Who here has worked the oil fields in Alberta?
10-13-2004, 11:55 PM
#21
50 Watt CAFz'r
Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 115
I know way too many riggers. I personally think its a lame lifestyle. Keep in mind I said PERSONALLY. I got alot of friends that are gone for weeks at a time from home and I mean WEEKS. They have a house, a nice car, all the toys in the world but no time to use them. Yes, I do agree it is good money but it really is a trap for my kind of lifestyle. I was thinking of going to do that to pay off school, but then I thought a bit harder. Once someone gets the taste of money in their mouth, there is no going back. Yes, money is nice, but so is having family time and being able to use your acquired toys.
If you are confident that you can get out of the patch and go to school or KNOW the patch is for you, then do it.
Me personally, I am taking a different route. Gonna be a pharmacist. Ill make $80,000 a year, but the difference is. Ill work 8-5 and have weekends off [img]smile.gif[/img]
All the power to your choice. Keep in mind that the Oilfield is a very serous career.
If you are confident that you can get out of the patch and go to school or KNOW the patch is for you, then do it.
Me personally, I am taking a different route. Gonna be a pharmacist. Ill make $80,000 a year, but the difference is. Ill work 8-5 and have weekends off [img]smile.gif[/img]
All the power to your choice. Keep in mind that the Oilfield is a very serous career.
10-14-2004, 01:13 PM
#24
Guest
Posts: n/a
You'd be suprised at what some of these companies will offer Dereck, especialy to get you to go up north. The more valuable you are to them, the more "negotiating" you can do...
On another note, I charged my own personal truck out at $10/hr (which is VERY low). So $10 x 10 hours = $100 a day. $100 x 5 days is $500 a week. and 4 weeks = $2000.00 a month. Of course most guys work a lot more than this, and make a lot more, just by owning a truck...
On another note, I charged my own personal truck out at $10/hr (which is VERY low). So $10 x 10 hours = $100 a day. $100 x 5 days is $500 a week. and 4 weeks = $2000.00 a month. Of course most guys work a lot more than this, and make a lot more, just by owning a truck...
10-16-2004, 04:33 PM
#26
Guest
Posts: n/a
I did it for about 2 months, great way to make some quick coin. The frist 4 or 5 days are rough but once you get into the routine its easy man. I ONLY stopped because i didnt like being away from my g/f and home for so long. Oh and when they say it will be "3 weeks in 1 week out" thats crap I went 7 weeks straight before I got time off.
10-17-2004, 07:49 AM
#29
50 Watt CAFz'r
Join Date: Jul 2001
Posts: 422
I don't know everything about the patch. but i know a bit about working on service rigs. Charging a truck, with some companies, the rig manager can use his truck as the crew bus. he can charge for its use. but most companies provide a crew truck, sometimes 2 one for the driller to pick up the crew and one for the push.
the money can be good, but you gotta be working, $20 an hour times no hours is still $0. i work derrick on a busy rig, but there are some rigs in my company that work only half the time. I don't work out of town, meaning i'm home every night. i did at the first of the year. when you work out of town, you'll usually stay in a hotel on companies bill, plus you'll get subsistence, 40 per day south of some line, i forget what it is, but grande prairie is near that line. up north of that line is 50 per day out of town and 2 dollars more per hour. the rig environment is different on every rig, you might be out on with ********, and hate your job. or a good crew and like it, and you'll learn faster, as long as you can learn. i got a guy on my crew thats been there 2 months and he's only slightly better then when he first started. slooooow learner.
Money is good, but its true that many riggers don't have money, a good number have even less, absolutely nothing to show for it, no apartment of their own, no car. just some clothes and a nasty drug and alcohol habit. cocaine is just as wide here in lloyd as weed. and the meth is starting to come in. you wanna make money in the patch. be single, non drinker and drug free. its getting to where a drug test is required to get hired for some companies. and surprise ones as well. But i'm doing alright. i have money, gonna buy a car soon. then can start saving for a house.
