workover rig jobs in colorado pricelist

Are you looking to begin your career as a Floorhand, a Roughneck on an oil and gas drilling rig? Do you enjoy a fast-paced, team-oriented environment? If so, look no further than Precision Drilling! We are looking for High Performance candidates with grit and drive to join the Precision Family. The work is in Colorado and Wyoming, however, our neighbors from Utah, Kansas, Nevada and of course other states are also invited to apply. The entry level position at Precision is a Floorhand (Roughneck). As a Floorhand, you"ll be on the front lines ensuring we deliver High Value solutions to our customers.

As well, we are always looking for experienced candidates. If you have experience as a Motorhand, Derrickhand, Driller or Rig Manager, please also complete this application and upload your work history and certifications.

Precision Drilling has established itself as a market leader, delivering efficient, reliable High-Performance land drilling services to customers. We are active in all major resource plays, working with the most demanding and technically advanced operators.

The Floorhand is responsible for safely and efficiently performing a variety of physically demanding tasks on and around the drilling rig, supporting equipment, structures, and rig systems. Responsibilities of the Floorhand include:

Performing repairs and preventative maintenance of the drilling equipment and other components of the rig while adhering to Precision maintenance standards;

Miscellaneous duties including but not limited to offloading/backloading trucks, nipple up/down, care of the blowout preventer (BOP) system, and monitoring the operation of the shakers, return tanks, mud pits and chemical sack area.

As a Floorhand at Precision you will receive an hourly wage of $26.95 per hour, a $35 per diem and on the first day of the month following or coinciding with 60 days of continuous service you will be eligible for our comprehensive benefits including medical, health, and dental plans.

is the objective of Seadrill to ensure employment equity within the workplace. We encourage applications from Indigenous peoples, visible minorities, women, and persons with disabilities having the capability, ...

Operate and perform first line maintenance on rig floor drilling equipment Maintain drilling equipment, tubulars, handling equipment etc as per rig specific procedure Examine all safety equipment on the ...

OPITO Approved Offshore Survival (BOSIET/FOET) with CA-EBS MIST OGUK medical Shoulder Measurements OPITO Banksman Stage 3 (desirable) OPITO Rigging Stage 1 (desirable) For further details and to apply, ...

Prime Ocean is seeking experienced Roughnecks to fill offshore positions! If you are interested in going offshore, please apply to one of our offshore positions. Do not hesitate and miss out on the opportunity ...

including maintenance and repair of rig equipment, and he/she is a general all-around worker on the rig. The normal workstation of a Floor Hand is the rig floor. There are usually two Floor Hands on a ...

Performs emergency procedures. Ensures that work carried out is in compliance with company policies and procedures and according to safety regulations. Work is normally performed out-of-doors, where exposure ...

of the Floorhand include: Assisting the Derrickhand, Motorhand and Driller on the drill floor while making trips; Operating manual tongs and slips to connect and disconnect drilling pipe and drilling ...

will include liaising with customer point of contact at the job site, creating detailed service reports, participating in project work scope meetings and collaborating with Engineering and Project Management. ...

as required by the Driller, Derrickhand or Rig Manager Minimum Qualifications: Ability to perform essential functions of this position with or without reasonable accommodations Ability to ...

as required by the Driller, Derrickhand or Rig Manager Minimum Qualifications: Ability to perform essential functions of this position with or without reasonable accommodations Ability to ...

as required by the Driller, Derrickhand or Rig Manager Minimum Qualifications: Ability to perform essential functions of this position with or without reasonable accommodations Ability to ...

Assists the Crew Pusher and/or TRS Lead in carrying out all routine, non-routine and emergency operational activities around the rig floor areas or any other area of the rig location as designated by ...

This job role will oversee the inspection, maintenance and repair of equipment implementing company procedures. The Floorhand will also assist all operational activities around the rig floor, or any other ...

are to operate and to maintain the solids control equipment, which is used to separate solid particles and debris from the drilling fluids so that fluids are safe to recycle.1+year of experience preferred ...

Prime Ocean is seeking experienced Floorhands to fill offshore positions! If you are interested in going offshore, please apply to one of our offshore positions. Do not hesitate and miss out on the opportunity ...

Prime Ocean is seeking experienced Roustabouts to fill offshore positions! If you are interested in going offshore, please apply to one of our offshore positions. Do not hesitate and miss out on the opportunity ...

