Gas Prices

CAtaylor · March 1, 2016

Sorry but just have to say, there is obviously a huge misconception about oilfield workers...All the talk about not feeling the 5$ gas while the middle class was struggling, saving money, not taking vacations etc.... What do y'all think we are, ha! I can guarantee you would be amazed at what the average oil field employee makes. They live paycheck to paycheck just like 90% of the WORKERS in this country. The guys at the top make good money so don't get me wrong but it is no different than a boss anywhere else; the other guys start at the bottom. I was making $5.75 hr in 2000 working 84 hrs a week with a wife, raising a kid and gone away from home for half the year; hell I wasn't even middle class, ha!

muddkatt · March 1, 2016

Hell, I was making 7.74 per hour back in 1983 Chris. Working 7 on and 7 off as a roustabout. Back then I averaged 120 hour weeks with a record max of 138 hours in 7 days. Decided it wasn't for me and left.

My brother is still in the industry, got laid off this past Sunday. First time in his 30 years that he is without a job, and nothing lined up. I talked to him for several hours while he was coming home and he will be able to last about 2 years before he tanks. He is not eligible for unemployment because he is a subcontractor, so he is just SOL with nothing coming in.

dirtfan21 · March 1, 2016

Sorry but just have to say, there is obviously a huge misconception about oilfield workers...All the talk about not feeling the 5$ gas while the middle class was struggling, saving money, not taking vacations etc.... What do y'all think we are, ha! I can guarantee you would be amazed at what the average oil field employee makes. They live paycheck to paycheck just like 90% of the WORKERS in this country. The guys at the top make good money so don't get me wrong but it is no different than a boss anywhere else; the other guys start at the bottom. I was making $5.75 hr in 2000 working 84 hrs a week with a wife, raising a kid and gone away from home for half the year; hell I wasn't even middle class, ha!

We do not have oil work near us, just a major refinery. Therefore, I read as much as I can on the US economy, especially since there is an election looming. I am misinformed by what I read, but I have no other way to educate myself. It is just I read so many articles about how well drilling companies pay and take care of their own that I have no other information to compare it to. Example: http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/22/oil-and-gas-jobs-pay-is-still-big-but-not-booming.html

EDIT: I want to clarify that by "Oil Worker" I mean everyone from the bottom laborer to the top engineer.

CAtaylor · March 1, 2016

We do not have oil work near us, just a major refinery. Therefore, I read as much as I can on the US economy, especially since there is an election looming. I am misinformed by what I read, but I have no other way to educate myself. It is just I read so many articles about how well drilling companies pay and take care of their own that I have no other information to compare it to. Example: http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/22/oil-and-gas-jobs-pay-is-still-big-but-not-booming.html

EDIT: I want to clarify that by "Oil Worker" I mean everyone from the bottom laborer to the top engineer.

I am not saying they are all low paying jobs but the ones in the field typically are. All of the jobs listed in that article are specialty type jobs and there are few of those with each company. Our company has 1 Landman for example. The guy tailing the pipe in the picture makes ~22$ hr probably. I am on the production side of the industry and the drilling guys typically do get paid a bit more. For a rig roustabout they are ~20$ hr where a roustabout in production starts out in the low teens. I have a crew of 30 and the average pay is ~24$ hr. The money comes in when you get to start calling the shots. If you are the drilling engineer the and the company is spending 50 million on one well you get paid well or if you are the manager of a facility making the company 1/2 million dollars a day you also get paid well. Just the nature of the beast i suppose.

CAtaylor · March 1, 2016

Hell, I was making 7.74 per hour back in 1983 Chris. Working 7 on and 7 off as a roustabout. Back then I averaged 120 hour weeks with a record max of 138 hours in 7 days. Decided it wasn't for me and left.

My brother is still in the industry, got laid off this past Sunday. First time in his 30 years that he is without a job, and nothing lined up. I talked to him for several hours while he was coming home and he will be able to last about 2 years before he tanks. He is not eligible for unemployment because he is a subcontractor, so he is just SOL with nothing coming in.

I kept hearing I was getting the shaft but stuck with them. They went belly up and the next company I went to work for started me at 8.50. I was in heaven after that. Sorry to hear about your brother. Hopefully something will pop up. My brother has been unemployed 3 times since the end of 14 but luckily keeps finding something just in time. My little sister's husband has been on 13 different rigs. Hopefully everything starts picking back up before too long...

dirtfan21 · March 1, 2016

I am not saying they are all low paying jobs but the ones in the field typically are. All of the jobs listed in that article are specialty type jobs and there are few of those with each company. Our company has 1 Landman for example. The guy tailing the pipe in the picture makes ~22$ hr probably. I am on the production side of the industry and the drilling guys typically do get paid a bit more. For a rig roustabout they are ~20$ hr where a roustabout in production starts out in the low teens. I have a crew of 30 and the average pay is ~24$ hr. The money comes in when you get to start calling the shots. If you are the drilling engineer the and the company is spending 50 million on one well you get paid well or if you are the manager of a facility making the company 1/2 million dollars a day you also get paid well. Just the nature of the beast i suppose.

