I am an oilfield worker in west Texas with 10 hours to kill until my shift is over. AMA

Picture of the location I am at today as proof. http://i.imgur.com/BvK2O3e.jpg

Another picture as requested http://i.imgur.com/enQqb9E.jpg

Decent handwriting. Upvote secured!

I had the other guy out here write it, my handwriting is fucking terrible.

Seriously, it's on a elementary level.

You need something in that picture that would be hard to photoshop in there such as a piece of paper with your name and date written on it to make it a proof. That could just be any picture.

Done

What is the general opinion you guys have of the petroleum engineers whenever they show up? Any of the flavors.

I'm a Junior in College Station studying PETE, looking to break into the intern/full time job field btw

I'm not sure that I have met any. There are "company men" out here that oversee the operation and choose what companies come work on location. If that's you, then I don't have much of a choice but to kiss your ass.

That would not be me, so feel at ease not kissing me ass.

Ha alright. So what do you do?

Well I plan on specializing in reservoir engineering so I'd be more along the lines of finding where to drill the wells that y'all frac. Optimizing flow patterns etc.

I asked originally because I definitely have peers and professors who have a distinct distaste for geologists and workers on site. Including the company man. I really do not understand these people..

It's a bunch of dick measuring contest bullshit.

I don't play that shit. I just joke with everyone. Haven't had anyone be a dick again. Except one company man. That was one bipolar motherfucker.

Do you hate west Texas as much as I do?

I fucking love this place. I hated it as a kid, but as an adult I don't ever plan on leaving Texas.

There's literally nothing out here. How can Midessa have so many people and so little to do?

Me and my friends used to say that when we were in high school, and I moved to Dallas thinking I would never be bored.

No matter where you live, you will always feel like there is nothing exciting or new to do. At least that's how I felt.

Hi there, nycer chiming in. That statement is false.

Y'all Yankees are an odd bunch though.

Fair enough, I guess. It's not particularly scenic though. It's like Oklahoma, only drier.

Psh, and it's fucking Texas. I've never been more bored than when I visited some place in Oklahoma. I think it was called Stigler? All the kids would just drive in a line up and down the main road honking and yelling at each other.

I also pissed in someone's grandmother's closet in that town. Got real drunk, thought it was the bathroom, and covered the home videos. Fun times.

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Guess I got used to the smell as a child because I've never noticed one. Is it a gas smell?

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Ok, yeah I get a small smell of it every now and then but I love the smell of raw gas so it doesn't bother me.

Where in West Texas?

Odessa

Claire?

?

It's a reference to the TV show Heroes, where a couple of the main characters live in Odessa.

No shit? Is the show based here?

A few seasons were. Its over now though.

Huh. I never heard about it. I wonder if they filmed here. Google here I come.

You don't happen to work for Bass or Wildcat, do you?

Nope.

I'm unemployed and have been for a while; how could I get a job as an oilworker? I'm college educated, but not in a useful subject, I'm physically fit and unattached and I really want to move somewhere new.

If you don't have anyone that lives in the area, and don't have the money to secure a house I would highly recommend not making any big moves until you can. The housing is absurd here. I drove past a camp site the other day and there were people living under tarps because it's so hard to find something that isn't expensive.

As far as actually finding a job, just put in a lot of applications. Most places are hiring, and many will hire anyone who can pass a piss test. If you go in person, wear work boots, jeans, and a t shirt. If you dress up you will not get the job. They don't want to see that.

Is professional wrestling still big in west Texas?

Not that I know of, I haven't heard anyone talk about wrestling since elementary.

Is the pay worth it what`s required as far as labor in concerned is there job security?

For me the pay is worth it. I am still used to living paycheck to paycheck so I ALWAYS have at least a thousand a paycheck to put in savings.

The work can be pretty rough sometimes. Swinging a sledgehammer for practically 12 hours straight, or just having to stay up for days at a time. The first job I went on with this company I was on site for 3 days and only got 1-2 hours of sleep a day.

Job security is pretty bad. If things stop booming you are fucked. I'm about to close on buying a house, and will then be getting a wifi hotspot to do classes online. Computer science can make you a shitload of money with an oilfield company. Think $250k a year starting off.

So its not a career path youd recommend might have to look into that computer science thing you mentioned

If it's in your area, I'd recommend it while doing online classes. Because you will be much more financially stable than if you were a college student working retail like I used to be.

