The future of oil and gas on the world stage ! (Houston: quality of life, taxes)

[madrone2k]

Early in my career at a major oil company, one of my managers once remarked "everyone thinks that everyone else makes too much money". Perhaps its not always true, but it seems to be pretty common. And ... those feelings often seem to be intertwined with feelings of envy and of not being sufficiently appreciated.

I've felt the same way at times; perhaps most of us do. However, my work in the oil biz is interesting and at this point in my career, I think I'm well compensated for it. I know technical people in other industries who work at least as hard as I do, but only make 1/3 as much. So, I do count my blessings, which I think are mostly due to the "law" of supply vs. demand. (I.e., not enough people qualified to perform certain kinds of technical work. Which, incidentally, accounts for why most of my close colleagues were born in other countries.)

Oil and gas are commodities and, as such, are subject to price volatility associated with supply relative to demand. And (back to the OP's topic) they will continue to be of critical importance until we as a society make serious headway to change to other sources of energy and chemical building-blocks. I think we should be working harder on that, but I'm afraid that it will take a serious, long-lasting crisis to generate enough will to make credible efforts in that direction.

[KathrynAragon]

Like I've said over and over again - there's a lot of turnover in oil and gas related jobs IN SPITE of the relatively high paychecks. Wonder why that is? And I wonder why, if people think those working in O and G are so overpaid, why they're not flocking to those jobs as well? I mean, if these jobs require so little skill for such great pay, it seems like it'd be a smart career move, right?

So come on. Come show us what you're made of. It's not that hard, right?

[cBach]

Originally Posted by Johnhw2

We don't use your network for any critical operations, we use ours since we not you understand how critical our reliability need is. We address security like none of the IT entities like Microsoft would, because we understood hat a hack would do 25 years ago and the IT pros were amateurs about it then.

We don't call 911 we have trained staff whose job is to be ready and know the equipment and risks in our environment which you IT generalists don't. The fact you think 911 is who is called an emergency in a plant says it all you. I responded to your denigrating oil and gas jobs when you had no clue what you were talking about. I'm glad yours is so critical too but don't show your ignorance about oil,and gas jobs by bashing them and claiming ivy grads are needed to be smart... It simply is a myth you made up.

If you think the local police/sheriff don't get called when there is a plant emergency then I don't know what to tell you.

When your grandmother calls 911 because she's fallen and can't get up, you will surely appreciate the e-911 service.

When you text to your boss while walking around the plant, thank me for that text getting through. Or when you check the weather on that i-phone of yours (or droid or whatever). When your phone extend service connects to you directly from your office, thank me.

The whole world goes around because of the telecom industry, whether you like to admit it or not.

[Johnhw2]

Originally Posted by cBach

If you think the local police/sheriff don't get called when there is a plant emergency then I don't know what to tell you.

When your grandmother calls 911 because she's fallen and can't get up, you will surely appreciate the e-911 service.

When you text to your boss while walking around the plant, thank me for that text getting through. Or when you check the weather on that i-phone of yours (or droid or whatever). When your phone extend service connects to you directly from your office, thank me.

The whole world goes around because of the telecom industry, whether you like to admit it or not.

Let me send you a medal. How on earth did the world Get along before you?

911 doesn't come fight the fire in the refinery nor do they come in to put the fire. If people are injured they take them to the hospital. Hardly what you claimed .... Which ivy school did you attend?

[Jack Lance]

Originally Posted by cBach

If you think the local police/sheriff don't get called when there is a plant emergency then I don't know what to tell you.

When your grandmother calls 911 because she's fallen and can't get up, you will surely appreciate the e-911 service.

When you text to your boss while walking around the plant, thank me for that text getting through. Or when you check the weather on that i-phone of yours (or droid or whatever). When your phone extend service connects to you directly from your office, thank me.

The whole world goes around because of the telecom industry, whether you like to admit it or not.

Hmmm If those text and phone calls didn't get through why would anybody pay for that service ? You seem to be taking a lot of credit for providing a service that works as advertised most of the time.

Telecom is a great service but it is a service that makes what everybody else does more efficient. It is not what the world economy is based on.

[madrone2k]

The conversation since my last comment just keeps reminding me of the former boss I quoted ("everyone thinks everyone else makes too much"). By extension, I think it reflects the perception people have that what they do is complex and difficult, while what other people do must be trivial -- since they really don't know much about it.

I recognize that the modern telecom industry has made it possible to connect many people quickly over long distances. However, it has not evolved independently of the work of people in other fields. Frankly, I don't think it would have come about without the fossil-fuel industry. Even though I've derived my livelihood from the fossil-fuel industry, I hope our dependence on it will shrink quickly -- given that we have billions of people who aspire to western-style living standards.

It seems incredibly vain to think that what one does for a living is the ultimate, most important endeavor of all human beings living now. To me, I think that we are all in this together. We either go forward together ... or our children will suffer for our mistakes.

[cBach]

Originally Posted by Johnhw2

Let me send you a medal. How on earth did the world Get along before you?

911 doesn't come fight the fire in the refinery nor do they come in to put the fire. If people are injured they take them to the hospital. Hardly what you claimed .... Which ivy school did you attend?

Well, the modern O&G industry only started developing after telecom industry, unless you count Indians coating their canoes with oil to make them weatherproof or burning oil around a campfire an oil industry. The modern oil industry need reliable telecommunications. Prior to that, it would take months for a simple letter to cross the sea, imagine communicating to the office in Scotland about North Sea oil and how difficult it would be.

By the way, Dallas has embraced the telecom industry, Plano isn't called "Silicon Prairie" for nothing. The low price of oil does not worry DFW residents as it does greater Houston residents.

[RonnieinDallas]

This thread is drifting off topic, it needs to drift back on topic to not get closed!

[Johnhw2]

The current low crude prices will do more to keep oil and gas in the forefront than not. Alternatives ere struggling to make a DNT when prices were twice the current levels. Now they are even less profitable than shale oil and gas. The lower prices will drive demand higher in the long run. Sure some under capitalized new oil companies won't make it if prices stay low a while. However, the big players, such as XOM have indicated new production was profitable down to $40 per barrel. Xom and some of the big boys are less likely to staff up and ramp up spending due to high oil prices because they know all that is certain about oil prices is they will change. Some majors drive operating costs flat whether prices are sky high or low. All they can control are operating costs, not prices. They think long term and pursue the best prospects that make sense at the long term price level they predict not at the shorter term prices which can gyrate as we have seen again recently.

Oil and gas will dominate the world energy stage for many more decades in my view. Houston, Texas, North Dakota etc will thrive over the long term to as a result.

[Jack Lance]

In my opinion the American shale oil and gas revolution must be allowed to continue and will. If projections into the future are accurate, and I think they are, ports on the Gulf Coast will be exporting abundant affordable LNG and perhaps even crude oil to markets all over the world in the next few years, benefitting cities like Midland, San Antonio and a city not usually mentioned in talk about O&G, Corpus Christi, DFW too, not just Houston.

HOUSTON — The world’s energy markets will change dramatically in around 2020, when North America shifts from a major energy importer to an important fuel source for the world’s middle class, according to Exxon Mobil Corp.’s annual energy forecast.

Fuel Fix » Exxon: North America to be energy exporter by 2020

LNG Terminals - SourceWatch