How much money were the oilfield CDL drivers making during the US oil boom period of 2012 - 2014?

I was in oilfield from 2011-2020. When in the field as a frack hand /driver my pay was 15.50-20.50 and I was always close to or over 100K. This was PA/WV/OH. Only had Driving hours till the 5th day due to working so many hours a day. Owner operator sand haulers made A LOT of money. I moved into the office in 2016 and took a HUGE paycut.
The guys in ND made a lot of money regardless of what they were doing. Can’t remember the years when it was best. Guys in TX also made very good money. Maybe some will chime in from other states with their experiences.

A CDL and a pulse was all you needed. It got so bad that the pulse was only requirement.

 

I’ll add that I was fortunate to never be laid or lost job during downturns. Up here we are mainly natural gas. So we wouldn’t feel the hit like the oil states would. Our situation was always better…not always great, but it wasn’t doom and gloom ever.

 

I was never just a full time CDL driver only so maybe my input isn’t a good example. There are others here who were just drivers.

 

The money was good..but the cost of living was extremely high.

A motel room for example. Was $750 a week.

 

During the boom time in North Dakota. They had to pay $20/HR just to flip hamburgers.

 

2007-2008. Working up in Ft Saskatchewan AB. They were building an oil refinery for ConocoPhillips. They were paying $85-200/hour. There were Americans migrating up there to work. I think the gate people were making the $85.

We were making $8-12k a week AFTER expenses. The money was pickle hardening OBSCENE, but there was a price: I left home January 17, 2008 and went back home the third week of December.

When you get into a sweet gig like that, you have to remember that it can disappear at any time. They were planning to build this monster refinery north of Alberta, in the Territory. But suddenly, the political climate changed, and ConocoPhillips pulled the plug. 2009 was a bad year.

 

In 11/16 Arkoma energy was paying after tax's , 1442.08 w/ 250 a week added as per diem . 1692 . And I was the newbie at the time

 

Crew hands were making more than guys like me who drove all the time, but we were doing pretty well too (pardon the pun). I was bumping up against six figures working 5/2/5/3 and usually 65-70 hours per week.

 

You want the truth? In the boom you could make almost enough money to not get mad about the price of beef jerky!