And there is no telling if there will ever be another huge bust like in the 80's. At least in our lifetime. Think how much humanity depends on oil.

Thank you for your service. The job of flowback operator is not nearly as well-appreciated as it should be.

Are you worried about being exposed to dangerous chemicals for too long?

I think about it, and I'm sure I'll get some form of cancer eventually. But the financial opportunities it gives me is too tempting.

There's not too many things that'll keep a man from doing a job when it pays the bills and keeps a roof over one's head.

Just be careful out there, man.

Ha, and now the H2S sirens are going off at a nearby rig.

How much do you like Armageddon?

Bruce Willis is the fucking man. Any movie with him is gold.

What are your thoughts on the state of affairs in this country ?

I don't pay much attention. If it's not on Reddit, I don't know about it. If it is, I STILL may not know about it.

As long as we keep drilling, I don't give a fuck what they do.

I heard fat chicks love Oilers, biggest girl you tagged?

She was definitely a bigger gal. Fuckin Keisha.

Is that the Keisha that went to Lee High School in Midland? That's a big bitch! Props to you.

Ha, she was from Monahans I think.

I want to help drillers switch their diesel generators to natural gas burning generators running off flare gas. I hear this is already being done all over. Have you seen this in operation already? Who makes the decision to hire small businesses on well sites and oil fields is it someone in corporate or someone on the ground?

I want to help drillers switch their diesel generators to natural gas burning generators running off flare gas. I hear this is already being done all over. Have you seen this in operation already?

The only drillers I've worked with were pulling units, and as far as I know none worked off natural gas.

Who makes the decision to hire small businesses on well sites and oil fields is it someone in corporate or someone on the ground?

Typically it is the company man (the man from the company who stays on site overseeing the operation and makes all the decisions).

I see. Is your power generally off power lines in West Texas or do you need remote power as well?

All the equipment runs off of cat engines.

Do you get any complimentary crude oil, or gas? I hear restaurant workers get free food, so shouldn't you get free oil?

Shhhh.

How long have you been doing this?

How did you get into this line of work?

How much do you make roughly?

How dangerous is the work/jobsite?

Any good stories from your job?

Thanks for your kind answers to these questions!

How long have you been doing this?

I have been doing this job for about 4 months now.

How did you get into this line of work?

Got tired of college, so I started working in a shop. Got tired of working 12-15 hours a day and only making $13/hr. Someone told me about a job at this company, I called the boss to talk to him about it and started the next week.

How much do you make roughly?

My company pays a salary between $35,000 to $50,000 depending on experience. Every 12 hours you are on location you get between $200 to $250 in bonuses.

How dangerous is the work/jobsite?

It just depends how dumb the people you are working with are. Two days ago some guys were using a crane to pick up part of a wellhead that weighed at least 2500 pounds. Instead of using a chain, they put a fucking cloth strap on it and that son of a bitch snapped within 2 seconds and fell 15 feet to the ground. Easily could have killed someone. The biggest danger is the pressure we work with. If you hit on equipment that is under large amounts of pressure the fucker can blow up.

Any good stories from your job?

Not really. Haven't been doing it long enough for anything too interesting to happen.

Define cloth strap...

http://i.imgur.com/gXSXR8V.jpg

How much do you get paid?

My company pays a salary of $35,000 to $50,000 depending on your experience. Then you also get an f-250 work truck, and every 12 hours you spend on location you get an extra $200-$250 bonus.

I'm not far from you, help me with a job =]. How'd you get into the field? Thanks for doing this.

Right now we aren't hiring. I just happened to know someone who worked in the office and they were told by the boss to send over anyone who could work.

It's all about who you know really.

did you have any formal training?

Not at all. I had never even heard of the job.

How do i, someone with no oil experience, get in that line of work? How much does it pay? Should I go to west Texas, North Dakota, or look for offshore?

Just looking to make a lotta money.

It's all about knowing the right people and/or being in the right place or the right time. My company pays a salary between $35,000 to $50,000 depending on experience. Every 12 hours you are on location you get between $200 to $250 in bonuses.

I've heard North Dakota is good money, but a hellhole. I don't know much about offshore drilling. I'd assume it is great money but I have no idea who you would even talk to about it.

It's all about knowing the right people and/or being in the right place or the right time. My company pays a salary between $35,000 to $50,000 depending on experience. Every 12 hours you are on location you get between $200 to $250 in bonuses.

