Saw a couple rigs working yesterday!

[BruceW]

So, driving along and I see a rig working, think, "Cool, good to see!".  Go about 10 miles, see another, think, "Great!".  Then remember, I'm still in SK.


In case it'll help anyone both are within 10mi. of Gull Lake, N side of #1(despite being born/raised in AB I know nothing about the oil/gas business).  Further, construction around Regina isn't slowing it's expanding (both commercial and road, not to mention housing), and construction around Moose Jaw is picking up. 

I know lot's of folks are out of work so thought I'd post the above in case it may help someone.  Let's face it, a lot of AB's money has left and quite a bit of it landed in Sk.

[Walleyes]

Although Sask has a few as does BC they still don't compare to Alberta at its worst as we are now. Neither province has the area to drill in that Alberta does. If Sask had the resources we do there is no doubt in my mind they would be busier than us right now but their recourse lie in a relatively small area in comparison to ours. We are just used to seeing a rig around every corner that now it seems barren.

Weekly rig counts from this past week from the CAODC

[OL_JR]

     On the other side of the wellhead have noticed a pretty strong uptick in last month or so. 
     Service rigs have been showing up on wells that were left down most of the year.  Companies are trying to spend some money before year end with upgrades/maintenance etc. 
     Not much for days off lately but I'll take it. January/February can be a different story no matter how the industry is doing.

[LeverAction]

We have been flat out all year but.... 2 things, the NDT gig is always needed, old pipe, aircraft, mills etc  everything still needs to be inspected. And we are working with half the people we had on last year. So the guys not let go are doing twice as much. Alberta is still our busiest Province in Canada but better leadership is needed to promote our #1 resource, the other Province's can't lead this country like us in the oil game.   

[Walleyes]

What amazes me is how fast guys forget what it's like to be out of work. I've been quite lucky, well a few of us consultants that are with the company I'm with are quite lucky. We weathered the storm quite well compared to most. We kept at least 2 rigs going through out and averaged 3 rigs at the worst of it, we are up to 6 now. They never cut our wages a lot, they treated us very well, in return they asked us not to forget who took care of them when things get busy again, which is understandable. The rig I am currently on is a good one, one of the best I have had in my 13 years consulting. We picked it up this May and have worked it every day since the first week in May. We just finished up an 8 well pad and the plan was to move, set up and shut down early for Christmas, it would have put us all home on the 16th. Plans changed in Calgary the last minute as they always do and we were asked to move, and batch drill our 8 surface holes on our next pad. If all goes well as they are so far we should be wrapped up by the 22nd 23rd at the latest. But my goodness do I have a rig full of pouting hands. Like I said they have all forgotten that a year ago they were all out of work borowing money from the bank to keep the doors open. Funny how short some people's memories can be.

[LeverAction]

Yep I'm old enough and old school, coming from a ranch life growing up there was no such a thing as a day off. I'm  lucky to be at the same company for years and have made a good place for myself. But it did come from hard work and dedication. Oil and gas has made a good life for me, but you do have to earn it. 

[greylynx]

Walleyes, Lever Action and any one else.

I was wondering if the young guys starting out in the oil patch are any different than when you started out?

Just wondering.

[Walleyes]

For the most part yes, in some ways better in some ways worse. They are generally more well behaved than we were back in the day, they just have to be this day and age it's the way it is. Work ethic not so much. Just the way it is. General equipment knowledge is lacking big time, we teach them it just takes a bit longer as the younger generation is just not raised as hands on as we were. And we are to blame for that as much as anybody. I mean,, when we were kids we could fix or our fathers fixed their own vehicles and such, who the heack can even begin to work on one of our new vehicles yah know, so that knowledge is tough for kids to pick up on. I find in the drilling industry a lot of the younger guys are more career orientated these days and that's good to see.

[LeverAction]

I agree, they do lack hands on skills. But they know more about the computer age life skills. I think it's a transition of how things are going to be. A lot of kids today did't fix the old tractor or their cars, but they did fix the computer and such. I think my lack of computer skills frustrates them as much as their lack of mechanical skills frustrates me. I have mentored a lots of young guys over the years in the trades, and I don't think they are useless, just more of a" why uses a big hammer when a click of a button will work" attitude. I'm on my way out so I don't know, maybe they have the right answer, time will tell.