Energy Industry Layoffs and Strikes (Houston: lease, universities, to move)

[Exult.Q36]

T Boone Pickens says he think it might drop down to 20 or lower. Nobody predicted this.

[Atlwarrior]

Originally Posted by HookTheBrotherUp

It will bottom out, and prices will rise again. However, there are many dynamics at play right now. A lot of companies are going bankrupt, so a lot of people laid off will have nowhere to go as many of the smaller companies will cease to exist. It also takes a while to ramp up again, and the US will begin to export oil again after not being able to do so for so many years. Unfortunately, expect the effects to linger for much of 2016.

I realize this is not the right forum for this, but people need to think about who they are going to vote in for their next President. Someone who will work to save American jobs, not constantly bring in cheap labor to replace American workers. Some of you reading this will be laid off, or you may know someone who will be , or already has been laid off. Remember that when hiring starts again, employers will go for the cheap labor, not the highly skilled who will expect a larger paycheck!

Why bring irrational political self interest views into the picture. If an employer is responsible for hiring skilled or lower cost laborers, how in the world does the White House influence or prevent the business owner from doing that action. The global market favors no political side as too much supply will bring down prices in any nation.

[HookTheBrotherUp]

Originally Posted by Atlwarrior

Why bring irrational political self interest views into the picture. If an employer is responsible for hiring skilled or lower cost laborers, how in the world does the White House influence or prevent the business owner from doing that action. The global market favors no political side as too much supply will bring down prices in any nation.

Yeah... you are right, no influence or action from the White House can affect this. My bad. The fifteen people or so up and down the hall who's names I cannot pronounce don't think there is a problem either. Lets forget it. Maybe the MODs can delete my post.

I work for an O&G company BTW, but in IT, so I know what is going on and first noticed the change about ten years ago. The IT department for Disney is a far worse example, but it is the same thing basically. Google 'Disney IT'. If I could post a video of me walking down the hall of my office to show the names of the employees and get away with it, I'd do it, I am not kidding when I say this.

To be fair, from a business perspective, I can see why companies do this, they are taking advantage of current rules and laws, but it still is not right. Ten years ago I saw the change in IT, but in the last 3-5, I've began to see it in the Geoscience community. Afterall, why pay a Senior Geophysicist/Advisor $150-200K when you can get a much younger, and cheaper Geophysicist and train him/her for $60K? It just seems dirty to me. The original intent was to bring in people where there was a shortage of American workers to fill the jobs, but ask the ones who were recently let go if there is a shortage. Now Google 'H-B1 Abuse'.

[energyminion]

Originally Posted by HookTheBrotherUp

It will bottom out, and prices will rise again. However, there are many dynamics at play right now. A lot of companies are going bankrupt, so a lot of people laid off will have nowhere to go as many of the smaller companies will cease to exist. It also takes a while to ramp up again, and the US will begin to export oil again after not being able to do so for so many years. Unfortunately, expect the effects to linger for much of 2016.

I realize this is not the right forum for this, but people need to think about who they are going to vote in for their next President. Someone who will work to save American jobs, not constantly bring in cheap labor to replace American workers. Some of you reading this will be laid off, or you may know someone who will be , or already has been laid off. Remember that when hiring starts again, employers will go for the cheap labor, not the highly skilled who will expect a larger paycheck!

So the dynamics of low oil prices is hard to understand here. With low oil prices we should see some layoffs and of course it becomes harder for newer grads (especially petroleum engineering graduates) to find jobs. But shouldn't there be an uptick in say the employment of electrical engineers, civil engineers and chemical engineers due to the available low priced feedstock and construction of new chemical manufacturing plants? New grad employment has been affected especially for the three mentioned and so does it mean the relationship isn't that simple? How should the employment picture respond in 2016?

[RocketSci]

Originally Posted by energyminion

So the dynamics of low oil prices is hard to understand here. With low oil prices we should see some layoffs and of course it becomes harder for newer grads (especially petroleum engineering graduates) to find jobs. But shouldn't there be an uptick in say the employment of electrical engineers, civil engineers and chemical engineers due to the available low priced feedstock and construction of new chemical manufacturing plants? New grad employment has been affected especially for the three mentioned and so does it mean the relationship isn't that simple? How should the employment picture respond in 2016?

All of the uptick above require years of stable low prices, years of design and development, and most importantly an expanded market need for those products (greater than the market loss associated with O&G). Layoffs are instantaneous. Any uptick in 2016 will be due to reduced transportation costs, and may be reflected in price of goods and perhaps increase in travel (airlines, auto, etc). Engineers in energy will have a very tough time in 2016.

