Oil and Water Jobs in Central and Northern Oklahoma

This thread is about current oil and water work in Central and Northern Oklahoma. There are plenty of threads about work out near Elk City et al, in Western Oklahoma, and about other OK areas. I will focus on the OKC and Enid areas, since those I know best. I moved from haul driving to safety enforcement a few months ago. I am glad to be out of the driver's seat but I have lots of driver friends up in ND who are being affected by the Northern slowdown in the Bakken oil fields, and have asked me for info on Oklahoma's opportunities.

OKC proper has work for local CDLs but the pay is depressing, between $12 and $16 per hour with no promise of overtime. But the oil fields to the immediate West and North to the KS border are busy. Water drivers start around $18 and crude drivers start around $20. Which companies to recommend?

1. Plains All American Pipeline (Enid): Percentage pay for hauling oil plus $23/hr for ALL wait time. Expect about $300/day. Night drivers about $400/day. Slip-seat 6-6 shifts, rotating days off. They OWN the pipelines that half of the OK oil flows on, so they are not just about trucks. Benefits start on DAY ONE. A BIG plus if you or your family has health issues. About $300/mo for premiums covers the whole family and you. Good luck beating that figure without a government job. Also, the company medical/dental/vision is self-insured so they do not play with any health insurance companies, nor will you need to. When oil hauling slowed down several years ago, these guys laid nobody off. This firm has great retention of its people and does not hire often. Put an alert on google to be notified when one comes available.

2. Chesapeake Energy (West of El Reno): $20+/hr after training. Similar to Plains but their driver benefits are more like what you see elsewhere (90+ days to wait, $700/mo family premiums, etc). 401k match up to 15%. Nice if you are starting your retirement planning late. They are the second-largest producer of natural gas, a Top 15 producer of oil and natural gas liquids and the most active driller of new wells.

3. Any O/O advertising on Craigslist offering a daily minimum guarantee of $300+, weekly payroll, no hold-backs (them asking you to finance their operations while they wait to get paid by the clients), a sign-on bonus of $1000+ (paid upon signing, not some bait-and-switch "paid after six months" bullsh!t), individual housing or a sleeper with fridge, microwave, inverter, TV and internet. Good luck finding one of those. The point is this... avoid any O/O as their driver in the oil patch, unless you like giving other people control of your money.

4. DO NOT gamble with Rick's, High Sierra Oil, Gainseville Petroleum or any of the temp agencies in OKC. According to testimony, they are flaky and will waste your time.

Yes, I know that $300/day is not enough to ring the bells of anyone who has been paid $5,000 for two weeks of work in ND. However, given that ND has slowed down, the cut in pay to work in OK may be worth it to you. Swallow your pride and get your butt down here, at least until ND picks back up. Or just take the rest of the year off and check back after the holidays. If you haven't spent all your ND paychecks on Williston hookers or booze, you can afford to.

 

I don't know. Nobody here that I know in OK with a desire to work is NOT working.