advice on oil jobs (Midland, Odessa: apartments, renting, hotel)

[Hutislnd]

Hey all...looking for some advice on the accuracy of the 60 Minutes segment I saw tonight on Andrews, TX and the "oil boom" the show portrayed. Are there as many jobs available as the show portrayed? HONEST OPINIONS WANTED!! A little history here...I'm currently living in Florida and will close my retail biz out after 12 years on the beach. To make a long story short, hurricanes Frances & Jeanne (3 weeks apart in 2004') did substantial damage to my area and economically it still hasn't recovered. To add to that, the current housing crisis has really hurt not only our area, but the state overall. So...I'll shut my biz in August (lease is up) and will look for a job that will offer decent money to pay the debts off that I've incured over the last 3 years trying to rebuild my biz. I'd stay with it and wait out this "down cycle" but a new landlord has purchased our complex and already hit us with increases of 30% since he took over and it's not feasible with the debt I've incurred. So...I'm wondering about the possibilities of working in Andrews or some other area affiliated with the oil industry in Texas. I'm unskilled in this field so "grunt work" is what I'm looking for but more importantly, I'm wondering what the realistic money potential is per year as well as what housing costs are for transients who come to work there. I'm looking to pay of my debt as quickly as possible. The potentail looked good on the show but feedback from locals who work in the field would be most appreciated.

Thanks in advance to those of you who respond.

[raciong1dually]

i work for a company where we built off shore drilling platforms entry level positions are not well paid but if you posses some skils or are willing to learn they have good oportunities if you wat to check it out heres a link Gulf Island Fabrication look for gulf marine fabricators, gulf island its our mother company

[ButterfliesAreHalfPrice]

The oil boom is real, but it isn't as big a boom as the last two. Will it last?

Many of the jobs in the oil fields need experience, such as roustabout and roughneck. There are some jobs in the supply end that don't need any experience, it's OJT, such as pipe kicker. Some of the jobs, like driving the trucks to and from, driving the kill trucks, spooling, you will need a CDL and Hazmat endorsement.

Many places are crying for employees, crying for workers. The boom = a high-end housing boom too, if you have any skills in that area, they are crying for drywall, for electricians. Can you frame?

How fit are you? You have to be really physically fit. It will wear you out and tear you up and spit you out. The pay is good for a reason.

Look in these 2 places for ads: the Midland Reporter-Telegram site, and the Odessa American site, both newspapers. I don't know if I am allowed to post them, but they are mywesttexas.com and oaoa.com. We in Midland are the HUB of the BOOM. Andrews is not the hub but is hopping. Lovington, on the border, is hopping. Pecos is even hopping.

This is an inexpensive area to live in, now. The housing is going up, up, up, however. But some of the apartments, not the nicest ones, they are reasonable. Renting houses is more expensive. You don't want to live in the county, you will never see your possessions again.

Let's see, I know some KIDS practically who have quit high school, quit the community college, because they can make a load of money in the oil fields. They are making great money, to hear them tell it. I personally do NOT think it is as good as people say.

Be aware, I don't find the oil industry particularly nice to its workers. When times were bad, they didn't give a fart for their workers. They pulled out of Midland and never looked back. When times were good, they gave little to the community that made them billions, yes BILLIONS in profits. This may cause trouble to say, but the workers are not treated well. There are a lot of tricks pulled on them, in terms of jerking them around and starting them over at new-hire pay. They don't get the protection they need in terms of safety. A lot of rigs, you have to bring your own water. That's low. Locals refer to the oil workers who come in as "Oil Field Trash," and that is ugly.

[Lucidus]

As Butterflies said, the boom is real and Midland is the hub but the other surrounding cities like Andrews are doing quiet well also. Businesses are desperate for more workers in the oil industry and other industries too. In fact the other industries are hurting more as workers are attracted to the oilfield by the money.

The housing market is still tight but new homes and apartments are going up. Odessa for example, is adding three major complexes on the east side of the city in Midland county on Highway 191. Once completed this development will have apartments for about 3000 people and a new hospital is planned for the area as well.

An interesting aspect of the area is that its economy seems to cycle inversely to the national economy. When times are good nationally, things slow down here, when the economy starts to tank nationally, we have booms. Things are looking good for us now with oil over $100 a barrel and the national economy going into recession.