(Off-topic, article in Bloomberg today: The North Dakota Crude Oil That's Worth Less Than Nothing - Bloomberg Business - "Flint Hills Resources LLC ... said it would pay -$0.50 a barrel Friday for North Dakota Sour, a high-sulfur grade of crude, according to a list price posted on its website." Not sell for 50 cents a barrel - PAY 50 cents to take it away - incredible)

[ipuck]

Originally Posted by energyminion

So the dynamics of low oil prices is hard to understand here. With low oil prices we should see some layoffs and of course it becomes harder for newer grads (especially petroleum engineering graduates) to find jobs. But shouldn't there be an uptick in say the employment of electrical engineers, civil engineers and chemical engineers due to the available low priced feedstock and construction of new chemical manufacturing plants? New grad employment has been affected especially for the three mentioned and so does it mean the relationship isn't that simple? How should the employment picture respond in 2016?

Almost every business is affected someway and benefited from this lower price.

Apparel prices are lower because oil is used to produce cotton.

Overseas manufacturing are lower because logistics to ship here are down.

Airlines are having a banner year with this price.

Consumers have an extra 20-50 in their pocket which are spent on something else.

Now regarding the engineers, I think only the oil speciality are being affected but the other STEM degrees are just fine.

I always make the argument new graduates should not be pulling 80k fresh out of school. Nothing justify that pay. I think we will slowly see that rate being lowered back to reality.

[bazookabang]

Originally Posted by ipuck

Almost every business is affected someway and benefited from this lower price.

Apparel prices are lower because oil is used to produce cotton.

Overseas manufacturing are lower because logistics to ship here are down.

Airlines are having a banner year with this price.

Consumers have an extra 20-50 in their pocket which are spent on something else.

Now regarding the engineers, I think only the oil speciality are being affected but the other STEM degrees are just fine.

I always make the argument new graduates should not be pulling 80k fresh out of school. Nothing justify that pay. I think we will slowly see that rate being lowered back to reality.

Again, why people keep criticizing paychecks when folks are losing their jobs is beyond my understanding. And just FYI, it's just not petroleum engineers, but pretty much all engineers (comp science, chemical, mechanical etc) make north of 80K/year. My friend who is chem engineer and not working in anything remotely related to oil, got hired at 90k/yr.

[curbur]

Originally Posted by bazookabang

Again, why people keep criticizing paychecks when folks are losing their jobs is beyond my understanding. And just FYI, it's just not petroleum engineers, but pretty much all engineers (comp science, chemical, mechanical etc) make north of 80K/year. My friend who is chem engineer and not working in anything remotely related to oil, got hired at 90k/yr.

Engineers in those fields make upwards of that much or even way higher, but typically not fresh out of school like ipuck was saying. Making over 80k right out of school is pretty unique to oil engineers and perhaps maybe also chemical. I've had many friends with mechanical and comp sci engineering degrees and only one of them made over $80k out of school, and they went to an ivy/one of the best undergrad engineering departments in the country and got a job in Manhattan right out of school. I will say that a lot of engineering salaries over careers seem to shoot up pretty fast in your first few years as you gain experience, but then level off at a certain point and don't get too much higher after that. That's why a lot of engineers in their industry will cross over into some type of business/management position, or other lucrative offshoot job. My mother is a trader and over half of her fellow colleagues are former engineers that realized there was a lot more money in trading.

[ipuck]

Originally Posted by bazookabang

Again, why people keep criticizing paychecks when folks are losing their jobs is beyond my understanding. And just FYI, it's just not petroleum engineers, but pretty much all engineers (comp science, chemical, mechanical etc) make north of 80K/year. My friend who is chem engineer and not working in anything remotely related to oil, got hired at 90k/yr.

Other engineers definitely do not make 90k starting out. Maybe some of the really good ones in silicon valley, but not the average job blow from any regular school.

I am just stating that the overhead and salaries are way out of line from the rest of the industry and other graduates since one of the poster mention starting grads.

A person I know working in O&G was telling me how she finally cracked 100k salary 5 years ago after working 20 years in HR. Now she is making over 200k with the same title and job responsibilities. Basically with the same job, salaries across the board in O&G have went up 50-100% this last 5 years. This seem to be a common theme from multiple sources.

[swopoe]

My husband is a PhD geologist in O&G, and his salary has not gone up by 50-100% in the last 5 years. Even with a promotion last year. Damn.