Here’s some good news to share with you- even though there’s been a slowdown and a lot of layoffs in the Bakken oil fields, Great Falls, Montana-based Loenbro is expanding and hiring even more workers. Check out audio from my show live from Loenbro on Thursday by clicking here to go to our podcast page.
Speaking of the Bakken, there’s a great read posted at OilPro.com. That story is further below.
Had a great time for the show at Loenbro in Great Falls yesterday. Then we headed over to Swains Spring Service for the great Big Green Egg BBQ they do every Thursday
Posted by Aaron Flint on Friday, July 17, 2015
In other news…here’s a great writeup about the Bakken:
Here’s a real interesting read sent along from a friend in Glasgow…the pride of working alongside “the do’ers”
Posted by Aaron Flint on Thursday, July 16, 2015
Here’s an excerpt from- Bakken: An Oil Life Suspended
I thought life outside of the patch would be much tougher. I had grown accustomed to the pace of the oilfield, that type of existence that evolves into a lifestyle. In the Bakken, rear windows are adorned with stickers proclaiming Oilfield Trash and Oilfield Badass. Sadder yet, are those occasional memorials honoring a fallen crew member. They are symbols of a shared understanding of why this time and place was special, and why it stood out from the norm. Something small but generational happened in a fleeting moment that, for years to come, would leave a lasting imprint on the timeline of real, not contrived, history. Our gift was cheap shale oil, the gift that caused the many gears and wheels of the world turning, spinning into new directions, just as oil always has. Our gift was our demise.
In a timespan of about three months, roughly 300,000 oil workers woke up without the job that had for years consumed every waking moment of their lives. The ironic thing about the situation is that we did our job too well, pushing the science of oil production to unimaginable limits.
So, my life after the Bakken has been playing catch-up with girlfriend and family, working on my limited fly-fishing skills and visiting with neglected buddies. I’m taking a few quick moments to savor life, and then, like many other oilfield workers, I will just go back to work. Why not? I’m not a victim in all this, just the opposite. I gained so much from the Bakken Patch; beyond money, I found confidence and learned that a little extra effort makes many things possible. Often I do have twinges of frustration when I hear people complaining about the price of gas. Then I think, “Why get mad? Their relationship with oil starts and stops at the pump.” I have been spoiled for five years, as I have been privileged to work alongside the Doer’s of this world, and that’s why I miss the Bakken. All the Doers are in the wind now, spread across all corners of America. Our little elite club has been broken up. The party’s over.
Of course, the party in the Bakken isn’t entirely over…while rig counts are down (zero rigs in Montana), production actually ticked up.