If you want to work in the oilfield

blue1005 · Nov 30, 2019

Nyteryda said: ↑

Oilfield trucking ain't worth ####
Just a bunch of greedy crooks. To anyone who's thinking about driving in the oilfield, this is a warning. DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME!!! Find something else to do. The oilfield is all BS
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Sounds like a green horn that failed quickly

SavageMuffin · Nov 30, 2019

blue1005 said: ↑

Sounds like a green horn that failed quickly
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Very possible.

buckawsomeshot · Dec 5, 2019

thanks for the good info, took me a while to read through it all. are any of these job structured like they are for rig workers? for example 10 on 5 off or whatever. my wife dosent want to move and the closest fields are about 6 hours away in west texas or would i be better off finding a company that hauls pipe and just try work my shutdown time to be right around the house.

SavageMuffin · Dec 5, 2019

buckawsomeshot said: ↑

thanks for the good info, took me a while to read through it all. are any of these job structured like they are for rig workers? for example 10 on 5 off or whatever. my wife dosent want to move and the closest fields are about 6 hours away in west texas or would i be better off finding a company that hauls pipe and just try work my shutdown time to be right around the house.
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Hopefully someone with more experience working in Texas will chime in and be able to give a more detailed answer.

The rotational bit I know a couple companies up here that offer a rotation for drivers, a lot of them that come to mind are some of the bigger companies like Schlumberger, Cal Frac etc I’m sure there are some and I just can’t think of them. I’ve been working nights and I haven’t slept since I got off.

Best advice I can offer right now is just try to do some looking around on Indeed and try to make some phone calls and ask. Some places might work with you on the rotational bit if they’re needing drivers that bad.

Gatordude · Dec 15, 2019

SavageMuffin said: ↑

Hello all, I don’t know if it will help anyone out or if the mods will keep it open but I figure since the question gets asked enough it might be worth writing a very general advice thread for getting started.

I’m currently a driver in the oilfield in North Dakota, so I’ll try to offer a little insight.

If you’re new to the forum and you have a question to ask in regards to the oilfield, how to get started etc. when you make your post be sure to include possible areas/plays you’re interested in working in, your experience and things like that.

The best thing to do in my experience is kinda look around on Indeed or possibly Craigslist and see what you can find. Maybe Google things like, Oilfield companies in blah blah state or well service companies in blah blah area. If you can, simply CALL THEM. You’d be surprised what information these places will provide over the phone at their local office. If you’re close enough, just walk in their office and see if they’re hiring.

Crude, sand and water seem to be the big things people ask about getting into the most, mostly crude and sand. I can’t tell you about crude but I can say if you have 0 tanker experience that’s probably not going to be an out of the gate job at MOST places simply because that’s a big deal if you have spill or worse have a wreck. I’m NOT saying it hasn’t happened or can’t be done but it’s not everyday someone hires you to go from hauling groceries to crude oil but it has happened.

Sand. I’ve hauled sand in sandboxes, from my experience it doesn’t really take much to get started doing. I just showed up, got a job, went to work hauling sand like 3 days later. It’s not hard at all.

Pneumatics, no clue, never ran one, hopefully someone chimes in.

Hauling water. There’s service work, salt water, fresh water, just a few different ways to go here. This is the most entry level driving job for the patch. It’s how most people get the oilfield and tanker experience required to haul crude, and other liquids that require more experience.

These are not the only driving jobs in the oilfield, not even almost.

There are Class A CDL positions a plenty.

There’s winch trucks, slick trucks, hot shots, cement crews, small straight sewer trucks, crane crews and all kinds of things in between.

Now, typically you get paid either percentage or hourly, personally I prefer hourly because yes, even out here there’s times you will wait around. I sat at a pipeyard for over 10 hours and since I’m hourly, I was making money. Percentage, you make your money moving loads.

A foot in the door is a foot in the door and might lead to better opportunities elsewhere.

Flatbedding
Workover rigs
Drilling rigs
Frac crews
Cementing
Log and perf
Wireline
Coil tubing
Roustabouting
Water transfer
Hydro testing
Super suckers/hydro vacs
Fishing
Operating equipment
Crane crews
Alllllll kinds of jobs. A lot of those in some form or fashion can utilize a Class A CDL.

For Owner Operators, I cant really talk about that because I’m not one. All I’ve seen in my experience is most want you to have your own authority from who I’ve talked to.

If you’re new, go to a bigger company and save yourself some heartache of not being paid and all that Jazz. Go to a smaller company once you know what to look for.

Hopefully some more experienced guys can add some more suggestions.

Halliburton
Baker Hughes
Schlumberger
C&J Energy
Noble Drilling
Noble Casing
Noble Trucking
Nabors Drilling
H&P Drilling
Key Energy
Cruz Energy
Basic Energy
Purity Oilfield Services
Stallion Oilfield Services
Savage
Nuverra/Power Fuels
MBI
JMAC
Patterson/UTI Drilling
Weatherford
Cardinal
Cal Frac
Triple S Enterprises
In case anyone asks, there’s a list to get you started. Most of them to my knowledge have entry level positions.
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Where is the Swift and CR England of the oil patch companies??

SavageMuffin · Dec 15, 2019

Gatordude said: ↑

Where is the Swift and CR England of the oil patch companies??

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You know I’ve never really thought about that lol but probably entry level water haulers. Not all of em are bad but that’s normally where a lot of drivers start and they catch a lot of flack lol. I’m working on a rig again so I haven’t thought about it lol.

bonder45 · Dec 15, 2019

SavageMuffin said: ↑

You know I’ve never really thought about that lol but probably entry level water haulers. Not all of em are bad but that’s normally where a lot of drivers start and they catch a lot of flack lol. I’m working on a rig again so I haven’t thought about it lol.
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It’s funny you say that because water haulers make some of the best money out there.

SavageMuffin · Dec 16, 2019

bonder45 said: ↑

It’s funny you say that because water haulers make some of the best money out there.
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Oh some of them do make very good money I’m not denying that.

Some of them also make peanuts, just depends on who you work for and where.

blue1005 · Dec 17, 2019

SavageMuffin said: ↑

Oh some of them do make very good money I’m not denying that.

Some of them also make peanuts, just depends on who you work for and where.
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I have hauled rigs, oil, and water, water by far paid best and was the easiest on the old body.

Whyte Trashe · Jan 1, 2020

blue1005 said: ↑

Sounds like a green horn that failed quickly
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Is it possible that this guy is telling the truth?

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