Alberta oilfield driving jobs

Could we not take the whole booze thing to another thread? It's getting really tired.

 

Most of those in sask would be paid on a per load commission basis. Working for a lease op or a company have benefits and drawbacks either way. Lease op will show you the commission sheet but is unlikely to pay over 20% rate. They also probably won't offer benefits or cover training expenses.

Companies will keep you busier and average a higher commission rate - usually 25 to 30% around se sask/ estevan to Manitoba waskada area. They offer benefit packages and pay all training equipment and usually a portion of hotel/housing costs. But you will never see the commission sheet so you are pretty much just trusting they pay you right ... And some are known to cheat.

Lease op will be using a tandem and usually a 40 foot heil triaxle or a 53 foot dragon. Some will run b trains for highway runs, mostly plains haulers who don't go into leases. Expect to to use a truck mounted roper, Bowie or t&e pump almost all are pto driven with a few having a nicer hydraulic setups.

Company wise expect a body truck with a pup. Usually green drivers start with a triaxle pup but most want you on a quad asap. Some are running tridems now with trailers. A few still do tandem/trailer but not as many anymore. Hydraulic pumps are more common and usually newer equipment.

Job description is simple, locate lease or battery by LSD or map co-ordinates ( some are easily found by gps and oil-traxx others you need a map and key card ) load oil&water and transport it to next location. Expect horrible roads, be prepared to sling 3" hose in mud and either 40 or -30 weather. Overall not as physically intense as some jobs but demands a a high pace and has 0% room for mistakes. Spills can bankrupt a company or operator and so most will fire you if your not catching on or look like a mistake liability.

Monetary: hourly is usually 24 at the lowest starting rate and 28 more standard. High is 30's. Good experienced drivers on commission gross 6k monthly in the spring summer and in the winter 10-15k depending what they are hauling and where.

 

Excellent detailed and comprehensive response, itsneversafe. Thanks.

How about water trucks used for building ice roads? [or other tasks] Same in terms of wages and hours?

 

Thanks Shades74 for the info....What are the job advancement opportunities in each of the three fields ( frac,cementing &coil), how long before the job bonuses start to kick in . Also what would be the busier base to work out of for trican....Red deer....Whitecourt etc.. Once again the information given out on this forum is top notched ...Thanks

 

Frac you start on Sand or Iron Truck, on iron you go to horsepower, blender, chem van, crew cabber, supervisor
on Sand you can do the same, or you can just haul sand / bass's and keep the bulk product going

On cement you start on a cement bulker, after awhile you go to the smaller blender (about 8 months or so) which is called a CNA, from there you go to the larger blender (SCM) then supervisor..

Not sure about coil, havn't gone down that path, bonus's kick in and trail your salary by two weeks, they're based on revenue.

There is a hiring bonus (at Sanjel) 375/week for the first 4 weeks while you're training.

 

Thanks Onetrack....Have had afew discussions with Hr people from Trican about a job...Nothing from anybody else so far..Sounds like they want me to work for them...not to sure on what job or at what base...will be talking with them again next week...Looking to possibly work out of Whitecourt...know a couple of people that work for trican at that base... hopefully all will work out...Thanks for you input

 

No worries, we have a couple trican people who have come to Sanjel, its a bit more laid back here.. One of them was saying that your bonus's get paid out on the 15th of the month in a big lump, so a bit different than ours if thats true.

 

Yes,Bonus's paid on the 15th. salary paid twice a month.

 

OneTrack:

Thanks for your help. What are you driving? Sounds like you love what you do and are an example of what lies in the future of any newbie which you were a few short months ago and I as a 65 year old class 1 driver am. Which town are you near? Notice in their website they use the description "operator" with positions in nitrogen services, pumping services, and coiled tube services. These positions would fit the newbie category? How is the housing situation in your area? Is there an area where Sanjel has a huge demand for operators? Did you apply online or did you just show up? Noticed that you avoided vac trucks.

Ted

 

Canadian-ay, I suggest you avoid frac, and possibly avoid cement too.

The best spot for us older guys is Nitrogen, by far. The bulk hoses are short and light, and our iron is 1" instead of the 2" used in cement and fluid pumping, and the up to 4" or more used in frac.

It makes a BIG difference on how strenuous the job is. If you like driving and don't mind throwing chains, bulk liquid nitrogen is a GREAT place to be. A Nitrogen pumper operator is also a good choice for a 65-year old. Our nitrogen dept is referred to as the Geritol set...

I'm 58, started in Nitrogen bulk this time around with a tri-drive tanker with a tridem trailer, then moved to Nitrogen pumping and am currently a Nitrogen and Tool Sup. Not a bad job at all. We also tend to do whatever needs doing at the time. I'm expecting to run some bulk LN2 this weekend with a bit of luck which pays the same and is just fine with me!!

Geo