Do you guys watch oil prices ?

Anything 20 dollars oil or less. Means 1.20 gas for us after three months purchasing.

Oil companies got a hold of a tiger, they don't dare let go. It's not the oil men and wages anymore. They need Teachers and everyone else who has abandoned or quit their minimum wage or inadequate govt job to go to the oil fields. A CDL is something that will get you twice or three times normal pay. Tempts even me.

If you really want the best in the oil industry, learn Plant Operations in school and then become a refinery overseer or manager of some sort, they base pay 90K and 120 or more annual overtime. It don't take much over sight to fill a cracking tower 38 feet prior to heating.

 

Yes we watch. I find it very reassuring when the managers running our trucking company know the numbers and have an outlook on where things are heading. No one can accurately predict the price but there are some events you can be aware of and adjust.

For example, in 2020 all commercial ships will have to switch over to a cleaner type of diesel with less sulphur. This will make the demand (price) for light sweet crude even higher, some types of oil will fall very hard in price and diesel prices across the board for all industries will be increasing. As a trucking company you could put your head in the sand and just hope or use the data to help plan better for your business.

New rules on ship emissions herald sea change for oil market | Reuters

Also a lot of shale producers used the recent run up in oil price to lock in higher prices well into the future so if the price does plummet you can bet they will still be pumping at a steady rate.

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

Another event to consider is the pipeline bottleneck out of the Permian will be lifting in the backend of 2019. Producers are still drilling in the Permian but they are not fracking the wells yet. So come the Summer of 2019 there is expected to be a huge shortage of available crews service companies can provide. There are investors looking at this situation and eager to buy publicly traded oil services companies in any pullback for an expected run up into the middle of next year.

https://www.oilandgas360.com/oilfie...s-of-permian-basin-wells-to-sit-idle-in-2019/

A lot of companies in all industries are in debt, it is a result of the low interest rate environment. But many argue that we are still underinvested in the oil and gas energy sector and there will be huge shortfall in 2020-2023 if things remain as they are.

The company I work for is a division of Mammoth Energy Services (Ticker: TUSK). Mammoth has no debt, they pay a dividend and they are pouring money into the trucking division so you can't really say all producers or all oilfield service companies are in a bad situation.

 

It could go up
It could go down
It could stay the same
Hope this helps.

 

Predicting the price of oil is a fools errand.

 

I do watch prices. Not predict tho.

 

Still waiting for $5.00 per gallon diesel.

 

Lol. Funny you should say that...I left trucking to work in a plant here in west texas. I still keep my CDL active though.

As far as pay, its 85k base and 7 on/7off. So I make 85k working two weeks a month. You get some forced OT, so really you make 95k a year. The only way to get to 120k is working ALL the OT available. Which is hard to do, because you have other people who want it too.

Senior operators and managers make 150k+ depending on years, etc.

Good luck trying to get in though, there is a long line. Most say they want the job and quit (which blows my mind). Referrals are 99% of employees.