Best route to go?

Start asking. TX and OK have lots of oilfield. In OK most that I saw was west of OKC. The truckstops on that side of town, the company yards, etc. Look up oilfield service and note addresses. Most companies of a type are in an area of town.

Smaller towns mean less pay for harder work.

Equipment is always an important question. Condition. As oilfield trucks are almost always dirty, that makes it tougher.

So, if you can ID some companies in a part of town where you can drive by and have a look, that may help. Huge potholes and equipment with weeds growing thru ain’t what you want.

Oilfield is about service first, and what they charge client, second. Truck company owners want loyal drivers. Those two work together.

If they won’t hire you due to experience, then ask them for advice on who to ask. So when you come back in six months or a year, they’ll already know that first employer.

Understand that insurance costs drive business plans. And understand that most accidents are in backing & turning. Oilfield backing & turning is during a thunderstorm at night. (Uphill both ways to school in a foot of snow).

It ain’t enough to say I F up. No one can afford that guy who can’t make three 90-degree turns while backing halfway across a drilling pad.

Oilfield is a world of its own. Sometimes fun. Sometimes not.

 

You want to PM me I can let you know who and where in Ok, country.

No #### on backing 90's on a pad slowmover1!

Seen a guy with an old cow wagon truck last week with a stretched frame, tall stacks trying to maneuver around a process facility; what a goat rope.

 

If the play is busy enough someone will hire you. Sand will make you a lot of money now, when they stop fracking they're the first to go. I only tell you that because I don't know your situation. If you get a choice of sand or water.

Water will give you a solid base in driving off-road. And you'll have a supervisor close by, called a pusher. In crude your supervisor might be hours away, in some cases states away. Before I went out on my own in North Dakota our supervisor was in Colorado.

Best part with water is that you're getting someone else's equipment stuck. And everyone expects water trucks to get stuck. It's just the way it goes. Most pushers keep a tow rope in the bed of their pickup, they'll call a truck out, pull the load off your trailer, and then that same truck will yank you out.

 

Have they told you about the company/companies that are guaranteeing you a job? Do you have guaranteed offers from multiple companies, or do you get to choose between the sand division and the water division of a company that has both (Stevens or Chalk Mountain)?

 

You will be able to make a more informed decision once you have the specifics from your prospective employers, but here are my general thoughts on the two.

Water will be more consistent than sand. Regardless of the price of a bbl of oil, wells don't stop producing water (unless they're shut-in). Running a vacuum truck is usually pretty easy, but it may require some labor if you have to do service work.

Sand might make you more money initially, but because sand is the primary propant used in frac jobs, it will speed up and slow down a lot more than water will. Also with sand, you may be stuck waiting on location for hours (or days) on end.