Halliburton Hiring Day November 2nd, 2022 from 9:00am - 3:00pm Venue/Address: Homewood Suites by Hilton 201 Kaliste Saloom Rd. Lafayette, LA 70508 HALLIBURTON WILL BE HIRING ON THE SPOT AT THIS EVENT! ...

include but are not limited to: Safely and efficiently performing all tasks on the rig floor and B.O.P. area under the direction and supervision of the Driller. Operating the tongs, slips, and spinners ...

are prominent in every aspect of drilling the well, manual handling of tubular and tools, making up or breaking out during making connections or tripping pipe. The position is responsible for the processes ...

and Accountabilities Works in a safe, healthy, and environmentally protective manner Assists Driller, Derrickhand, & Motorhand, while rigging-up, nippling-up, tearing out, & rig maintenance while drilling ...

The Aztec Well family of companies provides complete oil and natural gas drilling, well servicing, trucking, rentals, equipment, support services and supplies. We offer each service separately, or as a package, to suit your needs. We have been professionally serving our customers in the oil and gas industry with family-owned care and expertise since 1963. With nearly five decades of experience, we provide you the best of both worlds: the knowledge and resources of a large and long-standing oil and gas company, combined with the care and timely responses of a family-owned business.

With 700+ employees, we’re one of the largest employers in the area offering competitive wages and employment opportunities from oil rig jobs to trucking to supervisory positions and more. Our core values are built with the priority of Safety First. At the Aztec Well family of companies, we believe strongly in creating a culture of safety with empowered employees doing it right each day, every day. Our employees receive rigorous training and the best safety equipment in the oil and natural gas industry.

Our corporate headquarters is in Aztec, New Mexico, in the San Juan Basin, with satellite locations in: the Marcellus shale region in Indiana, Pennsylvania; Permian Basin in Hobbs, New Mexico and Midland, Texas.

Workover Water Well Drilling Rig Equipment , Find Complete Details about Workover Water Well Drilling Rig Equipment,Workforce Rig,Water Well Drilling,Workforce Drilling from Dri…

2+ years previous oilfield and/or workover rig experience preferred. Work on floors or derricks on the rig as needed. May offer relocation package DOE.

You will perform advanced hydraulic fracturing operations and assist in various aspects of the job including pre-job preparation, mobilization, rig up, on site…

The Floorhand performs the duties of general manual labor on the rig and supports and assists other members of the drilling crew during all rig operations.

You will perform advanced hydraulic fracturing operations and assist in various aspects of the job including pre-job preparation, mobilization, rig up, on site…

Experience in offshore and onshore drilling operations, five of which should be at supervisory level with an oil company. Job Types: Full-time, Contract.

Performing rig up and down procedures, nipple up and down and care of the B.O.P. Ensuring safe and efficient rig operations to meet the company’s goals and…

The Crew Worker, under the direction of the Rig Operator, performs activities and operates hand and power tools to perform maintenance and repairs to oil or gas…

Assist in rig moves: help with rig-up / rig-down, nipple up and down blowout preventers, assist with general assembly and maintenance and help prepare new…

Previous experience as an Frac Equipment operator coiled tubing, rig, oilfield, oil & gas, Oil and gas, energy, energy services, driving tractor trailers, well…

Assists in various aspects of Acidizing and Cementing operations, including pre‐job preparation, mobilization, rig up, on site operations, rig down, on‐site…

Develops an understanding of all major rig components and the necessary servicing. Prior experience in oil field, heavy industry or construction is beneficial.

*Exposure to equipment noises and rig/boat/facility vibrations *. *Sweep and wash decks using a broom, brushes, mops and hose to remove oil, dirt and debris*.

Develops an understanding of all major rig components and the necessary servicing. Prior experience in oil field, heavy industry or construction is beneficial.

Must have reliable transportation to and from the rig. The job of the Floorhand is to safely and efficiently perform all manual labor tasks on the drilling…

Previous experience as an Frac operator, coiled tubing, rig, oilfield, oil & gas, Oil and gas, energy, energy services, driving tractor trailers, well services,…

Develops an understanding of all major rig components and the necessary servicing. Prior experience in oil field, heavy industry or construction is beneficial.

We are committed to total customer satisfaction, achieving excellence in our operations through continuous improvement, development and empowerment of our people, and providing a positive contribution to our community.

DENVER, June 17 (Reuters) - As oil climbs above $70 a barrel for the first time in almost three years, oilfield firms are reporting prices for their services and equipment have bottomed and many are fielding more calls for jobs.

