Source: NEWS-JOURNAL.COM

Lack of workers limits area drilling operations


By Jamaal E. O'Neal

Sunday, October 19, 2008

As oil and gas drilling continues to click and clack East Texas' economy forward, finding enough skilled workers to keep the region's economic engine pumping is growing more challenging for some area oil and gas companies.

"It's virtually impossible to find help," said Jo Maxwell, president of Signal Well Service in Kilgore. "We've run ads in the paper, but that hasn't even worked."

Maxwell's company employs about 25 workers who specialize in building and maintaining oil and gas wells across East Texas. She said her company has finally hired a rig operator — someone who oversees the operations on an oil or gas rig — after more than two weeks of searching.

Before Signal Energy found a new operator, the field superintendent had to double his job duties, adding more stress in a laborious industry, Maxwell said.

"I think we have someone who will stay with the job for a while," Maxwell said. "But you never know. It's very serious."

Across town, Cudd Energy Service is having a problem of its own, finding commercially licensed truck drivers to haul dissembled rigs, gas, oil and water from drilling sites.

"There is a huge shortage for drivers with a (commercial driver's) license in East Texas," said Paul Kaster, the company's operations manager. "Right now I could hire about 20 CDL drivers."

Cudd Energy has about 275 workers who specialize in connecting electrical lines, coiled tubing services and fracturing — the use of hydraulic machinery to extract minerals such as oil and gas from the ground.

Kaster said the company sees a steady flow of applications, but still finds it hard to find the workers he needs.

"It's getting very competitive," Kaster said. "With drilling increasing in the region, I think it's going to get even harder."

Growing challenges

Finding and retaining qualified, skilled workers continues to plague oil and gas operations statewide.

According to a 2006 Texas Workforce Commission report, the Texas oil and gas industry was projected to add more than 10,000 jobs within five years; most of that job growth occurring in the East and West Texas regions.

The Haynesville Shale — one of the largest natural gas discoveries in the United States — is opening opportunities for additional drilling in East Texas.

However, competition from other companies and the daunting stacks of applications from unqualified jobseekers make finding and hanging on to the right candidates difficult, Maxwell said.

"Some of the applicants we get can't even pass a drug test and have multiple DWIs," Maxwell said. "Then they'll work for you a couple of weeks and if they hear of someone else just paying a dollar more, they'll quit and go work for them. It's frustrating."

Cudd Energy has similar issues.

"In East Texas we're competing against the logging and (poultry) industries," Kaster said. "That's our main challenge."

Dangerous work conditions, long hours away from families and extreme weather add more obstacles to keeping employees in the fields.

Texas ranked first in the nation for oil and gas field extraction deaths, accounting for 153 of 404 deaths nationwide between 2003 and 2006, according to an April 25 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality report. "You work when it's 95 degrees, you work when it's 35 degrees," Maxwell said. "It can also be a very dangerous job if (workers) don't pay attention."

While Maxwell and Kaster offer on-the-job training, and even bonuses, both said it's not always enough.

"You can't have all trainees on a $2 to $3 million well site," Maxwell said. "You have to have more than one person with some experience on a job site, and that's the problem we're facing industrywide."

Kurt S. Abraham, director of professional development for the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers, said the oil and gas industry has had to be creative in its hiring processes statewide.

"Some companies have had to hire people with mechanical, electrical and even aeronautical engineering disciplines to work in the oil and gas field," Abraham said.

In some cases, Abraham said some workers are coming out of retirement to make extra money. He said the difficulty in finding oil and gas field workers is taking a toll on production, as well.

"If we had the right number of people working, we could be building another 15,000 to 20,000 wells a year," Abraham said. "The lack of workers has put an artificial cap on drilling across Texas and the U.S."

Oil field retirees

Even while some retirees are returning, more older workers are leaving.

According to the Texas Workforce Commission, the average number of oil and gas jobs that will be available in the next 12 months is 1,975; more than half of the openings will be the result of people retiring or leaving the industry.

For EnCana Oil and Gas in Longview, a division of the Canadian-based exploration and extraction company, finding the next batch of skilled workers to replace older workers preparing to retire has grown difficult.

"We're always looking for field operators and drilling supervisors in the Longview, Lufkin and Nacogdoches area," said EnCana spokesman Al Sommers. "We're not facing a shortage yet, but we're looking for skilled workers to stay prepared in order to fill positions vacated by workers leaving for retirement."

Filling the void

To address the need for more oil and gas field workers, Kilgore and Panola Colleges have started Petroleum Engineering programs. Kilgore College also offers a truck driving course to address the need for more commercially licensed truck drivers.

EnCana also has sponsored programs in North Texas that introduce high school students to the oil and gas industry; however, Kaster said that may not be enough to keep up with demand.

"I think we need more trade schools to address the shortage," Kaster said. "With the Haynesville Shale getting bigger, we're going to need more workers for everything."

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Where Longview ranks nationally

- In 2007, the Longview area had the nation's fourth highest concentration of roughnecks with 1,040. Odessa was ranked third with 1,060 workers; Midland was ranked first with 1,680 workers.

- Longview also had the nation's fifth highest concentration of extraction workers with 140. Corpus Christi ranked fourth with 280 workers; Casper, Wyo., was ranked first with 270 workers. The Labor Department said Casper outranked Corpus Christi because of the percentage of workers working in the extraction industry within the Casper metro area versus the percentage working in Corpus Christi.

- Abilene oil and gas companies paid its roughnecks $8 more an hour in 2007 than Longview companies, making them the third-highest paid roughnecks in the nation at $20.62 per hour.

- Midland oil and gas companies paid its rotary drill operators $9 more an hour in 2007 than Longview companies, making them the second highest paid rotary drill operators in the nation at $28.43 an hour.

- Neither the Longview nor Tyler area was highly ranked nationally for oil and gas worker wages in 2007.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

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Oil and gas field job glossary

Extraction helpers: Assist roughnecks with drilling and blasting to prepare the ground for extraction. The helpers also work with derrick operators when extracting minerals.

Roughnecks: Assemble and repair oil field equipment; occasionally will help extract minerals from the site.

Rotary drill operators: Set up, or operate, a variety of drills to remove petroleum products from the site. The operators also find and gather soil samples for testing during oil and gas exploration.

Derrick operators: Assemble derrick equipment and operate pumps to circulate mud through the drill hole.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Photo tag : Kevin Hudson prepares for an operation at Halliburton in Kilgore. Halliburton is looking for rotary drill operators and other workers for oil fields across East Texas.