Quote:
Originally Posted by Flashmann
Quote:
Originally Posted by mccfry
Quote:
Originally Posted by Crunchyknees
Quote:
Originally Posted by SilverWulf
I can't speak for the entire US, but only for the area where I live.
Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and (Montana :?: )all have oilfields that are booming right now. I spent 2 years in North West Wyoming working in and around the oilfield, pulling a 180 barrel tanker. The work wasn't too bad, but the hours were long and sometimes seemed to never end. In the area I worked the companies had apparently never heard of the hours of service regulations, or just didn't care. A slow week was 90 hours, the most I ever did was 150, average would be around 110. The paychecks were sure nice though! I was getting paid $21 an hour, with time and a half after 40. But, working so much with no days off... didn't have much of a chance to enjoy it.
There weren't any 'big' companies that hauled in the oilfield where I was. In the immediate area there were probably 250 trucks, spread out over 20 different companies. None of the companies ever advertised that I saw, but hired pretty much any driver that was looking for a job immediately. Quite a few couldn't handle the hours, the physical part of the job, or the varied working conditions and didn't last long.
Silver
Just how much experience did these companies require? I guess they wouldnt hire someone right out of school.
thanks
You guess wrong,in many cases....The turn over is so high and so rapid,the demand for drivers so great,many of these companies will hire you with the ink on your CDL still wet.....As long as you can pass the drug screen.....
They,supposedly,have some DOT special exemption to the HOS rules.....Probably because many of the miles driven,hours worked are technically "off road"....
The opportunity to bank some serious cash exists.....BUT...You're gonna eat,sleep and breathe oil/gas field and liitle to nothing else,for the duration.......Good luck...
You can find the "Oilfield Exemption" in section 395.1 (d) Oilfield operations. (1) In the instance of drivers of commercial motor vehicles used exclusively in the transportation of oilfield equipment, including the stringing and picking up of pipe used in pipelines, and servicing of the field operations of the natural gas and oil industry, any period of 8 consecutive days may end with the beginning of any off duty period of 24 or more successive hours.
(d)(2) In the case of specially trained drivers of commercial motor vehicles which are specially constructed to service oil wells, on duty time shall not include waiting time at a natural gas or oil well site; provided, that all such time shall be fully and accurately accounted for in records to be maintained by the motor carrier. Such records shall be made available upon request of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/rules-regul...ction_toc=1938
I don't know how it is NOW, working in the "Patch" but back when I did it...1978-1987..You definately put the hours in, and only made so-so $$$. Yes...When I was 21 and had a take home check of $2300 for 2 weeks work..it sure made working on the ranch seem dumb..but I didn't really work all that hard on the ranch..comparatively. In Wyoming...in January..when your nose is running, and it is freezing before it gets to your lips...your eyebrows are iced-over, and your toes are numb..you really do ask yourself why your doing it. I worked for the company that is now the Well Services portion of Schlumberger...just so you know. In 1979, if you could turn a door-nob and push the door open, you were usually hired on the spot, to work for any of the Services companies. And yes..some of the Lozers they hired were "dopers" of the first order. More than once I wanted to through a "doper" into a med pit. When I left "Schlumberger" in 1987, I was a Service Supervisor III in the LA basin. I worked in such places as Ryckman Creek, Painter Resivoir, Red Desert, Wamsutter, Powder Wash(WY), Douglas Pass, Grand Mesa, Ignasieo/Durango/Cortez, Walsumberg, Denver(CO), the Uintah Basin(UT), the San Juan Basin, the Permian Basin(NM), the Anadarko Basin(OK), the Williston Basin(ND), Corey PA, Nitro WV, Bakersfield & Los Angeles Basin (CA) and Abilene TX.
My best friend still works for Schlumberger, but his job title is far and away different from what it was in 1978---1987---and even 1997. He has progressed through the ranks to being Maintenance & Installations Supervisor, Schlumberger Well Services Offshore.
He deals mostly with International Installations now. He traveled last year to Columbia, Trinidad-Tobago, Egypt, Norway, Singapore, and Brazil. His annual salary is > $185,000 a year. His monthly budget is > $1.5 Million and his annual bonus for meeting operation and expense goals is >$250,000. LOL...best thing about it all...he does not have any College Education. He graduated from the "Oil-Patch School of Hardknocks".
Perhaps his biggest asset is his mind...he can visualise a "Platform" set-up, faster than a "College-man" can power up a laptop.