Discussions

I wonder if they oil industry will adapt to how it operates. Now that they have seen that the oil price can fall and go quite low. And like any commodity, it can rise and fall. There will be times where it will be profitable and then there will be times where it won't.  
 
For a while it was said that we will never see oil below $100, then it happened. And it kept going down to where it's at $30. The oil industry I think got too comfortable with the high oil prices and never planned for what happened.  
 
During the boom, the oil field workers made big coin and was the big draw. Don't think any of them ever planned for what if the oil price tanks. How many went out an bought big and expensive trucks, homes and other toy's? I hope they have learned and will be doing things differently. Will the oil field workers see the same wages or will it be lower?  
 
Also for the oil companies, how will things change? Be more careful on big projects?  
 
I don't think the oil industry can go back to how it was before and has to change the way they do business.  
 
This is like the .com bust. It was very profitable for a while, made many millionaires until the bubble burst.  
 
What do others think?

I've been around for awhile and have seen this happen before, and it seems that people do get burned by the price crash everytime.  
 
I do have a greater concern at the present time, and it also has to do with boom and bust cycles, and when I look globally, I think that what happened to the people in oil might happen to many more people in other sectors, and maybe even those in the public sector.  
Going to be a tough pill for most people to swallow but this party has been going on for a long time, and eventually the beer runs out.  
 
Two of my kids made some good money from oil, but left that sector two years ago to seek careers or employment in fields that are a little more realistic.

Would be interesting to hear from some of those who were involved in drilling, fracing, or the setting up of sites once wells were drilled. At times there were things said that I considered sort of ignorant when it came to those working in the oil industry. Those in the industry have taken a real smacking and yet we haven't heard the whining that we hear when the auto sector goes through a slowdown, or when the financial industry takes a hit.  
 
Edited by don brown, 2016-02-18 20:57:55

has been in the $30 range before and not that long ago. After oil peaked at $146 it fell to $30 in 2008. But it didn't stay that low for long.

don brown said "Would be interesting to hear from some of those who were involved in drilling, fracing, or the setting up of sites once wells were drilled. At times there were things said that I considered sort of ignorant when it came to those working in the oil industry. Those in the industry have taken a real smacking and yet we haven't heard the whining that we hear when the auto sector goes through a slowdown, or when the financial industry takes a hit.     Edited by don brown, 2016-02-18 20:57:55"

was in Ontario and Quebec, you would hear the whining and pleading for bailouts.

When it rebounds it will be back to the same old. A great market to be in when times are good and people will forget that there's a chance of ever getting laid off, until it happens again. People tend to forget that when times are good it's the best time to save. Hopefully the price of barrel goes up sooner than later though, near impossible to get a job as a new grad, basically a mandatory 5-10 years experience required to get your foot in the door.

Not every oilfield worker/family buys everything on credit and spends every last dime of their income. In fact, most people I know are quite the opposite. Sure they may have big trucks or fun toys but a lot of people I know paid for those items with cash. The large oilfield salaries have extra money for fun. Why just assume every oilfield worker is in a huge amount of debt and didn't save a penny of their earnings?

Sort of have to agree with the idea if oil was centred in those areas the squealing would be pretty loud.  
Was talking to a person that was down from Fort Mac. And they said about the number of people who were told to go home and also how much the vacancy rate had changed. Basically large housing units sitting completely empty.  
 
The slide in 08 hit nearly all commodities, and most of the population doesn't have a clue how close we came to a financial meltdown. The banking industry made it through with very few casualties, and with QE programs and the TARP program basically allowed the economy to get it's feet under itself for another go round. China continued to grow and new technology allowed oil production to grow as well. Inventories started to grow but it seems that very little notice was taken of that fact. When watching the growth on inventories and see them climb everyonth the writing was sort of on the wall.  
 
What bothers me today is how countries like the US are saying that the Saudies caused this problem and they won't quit producing oil until the US oil industry is crippled. This is just my opinion, and I could be wrong, but if you can't compete it's usually not someone else's problem.  
 
Part of this boom and bust was promoted with the idea of peak oil, which originated back in the seventies and sort of held true, except new technology sort of skewed the production side of the equation.  
 