U.S. crude production, which plummeted during the coronavirus pandemic, is ticking back up, despite generally flat spending by oil and gas producers. U.S. shale output is expected to rise by 38,000 barrels per day next month, halting earlier drops. read more

Companies report drilling and well completions activity and pricing are edging higher, especially for those with specialized services or more productive equipment. Roughnecks also say they are seeing an increase in job offers, with companies competing for skilled workers.

"We are already beginning to see a positive increase in activity and an upturn in service pricing will hopefully be reflected in the coming months," said Stuart Wilson, chief executive of service firm Packers Plus Energy Services.

Still, there is a long way to go. The pandemic hammered the industry last year as some were just regaining their pricing power, Wilson said. His company is seeing strong demand for its premium completions equipment for oil and gas wells.

"Operators appear to be a lot more optimistic and considering projects that have lay dormant the previous year," he said. "We are seeing more orders being confirmed at pricing levels that are more comparable to pre-pandemic levels," he added.

Pricing power is returning "especially in niches like high-spec onshore drilling rigs," said Josh Young, chief investment officer of energy investor Bison Interests. There has been a $1,000 per day increase in dayrates for such U.S. rigs with more to come, he said.

Ensign Energy Services (ESI.TO) forecasts a $2,000 to $3,000 per day increase in rig dayrates in Canada into the autumn as supply and demand tightens, the company said at an RBC Capital Markets conference this month. In the United States, the second quarter will be the bottom for cash margins, the company said.

The shift is evident in employment with firms hiring again. Oilfield workers are reporting job offers from employers including Schlumberger (SLB.N) and Halliburton (HAL.N).

Liberty Oilfield Services (LBRT.N) this month held a job fair in Henderson, Colorado. It also is hiring wireline operators in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Wyoming and West Virginia, according to LinkedIn.

U.S. oilfield jobs increased in May by 1.6%, or about 9,700 positions, according to trade group Energy Workforce & Technology Council (Council). Some 27,000 oilfield jobs have been regained since February.

To break out of the downturn, service firms need higher pricing to help meet environmental and sustainability goals, according to Leslie Shockley Beyer, of the Council.

PRODUCER’S NOTE: When oil prices fall, like they’ve done over the last six months, one of the first things oil companies do is cut back on workers and on the number of drilling rigs. That’s happening around the country: There are about half as many rigs in March as there were last September. Fewer rigs means more competition for jobs on drill sites. We asked Neil LaRubbio to tell us what it’s like to be one of those oil workers fighting to keep his place in the industry. His account is below.

I’ve spent two years living on an oil well pad in a single-wide trailer as cramped like an airplane fuselage. A constant drone of diesel engines seems to cordon us off from the outside world.

I survey oil wells, which means I operate a kind of compass that directs the drill bit and maps the rock strata. After setting that compass in the hole, I stare at a computer for hours, as the drill digs its way down. Workers on the well pad call people in my position: “The Movie Watching Dude.”

I share the trailer with another surveyor and two drillers. We can be on the same well pad in the same “fuselage” for months on end. We peck at each other out of insecurity. Or out of boredom. Or just for sport to pass the time.

The oilfield was a reasonably comfortable place to work — the guys on my team are all earning somewhere between $400 to $800 a day — until the end of last year, when oil prices started to tumble. Now, they’re below $50 a barrel.

We constantly wondered if we were all out of jobs for the rest of the year. My co-worker, Dale Thompson, thought: If it gets up into the $60s, work will pick back up.

I’m not so sure. Our service company has been trying to hold on to as much work as possible. We heard rumors that the oil company that hired our services wanted to replace us with a cheaper company. And one day recently, while drilling a well just outside of Denver, it happened. A company from Louisiana outbid us. Dale was not happy. He hoped, as we all did, that the Louisiana company would fail, and our jobs on the well pad would be restored.

“A buncha **** asses are coming out here to do our jobs,” he said the day we found out. “They can’t do it, well, because we’re better. We’re from Texas.”

He was probably right. We cut nine days off last year’s drill time. We just drilled a five-day well. But that didn’t seem to matter to the company that hired us.

None of us know when we’re going to get work next. And when we do, it probably won’t be anywhere near here. While we did end-of-job chores, we stewed on what was happening.

We started packing up. Bedding, clothes, protein powders, dumbbells, and whatever else we had accumulated. None of us are good at goodbyes, so when we were done we just drove off.