I'm entering the patch this coming winter. Ill be green but I'm not a dumbass. What are some practical jokes to look out for and not fall for eg key for the v-door, checking the size of my coworkers coveralls. ?

I haven't had anything happen to me, the guys I work with all are pretty chill.

Just ask for a lot of clarification. If someone says to do something, and you don't know exactly what it means ask questions until you are sure. It will keep you safe, and also keep you from going around asking for something that doesn't exist. Also, be funny. That's why nobody fucks with me. I make them laugh from the beginning. If you aren't funny, just use self deprecating humor and laugh off anything that people say to you.

Hey man, would you happen to know anyone who worked on extinguishing the Kuwaiti Oil Fires? Or have any way to contact someone in the Boots & Coots company? This is because I'm doing some research on the Kuwaiti Oil Fires and have become fascinated with them.

I don't. I did see a tool hand wearing a boots and coots shirt the other day but I didn't talk to him.

What type of education is needed to do what you do?

Kindergarten? I know one guy who has no high school diploma or GED. Maybe he told them he did though, they aren't going to go checking for high school records.

Opinion on that show "Black Gold"? You close to that area?

I've never watched it, but I've heard it is ridiculously fake. And yeah, I've worked on big dogs equipment before.

I'm from West Texas. How do you like living in the area?

I don't like how bad the crime is getting, but overall I like it. I love all the new businesses we are getting.

If you haven't eaten at the cork and pig tavern in the new shopping center between midland and Odessa I highly recommend it. Expensive but tasty.

What is your opinion on Global Warming?

Honestly I haven't done much research on the subject. From what I have seen it I think it is possible, but I have heard many suggested causes and don't really know what's real.

Obviously the field I am in would be a contributing factor to the problem, but my view is that there is no stopping the industry so I may as well take advantage of the opportunity I have to work a job that allows me to take care of those that depend on me.

And I'm never giving up steak, so if cow flatulence is really a cause that's just too fucking bad.

Have you ever drilled in northern pennsylvania?

A lot of you guys from texas are up here for the natural gas drilling (which is winding down)

No, my company tries to keep us around this area. They have quite a few companies all over though. One of the bosses just got bak from consult work in Australia.

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I don't really pay attention to developing tech in the field. If they find a more profitable way I'm sure it will become the norm. If not, they will stick with it.

I've heard oilfield jobs, especially in areas like North Dakota, pay very well and require little to no experience. Do you know anything about that, and is it similar in Texas?

I know someone who was working in North Dakota on something like a 30 days on 14 days off. He would fly up there and then fly back to Texas for his days off. The place sounds awful from the stories I've heard. Nowhere to live, an over abundance of criminals, and terrible weather.

To answer your question, it is fairly easy to get a job in the oilfield with no experience at all as long as they are hiring pretty widely. I started in a shop making $13/hr with zero experience in anything even closely related. I had been doing college and working retail before that. Then I was offered this job just because I knew a girl who worked in the office and the boss had told her he needed field hands badly. Started this job and I make around 6k-10k a month depending how many jobs I get sent on.

So yeah, pretty much anywhere it is booming you can get hired easily if you do some networking, and can make a very good bit of money. There are people doing my job that make 20k-30k a month, but they won't leave location for a single minute that month. It all depends on how much work you want to do.

One of the best ways to get onto the field and start with higher pay is to get your cdl and hazmat. Its a easy 5 $ raise and you will always have job security. I run a bobtail on the frac location giving you guys fuel for the pumps/ blenders etc.

I refuse doing the cdl. I suck at driving bad enough in a regular vehicle.

Are there petroleum engineers working on site?

There are operation engineers out here during the first stages. At this point where we are just flowing back they don't come out here.

Not sure if they are the same thing. I don't really talk to them.

Favorite shrimp recipe?

Fried jumbo coconut shrimp.

I hate coconut, but for some reason I love the fuck out of those shrimp.

I work in accounting at an oil company - though our holdings are in the Bakken region up in ND and Montana - all I ever hear about is that the workers literally have nowhere to stay and many use literal work camps as shelter - simply because the regions are devoid of both infrastructure and development. Even Williston can barely keep their electricity grid up half the time because of all the new businesses setting up shop there. I know its good money for people with no experience, but we regularly get comp claims for severed fingers and limbs.

Yeah I've heard some pretty bad stories about North Dakota. Things are better down here, although housing can be a little difficult.

