Jobs

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    Best Employment Opportunities in O&G Right Now: Frac Crew

    drilling-equals-jobs.jpgMDN editor Jim Willis recently had the pleasure of addressing the Petroleum Club at the University of Pittsburgh’s Bradford, PA campus. Not in person, but via Skype video. When Jim asked the group, most of them in their second year of a two-year petroleum technology program about future job prospects, he got the impression they are concerned. The Marcellus industry has not been immune to layoffs. Graduating with a degree in an industry that’s seen 300,000+ layoffs over the past two years might make some question the wisdom of entering the program in the first place. Jim’s message to these eager young people bursting with potential? Don’t give up–and be encouraged. At the recent Shale Insight event and Benposium East event (both held in September), Jim had a number of conversations with those who either work in or invest in the o&g industry. His conclusion after speaking with industry insiders? Things are beginning to turn around. In fact, we can’t count the number of stories that talk about the coming shortage of good workers in the o&g industry. Today we spotted a press release from Energent Group promoting new research and wanted to highlight some of the information in that release–information that may be helpful to our new young friends at Pitt-Bradford, and for others in the industry looking for work. The research highlights the fact there are many drilled but uncompleted wells (DUCs), in all shale plays–but particularly in the oily Permian and Eagle Ford shale plays. According to the Energent research, workers probably stand the best chance of getting a job with a frac crew–because companies will first work on completing the already-drilled wells by fracking them. Makes sense to us!…
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    White House Report Acknowledges Role of Shale Gas in Manuf Jobs

    drilling-equals-jobs.jpgEven the anti-fossil fuel Barack Hussein Obama can’t ignore the fact that natural gas saved his pathetic administration’s rear-end over the past eight years. Without shale gas, the economy would be further in the crapper than it is now. Last week the White House National Economic Council released a report titled “Revitalizing American Manufacturing” (full copy below) to commemorate Manufacturing Day. The report finds the U.S. economy added some 800,000 manufacturing jobs since 2010–largely due to the shale revolution and cheap natural gas…
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    Obama DOL White-Collar Overtime Reg Affects O&G Industry

    overtimeYou did know that it’s not only the Obama EPA that routinely overreaches by issuing draconian regulations, right? Other Obama agencies, like the Dept. of Labor (DOL), are also guilty of draconian overreach. On May 18, 2016, the DOL published new changes that affect who is and who is not exempt from charging overtime. With the wave of the DOL’s magic wand they doubled the minimum salary necessary for white collar jobs to be “exempt” from overtime. That is, if you now earn a salary below $47,476 annually (or $913 per week), and if you work more than 40 hours a week, it doesn’t matter what your job is–you will be owed overtime for any hours over 40. Which may sound just dandy. Except if your company can’t afford to pay it, you’re about to get laid off, fired or otherwise put out to pasture. Tell me again how much Obama loves me. Employers have until December 1st to figure out what the heck to do, and how to comply, with these draconian new regulations. The legal beagles at law firm K&L Gates have put together a handy guide to help…
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    Baker Hughes Avoids Another Round of Layoffs by Using Furloughs

    cutting jobsWe’ve long bemoaned the fact that the first tactic used by oil and gas companies to stay in business during this severe downturn has been to layoff large numbers of employees. We understand all the arguments: better to cut some rather than go bankrupt and out of business, putting everyone at the company in the unemployment line. We also understand many of these same companies added large numbers of people over the past half decade in the rapid scale-up to handle all of the new shale drilling–so this is simply a “correction” or rebalancing. But tell that to someone who has lost his or her job and the families affected by it. “Hey, you’ve been made redundant” (as our British friends call it). Or, “You’re just a correction.” No, our sympathies are with the men and women who have been laid off and suffer. Some of the biggest layoffs have come from oilfield services companies, like Halliburton and Baker Hughes–both with major operations in the Marcellus/Utica. Tens of thousands have been laid off at each company over the past two years or so. In July Baker Hughes laid off another 3,000 in fell swoop (see Baker Hughes Laid Off 3K in 2Q16, No Drilling Recovery in 2016). It’s been an employment apocalypse. We spotted a story that may offer some hope, and an idea, for companies in o&g pondering yet more layoffs. Instead of laying off yet more people at Baker Hughes, the company has just announced they are using furloughs to cut employee payments by 5%…
    Read More “Baker Hughes Avoids Another Round of Layoffs by Using Furloughs”

