Arky's Sunoco adventure begins in the west TX oilfields!

You are not side tracking the thread at all...it's a very legitimate question. Unfortunately, I don't have an answer either. I "believe" that any school fitting the accreditation standards listed in the earlier post would be fine...but I cannot confirm that.

Good luck!

 

Update...training day 3:

Well, I'm still here

The work isn't too bad actually. I hate the day shift though....lol. My trainer is actually a night shift driver that they brought to days to train me. Once we talked about it and he realized that it wasn't me who wanted days...it took one phone call. Today was my last day shift...start nights tomorrow! I'll end up with a long weekend this week (3 days), which will work out great if the apartment lease comes through. I'm staying in a weekly rate motel this week (very old, but clean...not anywhere near worth the $250/week I had to pay!...lol). I would advise any new hires to San Angelo area that your expenses will be pretty high until you get settled in somewhere. They still won't be low, but hopefully you'll have a pay check by then.

Training as a crude driver involves a lot more than learning to drive on bad roads. I've seen some pretty rough roads, but I would bet that they have a lot worse than I've seen so far too. I've heard mention of some lease roads being 12-15 miles deep into these ranches down here. My longest one so far has been less than a mile...I would guess (haven't measured).

Learning to "work the oil" is not all that complicated, but there are quite a few things to keep up with and learn to do accurately.

Learning the different types of equipment and learning a system for open/closing valves and attaching/de-taching hoses is simple, but takes a few repetitions. You have to get these things right or you are going to spill some oil. The idea is not to let ANY oil hit the ground....not a drop.

My personal observations have been that the lease roads don't bother me a bit. I grew up on a farm jumping ditches, so nothjng really new here..just bigger trucks. What does get my attention out here is the one very, very narrow 2 lane road that a LOT of the oilfield trucks are on. The white line is the begining of the soft shoulder, trucks are coming at you at 50-60 mph...it gets real tight, real quick. I do think that will improve on night shift as there are fewer trucks working...for now.

One hazard that I hear a LOT about is the oilfield workers who have been on site for 30 or 40 hours and going home after their job is complete. It is apparently not at all uncommon for them to fall asleep at the wheel...and then it's a real problem...real fast.

That's all I have now. Please understand that, now that I am employed at Sunoco, there are company polices that dictate how much I can say on a public forum. I am told that they take it very serious (could be company driver rumors/drama...but not worth a risk). So, feel free to private message me or ask questions here, but I will try to be very careful what I post from this point forward. Thanks everybody! I hope that my posts have and do help some of you!

 

You will actually be in a better position to get a good answer when you interview...just tell them you are asking for someone else.