Leaving the well pad, I feel like a red-eyed gambler walking away from the casino. I’m exhausted from 35 straight days of work; from sleeping during the day, rather than night; from adrenaline spikes when the pressure is high. And now, there is no work in sight. The money illusions have dissipated. I’m trying to ignore that lost feeling. It’s time to re-acclimate to society and home life again.

If you are looking for an entry level job in the oil industry, then Texas is a good place to begin your oil career. Texas is located on the Gulf, and there are both offshore oil drilling as well as on-shore oil fields. The center of the oil industry is in Houston. It is here you will find the offices of the drilling companies and their contractors.

Most job applicants going for oil and gas jobs in Texas come from out of state. Now that’s all good and fine, but many of these new entrants to oil drilling don’t know anything about the oil industry in Texas, and it’s a dead giveaway by how they word their applications. Oil companies are not interested in hiring people who have not gone further than doing a simple web search for oil jobs.

To get in with an oil recruiter you’ll have to get your boots on, and get to where the oil companies are; Houston, Texas. Even if you don’t have prior experience on drilling rigs, showing you have the mettle to relocate and show up for a face to face meeting will go well with your new employer.

Off-shore oil jobs are very well paid. This attracts many new entrants to the oil job sector. However, if you are a green job seeker, you are making it very difficult for yourself by applying for offshore jobs initially. In Texas there are also many onshore oil fields. Work on land based rigs is open to even entry level workers. The pay is not as high as the offshore rigs, but it is still higher than general manual labor outside the oil sector.

Having given that warning about the correct path to break into oil drilling work, it is now time to discuss the kind of work available to unskilled manual workers. This kind of job goes under the name roustabout. A Roustabout is on the bottom of the crew totem pole. Roustabouts are general gophers, and get given the donkey work by the more skilled members of the crew. If you are not afraid of hard work, and have the physical endurance to support the crew with your manual effort, then you will soon rise above the entry level roustabout position as you gain knowledge of drilling operations.

You don’t need to have previous experience in oil drilling to do the job of roustabout, you do need to show recruiters how you have successfully done similar manual labor. A good personality and a can-do attitude are essential to working in the tight-knit team of a drilling crew. Show potential recruiters you have what it takes to get things done, by the way you conduct yourself in the recruitment process. Break down doors if you have to, and step in front of supervisors and crew leaders, to get your face known. The oil industry in Houston is a small community, your reputation will spread quickly to any potential hirer, so make sure you make a good name for yourself when hunting for entry level oil field jobs in Texas.

There’s a lot of money to be made in the oil industry. That’s one of the main reasons why people are looking for entry level oil rig jobs. The most common question is can I get an oil rig job without a college education? Fortunately the answer is that there are entry level rig jobs available for those with a strong work ethic. If you want to make a good earning career without a degree, then oil rig work is almost certainly the best option. As even entry level rig workers receive between $40,000 and $50,000, it’s a good salary even for those who got a college degree, especially in this economic climate. The world’s thirst for oil is not going to stop, and oil workers stand to profit from our oil dependence.

The biggest stumbling block for those seeking entry level employment on the oil rigs is the problem of how to get an oil job without prior experience. At times it seems like an impossible ‘Catch-22′ situation as employers demand previous experience even for low level jobs. Be assured that the rigs do employ those just starting out – they need to as there is a massive projected shortfall in qualified rig workers as the older generation retires early. Most of these older workers begin their careers at the entry level and worked their way up. How do you go about finding such a starting position?

Firstly, it’s important to note that there are three main kinds of rig work available; onshore (oil rigs on the land), offshore (oil rigs in water – not on the land), and deep water (oil rigs in deep water).

Onshore oil rigs do pay a lot more than most other physical labor jobs, however in the oil rig industry they are the lowest paying of the rig work types. This is because the working conditions on-shore are much less demanding than off-shore, as well as being a lot less hazardous. Also, on-shore rigs are getting old and less productive oil producers. As we note later, these types of rigs are a useful way to get a foothold in the oil rig industry.

Offshore oil rigs are those rigs not based on dry land. This could be a shallow water jack-up rig, with transportation to the rig by boat. It also includes the deep-water rigs, far out to sea in ocean depths of over 1000 feet. These rigs can be special purpose drill ships, or static rigs, towed by barges. Transportation to these rigs is difficult and has an element of risk – you will need basic survival certification to be able to work in these hard environments. Pay is consequently a lot higher that dry land based rigs with manual roustabout positions earning more than $60,000 dollars.

