oilfield laying off

I attended a vendor meeting by Apache last week as a guest of a vendor.....both my co. and Apache have asked all service companies to give up an immediate 30% plus all drive time. The vendors were also told the companies will likely be back for more as this wasn't really enough of a cut.

Roustabouts are offering crews at $98. If your in the business you know that's cheap.

I have been given my notice also. ( Ya they gave me a notice ) I was gone by the end of the month and then they changed their minds and want me to stay for 30 more days so I'm toast by the end of Feb short of a return of high oil.

 

Sorry to hear that..... you probably can't collect unemployment ??

 

Yes I can based on last qtr. BUT this would also be suicide. The contract co. I work for would never use me again....so that has to be weighed against $456.a week.....

Went and got TWIC renewed and physical today incase I have to truck again....with some irony there too......I'm retired pvt. fleet. Have many accident free liquid miles BUT because I've been out of a truck they will likely treat me ( and pay me )as a rookie......like I can't do it anymore......

I'm not going to think about it right now......just ride the mule all the way in.........

 

More layoffs announced...12,000 total.

http://sanangelolive.com/news/business/2015-01-16/apache-schlumberger-announce-layoffs

 

Our crude hauling company in the Bakken sent notices out today to all drivers that as of Feb. 1 we are all going to be making less money. They say that they've been told by their marketing and production companies to renegotiate their contracts and that by Feb 1st all contracts will be renegotiated. Our pay % will remain the same but we will be taking the same % out of a lower number. No hints as to what kind of a pay cut we are looking at, but this was pretty ###### news on my day off and incidentally the day I was supposed to be getting my quarterly bonus. Our company is still hiring like crazy which is aggravating a lot of people, I suspect they knew this was coming for the past couple of months and just wanted to be able to fill the positions that are absolutely going to open up when people see a pay cut. I've been looking around at other jobs for a month or so because maintenance on our trucks is so atrocious, I've actually been very happy with our pay. It's probably the only reason I'm still here. There are still lots of companies hiring but I'm sure we aren't the only company seeing serious cutbacks. Tomorrow will be an interesting day.

 

As an Owner operator, I did a lot of hauls from Texas to Williston and the entire Oil Patch, The last load that I loaded and took to Dickinson, ND on Dec, 23,14 . The Oil Field Company had cut the rate almost $ 1,000.00 Dollars. When I talked to them about the cut, they blamed it on the falling price of crude oil. I had the pleasure of letting them know that the price of trucks, trailers, Insurance, Maint. in fact has not dropped 1 penny and that I could not load any more oilfield equipment for them..

 

That's a very valid point!
We are seeing the similar layoffs up in Canada at the moment as well. Suncor laid off 1000 people, Cenovus 800 etc etc .

 

QC is third party buddy...acehigh72 clearly states stay away from them

 

It's not just 3rd party you need to look out for. I hear Enterprise in the Houston area is really putting it to their drivers and not in a good way. A couple of months ago they raised their pay up when they were running on a % and looking to add electronic logs to the trucks as they knew drivers would not be able to complete the amount of loads they were use to getting done. Now they moving the drivers to hourly pay but the overtime is jacked up. Hear some are looking to move on. I guess it is all a sign of the times.

I did an update on the Houston thread today, things are definitely changing. I may have been too bullish earlier regarding the oilfield slowing. I suspected the oil would continue to flow as it makes little sense for a company to spend money drilling a well then not pump the oil, especially with the debt they must service. Knew the drilling/ exploration side would slow and capex confirms it in a big way, plus the rig count falling. Many producers are in over their heads when it comes to financing, they borrowed a lot of $$$ to produce so they need the oil flow to keep the cash coming in. On a bullish note, a lot of money was spent outside the USA for very little new production increase. If oil use continues to rise in other parts of the world low prices may not be sustainable.

 

Energy use in developing countries has slowed over the last year, and the Chinese economy isn't expanding like it was. Europe looks to be falling back into recession. A lot of outfits could get squeezed pretty badly by summer.