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    What Happens to Landmen During a Severe Downturn?

    landmanLandmen, the people on the front lines interfacing between drillers and landowners, are facing tough times. With the slowdown in drilling has come a slowdown in leasing, or re-leasing. Landmen are the guys and gals who perform that duty–and many of them are now doing other jobs, waiting and hoping for the next upturn in the industry. Here’s the story and perspective of one landman who has been in the business for the last 37 years, through five different up and down cycles. Most recently he worked as a landman for Noble Energy–until he was laid off 1.5 years ago…
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    A SECOND Ethane Cracker Coming to Pennsylvania? Maybe!

    secondLast week MDN reported that Dennis Davin, Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) had gone on a roadshow to three counties that will be most affected by Shell’s ethane cracker plant planned for Beaver County (see PA Econ Dev Secretary Hits Road to Promote Shell Cracker). Of course one of those counties was Beaver. Davin addressed a forum in Beaver last Tuesday. What we’re just learning now is that, at the Beaver forum, there was brief talk about a SECOND ethane cracker for Pennsylvania. You read that right. There are no concrete plans as yet, but the scuttlebutt is that an unnamed company is scouting PA for a second cracker plant. According to Davin, his agency has “heard rumblings” but “nothing more.” However, following Davin’s appearance in Beaver and the talk of a second cracker, the DCED issued a statement clearly meant to stoke those rumors…
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    Shale Crescent Luring Petchem Companies to Mid-Ohio Valley

    Shale Crescent USAIn June MDN told you about an economic development group of business and government leaders from Ohio and West Virginia (the Mid-Ohio Valley) called Shale Crescent (see Group Promotes Mid-Ohio Valley for Petrochem: Shale Crescent USA). The group was two years in the making and officially launched in June at a public event in Washington County, OH. The aim of the group is to attract manufacturers–particularly petrochemical manufacturers–to set up shop in the region. Although the organization is still in its infancy, it’s already having an impact and is talking to large petchem companies (“household names”) about building plants in the Mid-Ohio Valley region to take advantage of cheap Marcellus/Utica Shale gas and NGLs…
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    Kent State Study: UTOPIA Pipeline to Yield $237M for Ohio Economy

    Utopia Project
    Click for larger version

    As MDN reported yesterday, Kent State University researchers have just issued a report evaluating the economic impact of the proposed Kinder Morgan UTOPIA (Utica To Ontario Pipeline Access) project on the State of Ohio. UTOPIA is a 12-inch ethane pipeline that will run 240 miles across Ohio, connecting with another pipeline that will shuttle Utica/Marcellus ethane all the way to a cracker plant in Sarnia, Ontario. The Kent State study estimates this tiny pipeline project will contribute a whopping $237.3 million to Ohio’s economy, creating 2,132 direct and indirect jobs in Ohio and generating $4.9 million in yearly tax revenues. Below is a press announcement from Kent State with a good overview of the study, followed by a full copy of the study, which is titled: “Economic Impact of Kinder Morgan Utopia Pipeline Project”…
    Read More “Kent State Study: UTOPIA Pipeline to Yield $237M for Ohio Economy”