Hi there. Once again, I'll ask the first thing that pops into my head. Do you have to keep an eye out for any dangerous local wildlife? (Texas = rattlesnakes for example)

Luckily I haven't seen any snakes that were alive, as they are my biggest fucking fear. Fucking hate them.

Some pretty fucked up spiders out here.

I drive by oilfields a lot, and see those things bobbing up and down, and I have no idea what they're called, or how they work to get oil out of the ground. Anything you could explain about that would be interesting.

Pump jacks. I imagine they work off a vacuum type principle.

What kinda chew are you boys throwin in on there?

Tobacco or mills?

Tobacco

Oddly enough not many chew. Mostly it's Marlboro cigs.

Hey is your company still hiring? I am a former mud logger and currently work in the office for an oil and gas company but I want to get back out in the field

Shit, I'd stay in the office. Normal working hours and AC sound fucking amazing.

But right now we aren't.

Yea I dont really do much in the office. I basicallly sit in front of a computer and watch oil well drilling data for 12 hr shifts which bascially means alot of redditing and movies but I kinda took a paycut and its really boring.

And you didn't find mudlogging to be agonizingly tedious? Am I doing it wrong?

Yes it was. Hence I asked about trying something else ie flowback

Flowback is definitely a great job to get into.

So any advice on how to get into it?

Just network. Try to find a connection that you have to a company that does flowback. It's an absurdly easy job, just a lot of hard hours.

You hook up a flange to the wellhead, and then go to a choke manifold. Then you lay pipe from the manifold to the pit, or some tanks. It just depends what location you are on. If you can find anything online that will let you familiarize yourself with the manifold.

In this area the manifolds look like this. http://i.imgur.com/7z4Phti.jpg

I heard it is a great job. What's so bad about it?

I don't live in the US, and don't really understand how these things work. How long does it take to tow these rigs out to sea, and how long do they usually stay there once they've arrived?

I work on land. I don't know anything about the water operations, although I may look into it after awhile. I'm sure there is real good money to be made.

Why do they pay you guys so much money? I have a friend from oklahoma who worked in Pennsylvania and the whole time he was up there he was payed $24.00 an hour around 24/7 because he was always on location. Then he worked in Canadian, TX for a while also.

Because nobody is going to do it for less than that.

• 1) Do you feel qualified to drill a hole into an asteroid, like Bruce Willis in Armageddon?
• 2) Do you or your friends like to quote lines from the movie "There will be blood" while working? (i.e. "There's a whole ocean of oil underneath our feet! No can get at it but me!!" or "Draaaaaiiinage, drainage my boy! That well's been had! It's been had!")
• 3) Which Armageddon character fits your personality best? Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Michael Clarke Duncan, Liv Tyler, or Steve Buscemi?
• 4) You know in that movie, "The Transporter", when Jason Statham is surrounded by bad guys so he strips down naked, then dousts himself in oil so he can uses his karate while being too slippery for anyone to grab him? Would someone get poisoning through the skin if they tried that in real life or if it got into his eyes?
  

• 1) Do you feel qualified to drill a hole into an asteroid, like Bruce Willis in Armageddon?

I don't do any drilling, I control how much water, nitrogen, and oil come out of the hole. That said, sign me up.

• 2) Do you or your friends like to quote lines from the movie "There will be blood" while working? (i.e. "There's a whole ocean of oil underneath our feet! No can get at it but me!!" or "Draaaaaiiinage, drainage my boy! That well's been had! It's been had!")

I doubt a single one of them has seen that movie.

• 3) Which Armageddon character fits your personality best? Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Michael Clarke Duncan, Liv Tyler, or Steve Buscemi?

Steve Buscemi's personality with Bruce Willis' rugged good looks.

• 4) You know in that movie, "The Transporter", when Jason Statham is surrounded by bad guys so he strips down naked, then dousts himself in oil so he can uses his karate while being too slippery for anyone to grab him? Would someone get poisoning through the skin if they tried that in real life or if it got into his eyes?

I've heard it is a recipe for cancer.

What kind of music is listened to out in the field?

Rap, country, Christian.

Anything you can think of.

What kind of safety provisions are onsite if you were to get splashed with frac chemicals?

There is an emergency shower. Nobody is going to use that shit though.

Could a degree in Supply Chain and Logistics help me find a job in an oil field?

Honestly I have no idea. You could always throw a few applications around and see.

Is it really loud on. Rig

I've never worked on a rig.