the mustangs that dont fit in with the new way of thinking. You arent young and dumb and wont say yes sir when it put you and you crew in danger, you tell the safety people to get f'd when they are in the way and dont know anything about what you are doing except what they read in a memo. So I become the sore spot, not a team player, not a good robot yes sir employee. I was looking for a job when I found this one.
So again I ask what to do? Pay off every piece of equipment I can for the sons Business so when its done we still have the tools to start someplace else. Start up another business, jewelry shop looks good in retirement. Pay for the classes up front, get the GG degree, set up the shop in a trailer I can move. Build a website and sell on-line. OK work at Walmart as a greeter, and flip burgers at McDonalds, at least we will have food to eat at the end of the day.
and that folks is the way it is, You can Thank uncle "O" for this

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 Post subject: Re: the way it is
PostPosted: Tue Aug 25, 2015 10:21 pm 
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Sorry to hear the bad news.

I guess this oil business is somewhat relative. Oil production in he US is up dramatically....but in fracking, not drilling.

Things fall into place Dan & Sally, just give everything a little time for the dust to settle. You'll be OK. :D


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 Post subject: Re: the way it is
PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 10:40 pm 
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Location: N Dakota
Always OK! Just need a good rant once in awhile. All I had the other day was "whine" no cheese. :roll:
On a different note, an article in my VFW magazine on Team Rubicon looked very interesting. www.teamrubiconusa.org Volunteer disaster relief group. My oldest sons and I have many hours invested in conversation during work over what our skills could do. It's always a lively conversation. Both boys are martial arts instructors, they both are partners in their own welding and fabrication business. Both have built houses from scratch right down to the finish carpentry. They operate heavy machinery, rig loads, etc. etc. At 26 and 23 they are a mobile force to be reckoned with. What couldnt they do for a group like TR?
I gave them the option to choose their own path and didnt press when they decided against the military option. But they live in a house full of vets which includes more than 1 or 2 recipients of purple hearts. They understand the type of people involved in this organization. In fact recently we have talked about starting up a different direction for their co. and go to places like TX. FLA. after tropical storms and hurricanes blow through and offer services. But working with an organized volunteer group like this could give them valuable insight and training in areas they aren't so familiar with. People skills, "not oilfield people skills" ,large project planning. Im looking into this myself, but I'm not 25 any more. Boots on the ground get things done, mine are pretty worn thin. Knowledge is useful and not everyone knows to shut off the gas valve and turn off the power. So I think we will have another family business discussion soon and see where it takes us.

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 Post subject: Re: the way it is
PostPosted: Sat Aug 29, 2015 11:06 pm 
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Woke up this morning and asked my wonderful wife of 25+ years Sally, if she would do this with me. (my sons think I've lost my mind) She giggled a bit and said Id love too! So we have a bit of training to do, a little company educational stuff and pack a bag to sit in the corner and wait for deployment. You'd have thought we through with this considering NAVY stands for "never again volunteer yourself" I blame it on the alsheimers. But here we go again rushing in when everyone else is headed out. It never gets out of your system, not really. Im 50, Sally is 27 again for the second time. We challenge the rest of you Vets and those who aren't to look into your own lives and ask yourself, and be honest, can you help your neighbor? Some of us cant, but some of you can. :smt003 Dan & Sally

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 Post subject: Re: the way it is
PostPosted: Sat Aug 29, 2015 11:28 pm 
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I'm sorry. What are you talking about?


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 Post subject: Re: the way it is
PostPosted: Sat Aug 29, 2015 11:41 pm 
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He's talking about veterans using their skills in help with disaster relief :) . Check out the link: www.teamrubiconusa.org =D>

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 Post subject: Re: the way it is
PostPosted: Sun Aug 30, 2015 9:42 am 
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Thanks Barbara, I forgot the link after my stand on the soapbox.
Sally and I took in my youngest cousin a few years ago. He is a E-8 in the army national guard. Wounded in Iraq by an IED. He gets along very well still active in his unit and works for the county road maintanence dept. We have watched him go through some very difficult times but gave him the support and understanding he needs. This group of vets getting together in disaster relief gives a purpose to a lot of Vets returning from combat. Gives them a structure they are familiar with and a chance to fix something instead of wreck it. Nobody's going to shoot at them and they might even get a hug and a thank you.
I watched my uncles come back from Nam, that was ugly! This hopefully will be different. People will be glad so see them come home and they can be glad to be home and have a job with a purpose. Sally and I will be there with them, taking care of our "kids" and help get our neighbors back on their feet after their world comes apart.
I may occasionally post on a disaster effort here just to let you all know its there. But this is my last stand on the soapbox. Dan & Sally