You need to know that posted salary information for rig workers are generally given as daily rates. Daily workers are on duty for 12 hour work shifts, seven days a week with no breaks. To allow workers to rest and recover, companies employ workers on rig duty followed by usually equal amounts of time off. For example, a fortnight on, fortnight off. For deepwater rigs with the expense of helicopter transportation, working periods can be even longer. This is where rig workers can make a lot of money, and it is well deserved, you will need a good mental attitude to take the confined working space of the rig for more than a few weeks with no escape.

The best route to getting a coveted offshore position is by first proving your mettle in the more comfortable on-shore working environment. In times of employee shortage, you will see vacancies advertised in newspapers. Generally though, most workers find their positions through contracting agencies who supply workforce to the oil fields.

When applying for an entry level oil rig job through such an agency it’s important to show how you have relevant experience and skills. There is a lot of competition to get into oil rig work, and agencies have a responsibility to select only those capable of doing the work, they will much rather take on a ‘proven worker’, even if the previous work was not on an oil rig, so long as the skills and temperament required are similar.

I’m looking for a job in the oil field. I just want a chance to prove my self I’ m a vet with 6 deployments to Iraq if you can help me it would be greatly appreciated thank you

Offshore jobs do not require any special training or experience. If you apply for an oil rig job and get hired, offshore employer will provide necessary training for you to be able to work on offshore oil rig. As you work on the oil rig and get experience, you will have a possibility to get promoted and get a raise.

Offshore jobs are not for everybody. You must be in good health and mental condition to get to offshore rig. Also you must be ready to stay away from your family and friends for weeks and sometimes even for months. This is hard, but it is worth it, the reward is appropriate: offshore jobs pay higher salaries than any other onshore job. Some people find offshore jobs difficult, but others find it exciting and interesting.

The common mistake that people make about offshore jobs is that they think people employed at the oil rig only are engaged in oil extraction. This is not true. Offshore oil rig need doctors, engineers, cooks, waiters, maintenance staff and many other employees. So you can apply and get employed at the oil rig with any profession at any age. Usually the average age of offshore workers is 27 years, but if you satisfy other requirements that offshore jobs have, age is not an obstacle.

Usually offshore employers do not pose any educational requirement on offshore job applicants. This is true for most of the positions on the offshore oil rig. However there are a few positions, where education is required. Such jobs are engineer, controller and few others. Offshore employers often set up training programs to prepare new hires for working at the offshore oil rig and these training programs are free of charge.

The roustabout is at the bottom of the ladder, he is usually inexperienced and without the educational qualifications other oil rig jobs require. His job consists of doing whatever it takes to keep things working from unloading supplies, cleaning the drill floor, to painting the rig and equipment plus standing in for the roughneck while he goes for lunch.The roughneck’s job also requires him to be in very good physical shape because he is drilling, adding lengths of pipe as the drill goes deeper, cleaning sand and silt from the equipment and changing the drill bits or retrieving the samples of rock core.The motorhand deals with the maintenance of the machinery – the pipes, pumps, engines, etc. Although the motorhand often begins his offshore oil rig career as a roustabout or roughneck, his is a job that carries great responsibility since he is charged with keeping everything mechanical running.

The driller is the boss and as such is responsible for everything that happens on the drilling rig during his drilling crew’s shift. The driller has to have had experience doing all the other jobs because he is in charge of monitoring what is going on with the drill and understanding what needs to happen based on the information the drill sends up.

The toolpusher, although a strange name for the position, is the one with enough years of experience that he can be in charge of the whole oil rig. He is the one responsible for whatever happens on the rig from scheduling work to all of the personnel and the tricky job of communicating with everyone including the oil company. For all of this responsibility he does get well paid, around $90,000 a year.

One thing all of these jobs have in common is good wages and good benefits. Even the bottom of the ladder gets $30K-$50K, depending on skills and experience. They all get:Health and Dental Insurance

While the benefits are good, the work is hard and it is the people who have the right attitude, a capacity for working hard and paying attention to detail that will get the opportunities to fulfill their dreams of doing those offshore oil rig jobs.

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Oil and gas prices remain at rock-bottom, and the job impacts are growing. Bureau of Labor Statistics data report that employment in oil and gas extraction and support activities in the country has contracted by 18 percent over the past year alone.

Oil and gas extraction alone has lost 15,700 jobs nationally while support activities for the mining subsector, which also includes establishments providing support services for the extraction of oil and gas, has lost close to 100,000 jobs since January 2015.