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    Washington County, PA Panel Talks Marcellus, Cracker & the Future

    walks into a barA banker, a real estate developer and a natural gas drilling company rep walk into a bar… No wait! This isn’t a joke! A banker, a real estate developer and a natgas drilling rep were panelists at seminar held yesterday, organized by the Pittsburgh Business Times. Even though there has been a major slowdown in Marcellus/Utica drilling, all three panelists were upbeat and optimistic–in no small part because of the coming Shell ethane cracker in nearby Beaver County. One comment made about the Shell cracker: “We’re not just building a facility; we’re building an industry.” That’s just how major the Shell project will be in the greater Pittsburgh area. Another comment: “The Marcellus Shale is not in the tank…It has slowed down, which is typical of industries that are sensitive to price cycles, [but] it’s consistent, affordable and is stable.” More interesting tidbits from the PBT soiree…
    Read More “Washington County, PA Panel Talks Marcellus, Cracker & the Future”

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    Half of UTOPIA Pipeline Jobs in OH May Go to “Foreigners”

    Utopia map
    UTOPIA Pipeline map – click for larger version

    Now that Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s grandiose delusion of becoming the next president of the U.S. has been shattered and he’s had time to lick his wounds, it’s time to drag old “foreigner hunter” out for a new round of tracking down out-of-state workers. We have a mission for him: UTOPIA. As in Kinder Morgan’s UTOPIA ethane pipeline, planned to run 240 miles across Ohio. As pipelines go, it’s pretty small at only 12 inches in diameter. But ethane (a natural gas liquid) doesn’t need a huge pipeline to cart it across the Buckeye State. UTOPIA (named for Utica To Ontario Pipeline Access) will cross the state and connect to another pipeline that will carry Utica/Marcellus ethane to Michigan and on from there to Canada to feed the NOVA ethane cracker in Sarnia (see UTOPIA is Coming! The UTOPIA Pipeline, that is…). Kinder has just released a new study conducted by Kent State University researchers that outlines the huge economic benefits for Ohio in building UTOPIA. One of the interesting factoids: The pipeline will create over 2,000 temporary jobs–900 of them in construction. The report estimates that half of those construction jobs will go to out-of-state workers. Since Gov. Kasich is a jingoist with a problem employing out-of-state workers from exotic places like Texas and Louisiana (he calls them “foreigners,” see OH Gov. Kasich Continues Trash Talk Out-of-State Workers), we expect he’ll be prowling around to see if he can “fix” the situation…
    Read More “Half of UTOPIA Pipeline Jobs in OH May Go to “Foreigners””

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    Stark State College Receives $506K To Expand ShaleNET Training

    money-bag.jpgStark State College, located in North Canton, OH, has just been awarded a half million dollar grant from OH Gov. John Kasich’s Education Innovation program to provide ShaleNET education and training to students at Stark State’s sister schools, Eastern Gateway Community College in Steubenville, OH and Hocking College in Nelsonville, OH. MDN first reported on Stark’s new Well Site Training Center back in 2014 (see Stark State Launches Utica Well Site Training Center in Canton, OH). ShaleNET was launched in 2010 with a $5 million Community Based Job Training grant awarded to Westmoreland County Community College in Youngwood, PA by the US Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration. Since that time, the program, which provides vocational and educational training to put people in shale jobs, has grown to multiple colleges across PA and OH. The new grant from OH will allow Stark State to expand its program–and prep more workers for the blossoming Utica Shale industry in the state…
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    US Methanol Confirms MDN Rumor – 2 (or More) Plants Coming to WV

    confirmedLast week MDN was the first to share the news that the California-based US Methanol is building at least two, rumored up to five, methanol plants in the Mountain State (see Rumor: US Methanol Building 5 Methanol Plants in WV). MDN shared a rumor (based on a source) that until we disclosed it, was not public knowledge: The first methanol plant they will build will be in Institute, WV, and the second in Belle, WV–both in the Charleston region. We now have confirmation of that rumor via several news accounts. We also told you that both plants were being disassembled in other countries and brought here. We now know which countries are losing the plants that will be reassembled in Institute and Belle…
    Read More “US Methanol Confirms MDN Rumor – 2 (or More) Plants Coming to WV”

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    EIA: O&G Production Jobs Today are 26% Lower Than 2014