Edited by don brown, 2016-02-18 21:42:55

Sounds like the opinion of someone who only assumes they know what goes on in oil in gas, can't make payments on toys? What are payments

find funny is that everyone in the oil industry buys big fancy trucks, quads, campers, boats, new big houses, take trips all over the world and have a ton of debt!!  
Well come look in my driveway, I have a very shiny truck that is not jacked up nor would you know I worked in the oil industry for 10 years now and been through 2 busts. I have a house in a small town that I bought before the prices went up and it looks just like every other non-farmer house in our town (farmers houses are a lot nicer and newer then almost every patch worker here). The renovations done on it in the last 6yrs are painting with ecosense paint in maybe 1 room every 2 years. My camper was bought used and it just so happens that I may end up living in it this year just to keep working at one of our companies stations around Canada. Yes I have a boat & a bike that was all bought so that after I worked a 20hr day for 21+ days and finally got 1 day off I might be able to spend some time with my family doing something fun....while I tried to keep my eyes open!  
Yes there is a lot of spending on stupid items, I wish I didn't have some of the payments I have, but the toys some of us have are no different then the city workers, garbage men, hwys employees, farmers, truck drivers or any other profession. The difference between wasting money and not preparing for break up (like many do) is no one could have predicted this lasting this long. I don't care how good you are at saving and not spending, to go over 1 year with it being this slow would deplete many workers savings.  
Not all industries in the oil made good money either. The industry I work in paid between $18.00 - $28.00/hr, we made the good money on o/t. Same people in the same profession outside the patch, make roughly the same. What we are finding now is that many employers will NOT hire patch workers no matter how desperate they make it sound like they are. They read oilpatch and they shred the resume because they fear as soon as the price goes up we are gone. Many guys will never go back to the patch after this down turn, but we still can't find a job other then flipping burgers (which is not below me if I had too). Patch workers are in a world of hurt right now and there is no end in sight, but we all aren't your stereotypical patch workers. Sorry for the rant, I just get tired of hearing all the typical jacked up trucks hahaha they're broke now cause they're stupid, they gave Virden STD's and all the other crap, when for some of us, we just want to provide for our families, have a good life and just would like a good career like everyone else.

I feel bad for the workers they didn't set the pay scale the companies they work for did. If I was 20 years old and making the money they made I would of had the toys as well, they are young people with god paying jobs. Maybe who we should be mad at is the bankers or the car salesmen just wanting to make a buck off of these guys never questioning how they will pay for things if oil prices drop. How about all the businesses that charge a fortune to the oil companies that would work for half the price elsewhere. To me it is the oil companies themselves that brought this on themselves they are the ones with the deep pockets that are willing to pay the crazy prices instead of spreading the business around they get there buddies to start business and supply services to them knowing they can hire them and pay whatever they want for rates no questions asked. If you look closely on the rigs it is usally one guy that is supplying everything to the rig making money hand over fist, maybe these are the people that should step up and help some of the workers out

I think there are a lot of other industries that traditionally did not pay their workers as well that have had to smarten up and be more competitive to keep good workers too. I do work in the oilpatch, but am a farm boy at heart. 10 years ago I could not even begin to think of even trying to make a living as a labourer on a grain farm. 20 years ago I did work full time as a farm hand but eventually I moved on to other things because the wages just were not good enough. I have hauled fluid in the oilfield which has its ups and downs too but after a few years doing that, 4 years ago I got a steadier operator job, but my farm roots run deep, and I started helping a grain farmer on my days off. When he first asked if I would help when I said sure because for a day or 2 here and there, just to have the phone not ring and be able to sit in a comfy tractor and not think is actually relaxing to me, but the wages he pays is actually good enough that I could get by ok now if something ever happened to my main job. This discussion has had some good points in it and to the OP, I do hope your world never comes crashing down.

FYI. When oil prices get to a sustainable price and busy again, there wages will still be the same. Reasons being, they work long hours, in all conditions, all over the province, and don't call in sick when they have a sniffle. People and businesses want to have them working as they spend money. The lower Canadian dollar is a direct result of the oil industry slide. If you think otherwise, you are ignorant. Before anyone asks the question, yes I am in the oil industry and I am one of the lucky ones who can still support my family.

I know lots of families affected by the downturn in the oil industry and I feel for them. Most have found other work and I have to say that most of the families I know did not go overboard on their spending. Just the same as other families and they do sacrifice a lot of family time for the work they do on the patch. Here's an interesting video on the booms and busts in oil in the last century. It's well worth watching the video.  
 
http://money.cnn.com/2016/02/19/news/companies/schlumberger-ceo-pay-oil-jobs/index.html