Now a more telling indicator, the number of oil and natural gas drilling rigs in active use across the country, is foretelling much worse employment carnage in energy states.

Lower prices mean oil and gas producers have less capital to invest in exploration and production, which means in turn that they employ fewer rigs. Since local employment in oil and gas states is more responsive to changes in rig counts than to oil prices directly, rig counts offer a revealing augury of employment trends.

What does the rig tally say? Oil field services company Baker Hughes reports that the number of U.S. oil and gas rigs plummeted from 1,811 in January 2015 to just 489 at the beginning of March—down by 73 percent. North Dakota’s March count was 80 percent lower than in January 2015, while Texas was down 73 percent.

By themselves, these figures are stark, but what makes them truly revealing is recent research that teases out the full short- and long-term employment impacts of rig operation and removal.

A study from Rice University has estimated that the employment impact of putting a drilling rig into service creates 37 jobs immediately and 224 jobs in the long run, once all the relevant multipliers are factored in beginning with oil service company hiring, machinery and fabricated metal work, engineering, and management employment and ending with grocery store and pharmacy spending. Another study has found that the removal of an active rig eliminates 28 jobs in the near-term and 171 jobs in the long run. If this holds true, then the loss of 1,322 working rigs since January 2015 has the potential to lead to the loss of anywhere between 226,000 to 296,000 drilling-related jobs over the long term.

However, the reduction in rig counts will impact oil and gas states differently, depending on the timing and pace of the drilling bust in each place. Of course, states with the largest rig decreases—Texas, Oklahoma, North Dakota—will have the largest predicted declines in employment. Likewise, states with less diversified economies will feel the impact of rig declines most significantly. The table below shows the employment response (taking the average short- and long-term response from both studies) from the decline in rig counts from January 2015 up till now. The table also reports the long-term job losses as a percentage of total private sector employment in each state at the end of 2015.

Although Texas shows the largest decline in jobs, the employment impact is more intense in states like North Dakota, Wyoming, and New Mexico where the oil and gas industry is a larger share of the economy (see map). By contrast, the employment impact of the declining rigs is muted by a more diversified economic base in Colorado, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

These data and the varied impacts they depict underscore the volatility of resource economies and the importance of states pursuing policies that prioritize economic diversification. Diversification—and good management—are critical when states play in the boom-and-bust dynamics of resource extraction. Next month we’ll release a report from Metro that advances one idea through which states can manage unconventional oil and gas development through strategic management of fracking-related revenues.

DICKINSON, N.D. — A few weeks ago, a man walked into Command Center, a temporary labor and staffing service in downtown Dickinson, and said he needed a job after being laid off from a high-paying position on an oil rig.

The man said he’d only work for $35 an hour, needed a minimum of 50 hours guaranteed each week, and wanted his housing paid for along with a $150 a day per diem.

This is especially true around Dickinson, south of the core drilling area. There isn’t a drilling rig within 50 miles of Dickinson and likely won’t be until the price of oil climbs back to levels oil companies deem profitable.

Alena Praus, a lifelong Dickinson resident, doesn’t look like a typical oil industry worker. She’s 63, has a grandchild in college and doesn’t have long before she’s able to retire the way she wants.

She also happens to be one of the many people in western North Dakota who lost their jobs when the oil industry throttled back operations earlier this year.

Praus had spent more than three years as a district clerk for Baker Hughes when, in March, the oil field services company made multiple cutbacks at their Dickinson office.

While she is grateful Baker Hughes spent time training her, sent her to seminars and, she said, “put the trust in me to do this job,” she wasn’t surprised when the company cut her position as a result of falling oil prices, which created less demand for work.

Fortunately for Praus, she had a “Plan B.” She and her husband Rich — who is already retired after spending his career with Dan’s Super Market — spent the past couple of years having their retirement home built in Fargo, where their son lives, and plan to leave Dickinson for good next Saturday. She has been applying for jobs in Fargo and wants to work a couple more years before retiring.

“The guys that got laid off from out of town, out of state, they came from states where there were no jobs,” she said. “They came up here to North Dakota to get a job, left their families at home, got an apartment and worked here. Now, they’re without a job and go back home, and there’s still no jobs there. That’s the ones I really feel for — the guys with the families.”

Rob Heim is one of those employers who has been forced to let workers go — something almost unthinkable in December, when he said business was still “fast and furious.”