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 Post subject: Re: the way it is
PostPosted: Sun Aug 30, 2015 9:50 pm 
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Dan&Sally wrote:
The oil patch is notorious for its boom and bust life cycle. With Dakota sweet crude below $30 a barrel we are in the bust. However if you are employed in the production end and not the exploration side your life expectancy is a bit longer. but not by much. Last year at this time there were 210 drilling rigs active, now only 75. Every company has had cut backs, a lot have shut their doors. I hear the end coming fast but its never a quick clean kill. Never are you fired, only starved out so you leave on your own. no unemployment paid out that way. So it starts, your 70 hr weeks are cut back to 60. Then 60hrs are rescheduled to 8 and 6 rotation. This cuts 40 more hrs out of your monthly pay. Then you can only work 8hr days on your rotation and you lose another pile of hrs and you cant pay for the fuel to get to work. Now if you still want this paycheck you can work another part time job to make up the difference but all those are filled. So what to do? I have worked the most hazardous positions in the oilfield, broken more bones and kept working than a professional fighter. transferred to the production side where I work pipeline maintenance. Stick my head in pipes carrying all the worst toxins we can squeeze from crude oil and send to a plant to extract them for fuel gas. propane, butane, methane, some other pain. Along with this is hydrogen sulfide H2S. And I do this for $$. Every year its less $$ and reduced benefits. Now that Im old and less hireable to anyone else for any kind of work, the company is weeding out the mustangs that dont fit in with the new way of thinking. You arent young and dumb and wont say yes sir when it put you and you crew in danger, you tell the safety people to get f'd when they are in the way and dont know anything about what you are doing except what they read in a memo. So I become the sore spot, not a team player, not a good robot yes sir employee. I was looking for a job when I found this one.
So again I ask what to do? Pay off every piece of equipment I can for the sons Business so when its done we still have the tools to start someplace else. Start up another business, jewelry shop looks good in retirement. Pay for the classes up front, get the GG degree, set up the shop in a trailer I can move. Build a website and sell on-line. OK work at Walmart as a greeter, and flip burgers at McDonalds, at least we will have food to eat at the end of the day.
and that folks is the way it is, You can Thank uncle "O" for this

Been in the oil business most of my life. It will cycle back, probably to new highs. You are spot on with the new way of thinking and the disdain of the old "cowboy" employees. I feel sorry for my boss-he only made 25mil. last year. Tough times for all. :D

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 Post subject: Re: the way it is
PostPosted: Mon Aug 31, 2015 4:22 pm 
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Joined: Thu Mar 19, 2015 9:55 am
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Boom and bust is right, but don't blame uncle "O", rather the guys who are pulling every last gallon of frack product out of the ground in the hope of becoming multi millionaires overnight. This provokes the Saudi's, who owe a lot more than they earn to pump harder, which reduces the price even further. Bad news all round, because it will only race up faster soon.
This boom and bust cycle is common in the gem trade. I remember some years ago when a large amount of star ruby rough was found in Madagascar. A guy I deal with secured a good proportion of it at an absolute knock down price, I bought as much as I could afford and am still making a good profit from it, but the miners who found it had to accept a pittance.
The other approach is De Beers, who control the price in virtually the whole diamond industry (except for pink diamonds which are so rare the miners can ask any price they want). Yes, I know that De Beers are prohibited from trading in the U.S., but because they have the contacts and organisation most diamond mines pass their production to them for sale and those that don't refer to the prices set by De Beers. It keeps prices steady, keeps everyone in work, and stops boon and bust. The down side? No overnight billionaires. Even the Communists, whilst loudly denouncing the vile, exploitative and capitalist De Beers secretly sent it's entire output to them for disposal!
You pay your money and you take your choice. I suppose if you are a billionaire you take boom and bust, if you are the man at the bottom the De Beers way looks good.
As a complete side issue, I learned many years ago never to trust an employer. Always be in a position to side step out from under. Not easy, but helps a lot.


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