    EIALast week MDN highlighted a survey from Evercore ISI looking at attitudes and behaviors of displaced workers in the oil and gas industry (see Laid Off Workers Say “No Thanks” to New Oil & Gas Jobs). Many laid off workers have already found jobs in other industries, and they aren’t tempted to return to an oil & gas job due to the cyclical nature of the industry. We quoted a number we spotted from Evercore that there have been over 300,000 layoffs in recent years. We thought that a bit high, but they’re the experts. On Friday the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), our favorite government agency, ran an article saying the job loss is closer to 142,000. We suppose it’s all in how you count jobs directly or indirectly related to the o&g industry. There are many jobs (hotel workers, restaurant workers, etc.) that can be highly dependent on the o&g industry, yet aren’t actually an o&g job. But when drilling gets cut, so too does eating at restaurants, staying in hotels, etc. The EIA is looking at direct jobs–those related to oil and natural gas production. What have (below) is the EIA’s reckoning that direct employment in the o&g industry today is down 24% from its high in 2014, just prior to the collapse of oil prices. That’s a drop of 142,000 and any way you slice it, it’s a lot of lost jobs…
    Read More “EIA: O&G Production Jobs Today are 26% Lower Than 2014”

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    Laid Off Workers Say “No Thanks” to New Oil & Gas Jobs

    cutting jobsOne of NGI’s ace reporters, Carolyn Davis, got her hands on a new report/survey conducted by Evercore ISI that looks at attitudes and behaviors of displaced workers in the oil and gas industry. The results are quite interesting. You may recall that something like 300,000+ o&g workers were laid off over the past several years. Many of them worked for oilfield services companies (OFS), like Halliburton, Baker Hughes and Schlumberger. In fact, our back-of-the-envelope tally says the vast majority of those layoffs came from just a handful of companies, namely those three. The Evercore survey found that many (most?) workers are not returning to the oil and gas industry, now that hiring has begun again. And that’s a problem. It means that there aren’t enough bodies to do the work. It seems the laid-off workers didn’t appreciate getting canned, tossed overboard like a piece of trash at the first sign of trouble–and many of them have gotten jobs in other industries. Who can blame them?! Here’s a few highlights from the survey…
    Read More “Laid Off Workers Say “No Thanks” to New Oil & Gas Jobs”

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    PA Gov Wolf: PAers Will Build the Cracker, Unless They’re Stoned

    are you on drugsAlthough he still wants to tax the Marcellus Shale industry out of his state, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (with the dubious title of “most liberal governor in the U.S.,” see PA Gov Tom “Severance Tax” Wolf: America’s Most Liberal Governor) couldn’t resist jumping on the bandwagon to take some credit for what his predecessor, Gov. Tom Corbett, actually accomplished: luring Shell to build a multi-billion dollar ethane cracker facility in the state (see PA Gov Wolf Attempts to Take Credit for Shell Cracker Decision). Since the Shell cracker is already a done deal and will create oodles of jobs, Wolf is now conveniently “for” the project. He made a visit to Beaver County, PA last week, where the cracker plant will get built, for a roundtable discussion with local leaders. Wolf told them local leaders he wants to ensure it’s Pennsylvanians who fill the ~6,000 construction jobs required to build the plant. His only concern? PA residents may be too stoned to pass a drug test…
    Read More “PA Gov Wolf: PAers Will Build the Cracker, Unless They’re Stoned”

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    Heartbreak: Weatherford, ECA Lay Off Combined 175 Jobs in WV

    cutting jobsA pair of companies operating in the Marcellus Shale announced late last week that they are laying off a collective 175 jobs in West Virginia between them . Energy Corporation of America (ECA), which ranked 20th for most production in the Marcellus Shale in 2015 according to NGI’s 2016 Shale & Resource Plays Factbook, announced last Thursday they will lay off 51 positions (28 of them in WV). Oilfield services company Weatherford International has a branch office in Buckhannon, WV. Weatherford announced last week that it will lay of 147 positions in the Buckhannon office by the end of August. The announcement hit the local community hard…
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