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Any oilfield men in the house? Something a little more specific in the industry thread under misc.

Use to be in the patch..... a long time ago

Wish I would of never started Oldman.

I spent 14 yrs offshore LA / TX.
Majority of the last 5 or 6 years was out of Fourchon.

The toll road is highway robbery.


Got out in 2016 when it slowed again.

Ppl ask if i miss it.

Sure. Worked with some good guys.
Miss the 2wks off a month, esp during deer season. 😢

I worked my way through LSU on the oil rigs & in the shipyards of south Louisiana. I made it all the way to the end of my junior year in Petroleum Engineering before I figured out that being an über nerd and sitting alone like a hermit with a bunch of severs hacking on code was more of my kind of thing. So eventually I graduated in computer science but the oil patch was a great way to pay for an education. Eventually I wound up writing custom software for family that still run oilfield businesses down there so my career switch worked out great for everyone.

Why?

I retired last October. 41 years working offshore on oil and gas Production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. It was a good career for me. I enjoyed the being off 1/2 the year so I could hunt and fish more. Pay and benefits were good. Enabled me to earn a pension and save enough money to retire.
The last place I worked was a floater in deep water. I stayed there 20 years, crew was like family.

42 years in Pennsylvania. I worked in production, pipelines, cutting row's,environmental stuff after I got my degree. Hauled deep water brine, crude oil and pipe. Yes, I miss it.

When I was 6 or 7 I met a man who had just retired from the oil field, he became my best friend for life shortly after that.

I learned a lot from that man. I look back and see him and I playing with Tonka trucks, sometimes for hours. The man had immense patience.

63 years old and still had the patience to play trucks with a 7 year old kid that wasn't his, he was a hell of a guy!

Nothing weird about him, just a man that helped a kid he new needed extra help to stay on the narrow path.

Between him and my dad I had an upbringing that would rival the best of them.

I have a lot of respect for you oil field boys.

God Bless Bland Parker!

Enough of this touchy Feely schit, GFY!!!!

I dont work in the Oilfield, never have, could of at anytime in my life, too late now, but.....as an example, my friends Son is 28yrs old, has $500,000 in the bank, any questions?

Keep away from drugs, booze, and fast wimmins is what that boy did.

Retired after 36 years. Last 26 years with Shell Oil.

My young grandson is a Rig Welder. (welder with a Rig) He does everything. It is slim pickings these days for pipeline welding thanks to the administration's lunacy. He has tested for a few jobs that never came to fruition and just got back from capping a well the other day. They have a few more to cap so he'll get called again for that but for the time being he's doing fab work. My cousin is simi-retired and was an inspector for years. The last several years he was into robotics which I suppose is the coming thing. My dad worked in the patch for several years after the war. He was a little guy and they kept wanting him to work derricks. He refused. I asked him why and he said some of those stupid drillers will kill you and it's a long way down. In the late forties and early fifties it was a dangerous place.

The O&G industry gave me a fascinating career. No regrets here.

Have done some contract work for the oilfield on my property.

Twenty years here. SW Wyoming the entire time.

Made a living in the Permian Basin for the last 30 years.

After 45 plus years my career is winding down. With the exception of a short stint in government contracting (which I hated) the entire time was spent in the oilfield fabrication business. Did my time offshore when I was young, worked in AK for a while, ended up owning my own specialty welding business in LA.

It has been a good life.

Worked a few years in the high-pressure cementing industry. Seemed I was always on the road. Cost me a marriage.

I spent just enough time in the oil patch to realize I didn't want to spend my life in the "Oil Patch".
Tripping pipe in a pouring rain.
Pulling a wet string that freezes the instant it hits an already slippery floor.
Twelve hour towers.
Night towers.
Rebuilding salt water injection pumps in rattlesnake infested pump sites.
Wrenching rods in 110° heat standing knee deep in "mud"*.
* - a mixture of drilling mud, sludge, salt water, paraffin and what ever else. Those clothes will NEVER be the same! LOL!

The "awl bidness" is chicken or feathers. You're either eating T-bones or Ramen noodles.
Back about 2017 or so, there were at least 5 Dodge 3500, Cummins diesel, 4WD, 4 door trucks with 200 Amp Lincoln welders and 84 quart Yeti coolers stopped at every red light in Midland, TX.
By 2021, EVERY Subaru, Mazda, VW, Toyota dealership in Midland had a lot full of those used trucks that could be bought for a song.

Midland/Odessa, Texas, known for the Permian Basin "awl bidness" fluctuations, never increased their housing. Apartment complexes were packed and at premium prices. RV camps were elbow to elbow!
Six months later, a $1250/mo apartment could be had for $500/mo with no move in fees!

I used to be a construction superintendent for a major oil company, and when we finished with the supporting infrastructure down here they said they needed me in ND. Umm... Thanks, but no.

Still do some oilfield consulting with overseeing projects for oil companies, or a liaison between oil company projects and land owners.

Most recent was overseeing the plugging of two wells on one ranch.

Gigs pay well... Like a grand a day, or I wouldn't even do it.

Plugging wells.