[ButterfliesAreHalfPrice]

But Lucidus, WILL IT LAST? That's what has got me on pins and needles. WILL IT LAST or...c-r-a-s-h...Midland has luxury apts going up, too, I mean it looks like a thousand units or more, so someone is betting it will last...my house is worth over quadruple what I paid for it...

[Lucidus]

Originally Posted by ButterfliesAreHalfPrice

But Lucidus, WILL IT LAST? That's what has got me on pins and needles. WILL IT LAST or...c-r-a-s-h...Midland has luxury apts going up, too, I mean it looks like a thousand units or more, so someone is betting it will last...my house is worth over quadruple what I paid for it...

Will it last? Ultimately, no. There are always limits to growth. Will it last for the short term and mid term? Yeah, I think so, the global market for oil has changed over the pass years and now most of the new demand is coming from China and India, as long as they continue to develop demand will be high, at the same time oil production seems to have reached a plateau. The peak for conventional oil production occurred in May of 2005 I believe.

Of course, markets are fickle and a crash can come at any time.

As you noted above, this boom has not been as "boomy" as previous ones, I think that is a good sign as the area seems to be in little danger of overbuilding.

Wow, your house has quadrupled in value? Mine has only doubled, but thats good because I don't want to pay higher property taxes than necessary.

[ButterfliesAreHalfPrice]

I'll pass on house-buying advice my daddy gave me: Get the smallest, worst-kept house in the nicest area of bigger houses that you can possibly afford, then renovate. This only works if people are not crazy on their housing prices, though. It would not work in most areas of the country, since people have gone beserk trying to "flip" houses. It worked well at the bottom of the big bust, though.

[conanS]

Butterfly, I would advise against getting into the oil field!! Sure, you can make a ton of money, mostly by working 100+ hours a week. Someone else said it already, when this boom ends, and it WILL, you will be left on the streets!!

I grew up in Andrews, and my Dad always told me that if I quit school he was going to force me to work in the oilfields. Not fun or glamorous work, can also be dangerous at times.

Only thing I can add, if you do decide to do it, you better save your money like crazy, because eventually you will need it when the bottom drops out!

[Coreytread]

Just to through my two cents in, I work in the oil field currently in upwards of two hundred hours a week. Im involved in Geo sciences boring work decent pay. A normal land rig floor hand with no experience can easily take home 50k plus working 7&7. Most companies provide housing onsite or in a hotel close by. The guys Im working with now in Henderson Texas get a hotel room 19.55 an hour 65 a day per diem, and a 650$ a month bonus for camp pay. Offshore floor hands work hard and get paid less but all meals and what not are taken care of plus your not spending on gas an what not. I wouldnt recommend going for actual rig work if your out of shape. If your Good with a Computer or have chemistry background You can look for Mud engineering jobs or work MWD. Just to take a look at the jobs go to [URL="http://www.rigzone.com"]WWW.rigzone.com[/URL] lots of jobs there. Personally Im from East Texas and in my mid 20s most my buddies didnt graduate college but will retire in 8 to ten years from oil field money both US and International jobs Oil and Gas may drop here again but internationally russia an others will continue drilling. Anyway check out that site and use forums there to talk to old school hands who actaully survived the BOOM BUST years.

[calmdude]

I concur with Coreytread's views. As regards grunt work - it will not pay in the long run. Then again, grunt work in the oil fields pays more than in other fields . If you want to take advantage of your background on a temporary basis, do consider Alberta - the demand for all kinds of people is much more there than in TX. Their cycle with tar sands is likely to last a while. In the meantime, both geologists / petroleum engineers are in demand - especially the later. This demand is worldwide. Ideally, if you are able to get some compute or other degree part-time (while working), you will have decent money and not need to worry too much about the bust. Do a google and you will find many insustry sites for both national and internaional oil jobs. Good luck!

Longer term, no one can say for certain how long this boom will last. Much of the oil price increases are due to trader speculation, mistaken belief that oil is running out, trade flow choke points (Gulf), international politics, limited refining capacity, greed, etc. But, the general agreement is that this boom will last about 5-8 yrs at least mainly because of increased consumption in China/India, plus all the improved energy improvement measures will take time to show up on the oil demand curve.