The manager of Bob’s Oil Field Service in Belfield, a company founded by his father in 1977, Heim said one of the most difficult parts of the oil slowdown has been telling people who came here from other states seeking a job, and a little redemption, that he no longer has enough work to keep them employed.

“What’s really tough for me is when I see these guys come from Michigan and Idaho, and they pack up to come here and kind of settle in and start going to work, and then all of sudden they’re sitting across your desk and you say, ‘I don’t have anymore work for you,’” Heim said. “A lot of them are here temporarily. That’s not the worst part. It’s the ones who move their families here and everything, and all of a sudden they’ve got to uproot their families and go back home. That’s tough. The human side of it. I’ve been at this a long time. I’ve got 37 years in the Patch. It’s never easy for the human side to see the suffering that goes on that way.”

Bob’s Oil Field Service is a diversified company. They have multiple trucks, backhoes, excavators, steam cleaners and roustabout services. Tank battery construction and maintenance, Heim said, has been the company’s backbone. But even that is slowing down.

Heim said work is coming much slower than it did last fall before oil prices dropped. While he said it’s clear that the drilling side has slowed down, his company is seeing operators shut in wells to save money on maintenance.

“There’s less wells coming on with less rigs and less work,” Heim said. “The construction has slowed down a lot for us. ... We’re finding that they’re not fixing the margin of wells at this time. If they have troubles, they’ll shut the wells in and wait until the prices come up to fix them.”

“We grew faster than we wanted to,” he said. “This gives us time to get our infrastructure up to speed also. That’s important. And then, we’ll just take ‘er as she comes.”

Nuverra Environmental Solutions, a major employer in the Bakken, heard some concerns recently when they traded in dozens of trucks that were later put up for auction.

But the trucks put up for auction had nothing to do with the slowdown, he said. The oil field service company traded in the trucks in order to upgrade to new, more efficient equipment.

The company has transferred some workers from Dickinson, where activity has slowed, to Tioga, he said. Nuverra also continues to be busy in the Watford City and Williston areas.

“Where we are not as busy, we’ve moved some people into different roles and responsibilities,” Johnsrud said. “Overall, we are not going through any type of major type of downsizing or layoffs or anything like that.”

Guy Grooms, one of the co-owners of 4-Corners Hotshot in Dickinson, said his six-person fleet hasn’t felt a big impact because most of their work comes in assisting workover rig crews that maintain producing wells.

Blaine Fugere, who runs B & B Hot Oil Service in Dickinson and has been in the oil business since 1981, said work is lighter than it has been. But after weathering other slowdowns throughout the years, he’s confident oil prices will bounce back.

While layoffs abound in oil drilling and service companies, the office manager at Job Service North Dakota in Dickinson said there’s still plenty of work to be found — even if it doesn’t pay like it used to six months ago.

Mary Urlacher said there has been an uptick in people coming to her office and looking for employment opportunities after being laid off from oil field jobs. Drilling rig and roustabout workers are those who’ve felt the biggest impact, she said, as well as the truck drivers who serviced rigs. Many positions, she said, are seeing hours being cut.

Job Service has plenty of openings in Dickinson. More than 150 jobs were posted on its website in the past week. Many were labor jobs in the trucking, construction and agriculture fields.

Plus, there’s still old-fashioned jobs that don’t pay oil field wages, such as working in a supermarket. Coborn’s Inc., the parent company of Cash Wise Foods that plans a June opening in the Prairie Hills Mall, posted more than 30 openings on Job Service’s website last week.

A week after first coming to Command Center, the same man who walked in all but demanding another high-paying oil job came back still in need of work.

Colorado’s overall employment should return to pre-pandemic levels for 2022, but the state’s natural gas and oil sector will likely lag behind other industries in regaining jobs, according to a new report from the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder).

“Improved prices are clearly what’s driving more drilling and increased production,” Richard Wobbekind, associate dean with CU Boulder’s Leeds School of Business, told NGI. “It’s in a positive direction.”

Wobbekind added, however, that the CU Boulder study — the annual Colorado Business Economic Outlook (CBEO) — shows the state’s oil and gas employment level is at its lowest point in 15 years.

Brian Lewandowski, executive director of the college’s Business Research division, told NGI that oil and gas companies have been reversing an earlier trend of establishing regional headquarters in the Denver area.

“The fact is that we’ve lost some of those regional headquarters,” Lewandowski said, adding that some oil and gas industry jobs simply will not return to Colorado.

