Chalk Mountain

Worked for CMS in South Texas for about 2 years(2015-2017) at two different yards. Hauled sand then transferred to the water department. All the work in South Texas is for EOG. I believe the same holds true in NM and West Texas. I actually enjoyed working there for the most part. The most I made was 23.50 hourly doing about 55-70 hours a week in water. Not bad considering I went home everyday.

Pros: Great equipment(newer Petes), great maintenance programs, always have lots of work in water dept. and sand is so so. Sand is really chill, but less money. Water is a bit more hectic, but lots of hours and money if you want doing coil tubing, service work, flowbacks, etc., or if you just want something more predictable and laid back at about 10-12 hours a day you can just do production. The 100K is realistic because if you haul water, then you will have the opportunity to run with coil tubing crews that are doing 16 hours a day easy. CMS hot swaps coil tubing drivers at location with pick up trucks. 16 hours a day doing $21 - $27 hourly. CMS drivers get to run mud at drilling rigs regularly which will get you 12-15 a day.

Cons: CMS and EOG management are pitbulls. Nearly zero tolerance if you damage equipment, spill anything, get into an accident, get reported by safety, etc. This is important because CMS does not have a live and let live mentality like most oilfield companies do. In South Texas, at least, the EOG production facilities are sometimes surprisingly dangerous to work; even the ones located in city limits. Significant H2S, sulfuric acid, carbon dioxide releases are common, as is with any operator's production facility, but with EOG and the amount of wells they have, it's obvious that there aren't enough people to get the releases under control at any given time. The near constant exposure to toxic chemicals in the atmosphere is ultimately what made me leave the company. But everyone's tolerance is different, so...

It's a good company though if you work hard and dot your i's and cross your t's. I recommend them.

 

Production would sound nice at that 55-70 hours/week deal. Getting a little worn down by the constant, running over the clock on the dairy and processing plant operations I deal with now. For all the hours I work where I'm at now, this activity based scheme is really making things feel cheap.

 

It’s 24 hours up here in ND

 

It could be the fact that they run into New Mexico quite often. Did she say they're running on Texas Intrastate?
I highly doubt that TX DOT is going to take away the oilfield exemption from us as that is the only way that trucks can continue to service the oilfield. If it weren't for the exemption, everybody would be running out of hours constantly.

RE the specific oilfield equipment rule (i.e coil tubing, etc.) There is a massive misnomer going around the patch about this exemption. And honestly, I don't understand why drivers keep bringing it up. It's how we make our money out here, but they talk about it ad nauseam...almost like they want TxDOT to take it away from us. Anyways, that rule as written is an FMCSA rule. TxDOT does not categorize the oilfield exemption to only be used specifically trained drivers that operate specialized equipment. Rather they just categorize it to be used for "certain drivers". And out of the tons of DOT inspections that I and other drivers have gone through, I have never heard of 1 instance of a DPS Trooper giving anybody grief over utilizing the exemption. Furthermore, Qualcomm, Peoplenet, KeepTruckin, etc all recognize the oilfield exemption for sand and water haulers. If it was illegal, they wouldn't let us do it.

 

Some companies say the oil field exemption is to much to keep up with, so they don't run under it, that could be reason for 34 hr reset instead of 24.

 

Anyone working in the oilfield can use the 24 hour restart it's the off duty well site, line 5, that pertains to specific oilfield equipment. Which is probably what they're doing and if they get audited it won't be fun for them because sand, at least pneumatic trailers, don't fall under that

 

Do you think that none of these sand hauling companies out here have been audited before? These companies have been using the oilfield exemption ever since it's been available, and I know that every one of them that I have worked at has been at least audited once with no issues regarding using it. And trust me when I say that a lot of these companies would not use it if it was illegal. I even provided evidence of why it is legal for us to use it in my post above. Did you not read it?

Yes, there are a few companies out there that are trying to run outlaw. But the very great majority of companies out there that are trying to be as safe and as legal as possible. Insurance rates affect these sand hauling outfits the same way they affect the otr companies. And if you're running outlaw, you aren't going to get insured. Plain and simple.

 

You seem like someone that has to be right no matter what. Have a good day.

 

LOL. It has nothing to do with being right or wrong or my need for the aforementioned, but nice ad hominem regardless. What I am, however, is a person that tries to stay informed as much as I can. I am also the type of person that combats misinformation. Now if you would like to point out where I am wrong, then we can chat about it.