I am a bit the wiser now, I appreciate the explanation Sir.

CAtaylor · March 1, 2016

Regular Gas 1.53 gal in Benton and diesel is 1.86

Shawn5800 · March 1, 2016

I feel for all you guys in the oil fields losing jobs right now because of the current situation. I never like to hear that you may not be able to provide for your family. It sounds to me like working in the oil industry is a very risky business. Its obvious how the wealth is being dispersed and its obvious why the laborers are getting cut. The big guys don't want to take a pay cut so they start to crunch all that they can underneath them.

Now, a serious but tough question...Would you rather see gas prices rise to $4 p/gal again and regain employment or take a chance and make a career jump?

Good luck to you guys.

muddkatt · March 1, 2016

There is a happy medium to gas prices. First of all, when crude was $120 a barrel, gas was $4.00 a gallon. Now that oil is $30 per barrel, gas is $1.60 a gallon. From what I was told by my brother, about $75 per barrel is the magic number to keep rigs drilling. At $75 per barrel, gas should be $2.50 to $2.80 a gallon. So to answer the $4.00 per gallon question, yes I would pay it to keep the oil field workers employed.

You mark my words, once the oil field totally crashes, OPEC will jack the price of oil to record highs. Once they do, it will take 6 months or more before they begin drilling again here in the US. Starting a rig back up takes time...lots of time.

CAtaylor · March 2, 2016

^^This..I am with mudkatt... It depends on what side of the spectrum you are on. The Shale companies need around that $75 per bbl to make money (for the most part, some wells have better economics). I have heard through the grapevine that some companies out in deep water Gulf of Mexico make money at anything over $9 bbl but most need between $20 and $30. The oil companies can make money at $30 oil, they just have to readjust to the market. They Shale players can’t make money at $30 and they are all more than likely doomed if this holds out too much longer. Unfortunately the one factor they can all easily control is payroll, the rest is all up to suppliers and service companies

There is no need for Gas Prices @ $4 a gal (You can thank Saudi for that, they are the great regulator and that is why OPEC was created) but to answer your question; If my kids were hungry and I couldn't find anything else to support them, I would wish for whatever it took. Do I want that, not at all and I would exhaust all options before that but baby's got to eat. That is kind of a loaded question though as it is a no win for me, earning my lively hood in that business. To put it in perspective lets ask the GM Labor Union workers if they would be willing to see half of the force laid off and the rest take 30-40% pay cuts across the board to get the price of my Sierra down 20K$ to where it needs to be. I guarantee they will tell me to kick rocks, ha! When I started offshore in 2000 I had buddies at the GM plant in Shreveport getting paid $25 hr to put 4 of the correct tires with the truck when it came by on the line while I was making $5.75 offshore. Don’t get me wrong, I would have been one of them if I could have got in but you had to know the right people.

I think muddkatt is dead on with the OPEC (mainly Saudi) intentions. Once they get the US Shale market shut down they very well could back off on production to get the price up so they can keep their reserves in the ground. What they are doing right now is hurting them but they are willing to take the gamble to keep the market share, they make money at 3$ bbl. If they were to slack off and we start drawing from the reserves faster than we are putting it in look out, we may all be wishing for 4$ gas. It would be a long time before oil prices got back down to a sensible price if this happens. All these rigs that are stacked aren't going to come back full force. A lot of them are being striped and the personnel that have been laid off are finding different jobs. A lot of them won’t take the chance at the oilfield again after being burnt.

I am not a selfish person and understand high gas prices are rough, I lived with them too. But I also don’t want hundreds of thousands of people losing their jobs, houses, vehicles, wives and kids (Oh yea its happening) etc.. so I can save 250$ a month. Sorry for the book, LOL.

Shawn5800 · March 2, 2016

Its a loaded question but valid. Its very hard to draw the line and say gas prices need to go back up so we all get our jobs back. On the other end, a large amount of US citizens would love to see it stay this low.

Either way, were all along for the ride. We will probably be here bitching about how high gas Is and you will all be smiling because your jobs are back 6 months from now.

The best of luck to you guys.

white1500 · March 2, 2016

I don't like seeing hard working people lose their jobs because of this but the greedy oil corporations don't have my pity, arab or otherwise.

And our dependence on such a harmful industry isn't good for our future, it's gone on long enough.

CAtaylor · March 3, 2016

I agree with both of you guys stances on this. It is much bigger than the oil companies and individual workers that get affected and think we need to get back to a happy medium. Some guys on here from Louisiana can confirm what I am talking about. Louisiana lost over 500 million on tax revenue last year and are running a projected deficit of over 700 this year, mainly due to the deacrease in tax income from the oil companies. To correct this the just passed sales tax increases, tobacco and alcohol taxes, cell phone taxes and are discussing cutting special programs across the state dealing with education and child care as well as increasing state income taxes. We are either going to feel it at the pump or somewhere else but everyone is going to feel it.

Shawn5800 · March 3, 2016

It bothers me that the states initial reaction is to cut education funding. How about cutting useless state officials or state programs that are back doors for money pocketing?