An analysis that covers 10 industries statewide, the latest CBEO installment estimates that Colorado will regain 73,900 jobs in 2021. Although the 2.7% year/year increase would effectively recoup the total number of jobs the state lost during the pandemic-driven recession, the recovery will be uneven, cautioned the report’s authors. For instance, they do not expect particularly hard-hit industries such as leisure and hospitality to fully recover until 2023 or 2024.

The natural resources and mining industry, another economic sector that sustained heavy job losses in the recession, should return to net job growth for the first time in two years with a 600-job gain in 2022, predicts CBEO. The report states natural resources and mining shed 7,000 jobs in 2020, or 24.3% year/year, and should end 2021 down by a relatively modest 1,900 jobs overall.

For the purposes of CBEO, the natural resources and mining classification spans oil and gas, minerals and uranium, renewables, wind energy, solar energy, hydroelectric power, and geothermal. The Colorado Oil and Gas Association (COGA) told NGI that the state’s oil and gas industry lost about 9,000 jobs during the first year of the pandemic.

In the case of natural gas, it forecasts statewide gas output of 2 Tcf, valued at $8 billion, for 2022. Right before the pandemic, in 2019, the state produced nearly 2.06 Tcf of gas valued at $5.3 billion, according to CBEO. Colorado’s 2020 gas production slightly exceeded 2.06 Tcf, and the state will likely produce more than 1.93 Tcf in 2021, the report said.

For crude oil, the report projects Colorado will produce 160 million bbl next year — 17% lower than the record-setting 192.4 million bbl the state produced in 2019. On a value basis, the CU Boulder study anticipates $9.6 billion worth of crude output in 2022 — 4% lower than the nearly $10.2 billion figure for 2019. It notes that Colorado produced 171.5 million bbl of oil in 2020 and is on track for 147.6 million bbl this year.

He attributed the oil and gas production ramp-ups, despite the industry workforce contraction since 2019, to well efficiency improvements and lower per-barrel well costs over the last price cycle — and, of course, higher commodity prices.

“I think that it’s still quite profitable at this price level for what they’re pulling out of the ground, but the issue is how many holes they can poke,” he said, referencing recent changes to Colorado’s oil and gas regulatory system.

In 2019 Colorado’s Democrat-controlled legislative and executive branches enacted Senate Bill 19-181 to overhaul how the state’s oil and gas industry is regulated. The CU Boulder report states that the new system, which took effect in January, changes the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) mandate from “fostering” to “regulating” the oil and gas industry.

The overhaul reflects ongoing discord between Colorado’s energy and environmental interests, which Wobbekind said is “probably the most contentious issue in the entire state.” Biden administration plans to reduce drilling on federal leaseholds have also contributed to, as one CEO put it earlier this year, “‘a lot of acrimony and angst.’”

The CBEO points out the new state regulatory system gives local governments more regulatory oversight over the industry, restructures the COGCC makeup, establishes larger setbacks, collects information on cumulative impacts, and overhauls permitting to more closely focus on operator planning and environmental and wildlife protection measures.

Besides COGCC, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment this year began collecting methane emissions data via aerial surveys of oil and gas wells in the DJ Basin.

Wobbekind noted that, barring the new regulatory system, the CBEO researchers who prepared the report’s oil and gas section likely would have projected higher 2022 production levels. The models “had shown a very high correlation between higher prices and higher output, with higher prices driving more production,” but activity could be higher without the new restrictions, he said.

Lewandowski told NGI the pandemic-related reduction “was almost all economic in nature” but, “with the rebound, we do see the new regulations holding some things back.”

Dan Haley, COGA’s CEO, told NGI that the state’s regulatory changes “have added more than $200 million to the cost of doing business in Colorado, and that number continues to climb as rulemakings continue.”

On Dec. 10, Baker Hughes Co. reported 12 rotary drilling rigs operating in Colorado — a five-unit increase year/year. During the corresponding week in 2019, however, 23 rigs were running in the state, according to NGI’s review of Baker Hughes’ historical rig data. From a broader perspective, Baker Hughes’ latest weekly rig count shows a 73% year/year increase in land rigs for the United States as a whole.

“The fact is, Colorado’s operators are producing some of the cleanest molecules of energy on the planet and we can play an important part of our global energy solution, but unnecessary red tape and constant rulemaking hinders that progress,” said Haley. “At one point, we had more rulemakings taking place in downtown Denver than we had rigs running in the state.”

Haley added, however, that the state’s operators “have identified a path to securing permits for new development, and we expect that will only increase as we forget ahead in this new reality.”

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