Another thing,a drivers license is required. a class 1 is golden. and Lloyd as ****ty a place as it is, is screaming for workers. though if you can try red deer. thats where i'd try, not because i think i can get a job there. but because there's women, and its closer to calgary and edmonton where my friends live. not 3 hours away from edmonton and 5 from calgary like lloyd is.
lifting things, yeah 2 people is recommended to carry things, but a joint of pipe can weigh 300 pounds. a winch is usually used for drive heads, well heads, cause its easier, even the old school guys will use a winch whenever they can, they'll admit that it was stupid to lift heavy **** like they did back in the day. cause when you get older, you can end up with a bad back, or hardly able to move, not everyone, but the unluckly ones.
you won't make 80k, more like 60k gross. its the really busy rigs where you make like 80k or more, and thats closer to 10 to 12 hours a day every day with no days off ever. up north you might more likely to make that, cause the pay more and they even pay standby, which they don't south(thats what i've been told anyway) i've got friend whove gross 120k, but he's a driller who makes 26 and hour and works 12 to 14 hours a day. least he did last year. and shut downs do happen, last april the rig i was on got shut down for 6 weeks, i was the only one on that rig who had enough money to weather that long a shut down and not have to work in the shop. i hate shop. so save your money, anything can happen in the patch, even a complete slowdown like in th 80's 90's.
the money can be good, but you gotta be working, $20 an hour times no hours is still $0. i work derrick on a busy rig, but there are some rigs in my company that work only half the time. I don't work out of town, meaning i'm home every night. i did at the first of the year. when you work out of town, you'll usually stay in a hotel on companies bill, plus you'll get subsistence, 40 per day south of some line, i forget what it is, but grande prairie is near that line. up north of that line is 50 per day out of town and 2 dollars more per hour. the rig environment is different on every rig, you might be out on with ********, and hate your job. or a good crew and like it, and you'll learn faster, as long as you can learn. i got a guy on my crew thats been there 2 months and he's only slightly better then when he first started. slooooow learner.
Money is good, but its true that many riggers don't have money, a good number have even less, absolutely nothing to show for it, no apartment of their own, no car. just some clothes and a nasty drug and alcohol habit. cocaine is just as wide here in lloyd as weed. and the meth is starting to come in. you wanna make money in the patch. be single, non drinker and drug free. its getting to where a drug test is required to get hired for some companies. and surprise ones as well. But i'm doing alright. i have money, gonna buy a car soon. then can start saving for a house.
Another thing,a drivers license is required. a class 1 is golden. and Lloyd as ****ty a place as it is, is screaming for workers. though if you can try red deer. thats where i'd try, not because i think i can get a job there. but because there's women, and its closer to calgary and edmonton where my friends live. not 3 hours away from edmonton and 5 from calgary like lloyd is.
lifting things, yeah 2 people is recommended to carry things, but a joint of pipe can weigh 300 pounds. a winch is usually used for drive heads, well heads, cause its easier, even the old school guys will use a winch whenever they can, they'll admit that it was stupid to lift heavy **** like they did back in the day. cause when you get older, you can end up with a bad back, or hardly able to move, not everyone, but the unluckly ones.
you won't make 80k, more like 60k gross. its the really busy rigs where you make like 80k or more, and thats closer to 10 to 12 hours a day every day with no days off ever. up north you might more likely to make that, cause the pay more and they even pay standby, which they don't south(thats what i've been told anyway) i've got friend whove gross 120k, but he's a driller who makes 26 and hour and works 12 to 14 hours a day. least he did last year. and shut downs do happen, last april the rig i was on got shut down for 6 weeks, i was the only one on that rig who had enough money to weather that long a shut down and not have to work in the shop. i hate shop. so save your money, anything can happen in the patch, even a complete slowdown like in th 80's 90's.
10-17-2004, 09:47 AM
#30
Yeah, the oilfield can definitely be boom or bust. I remember the big bust that happened in the late 80s around Lloyd. People I went to school with who had Husky executive parents were selling their homes and moving into apartments. Then it picked up some in the early 90s, crashed again around the mid 90s I think and has been on a high ever since. It's amazing who much that city has grown since I left in 94, but how much has stayed the same too. I never hated living there, in fact I liked it. Compared to housing costs here, I like it even more [img]graemlins/freak.gif[/img]
