jksnijders

I saw a stat once detailing the number of cars hitting the road every week in China, (this was a couple years ago when things were a little better economically, mind you) but the figure was astonishing. Something else that really caught my eye recently was in a box of National Geographic magazines I got from a relative, all quite old, the one of which was from around the time of the oil price shock of the 70's. The article, aside from the dated pictures, could have appeared when oil spiked recently. All the same talk of alternate energy sources, etc. etc. I agree totally that we have to wean ourselves off fossil fuels eventually, but even then nothing drastically changed. Oil prices dropped, the panic was over, and everything went back to business as usual. As far as "Peak Oil", by Hubbert's definition, its quite obvious (from what we get told) that production is declining, but technology keeps up at a pretty rapid pace. Wells that no one would really try to drill say 10 years ago are commonplace now. Horizontal multi stage wells are the big thing nowadays, gas production in the US has increased a pile because of it. Also, I've read that current oil prices are out of line with economic fundamentals, considering you can hardly get a tanker to just hold the stuff at sea. There is alot of it just sitting around at the moment, yet the price is holding around $80/barrel, perhaps largely driven by speculation? One thing to remember is that there are alot of largely unexplored regions on this planet, both on land and underwater, in terms of oil and gas. I would assume that a best guess in terms of "proven" reserves (a term that always makes me laugh) is drawn from seismic data, yet there are no shortage of places that haven't even been looked at yet.

From experience, just shoot from within the house. A couch cushion, a stable surface, an open window about 5 feet away, and a clear line of fire equals very little muzzle blast heard outside the house.

Hard to say.. Could have gotten a hell of alot worse after that one. Looked like it unloaded alot of fluid. Done a good number of jobs off drilling rigs, familiar with hydrostatics in both open and cased hole. Don't miss cementing one bit actually.. Was on a well (cased) that the crew had 7 MPA on the plug I just set for a pressure test, hold for 15, when the driller opened the blind rams without the well being bled off. Shot a 5 1/2 wide (casing size) geyser of fluid over the crown of the service rig. Amazing what pressure will do.. even a couple thousand KPA will blow the lubricator right off a wellhead if opened up to without proper equalization.

Things can go south in a big hurry, as this vid shows.

They certainly planned to have a blowout, sink a 600 million dollar platform to the bottom (overtop of their subsea controls I'm sure) kill 11, seriously injure many more, and now have the wild well to control, (where its really easy to see what's going on with it..) as well as the cleanup. Might I add the 500 thousand a day to drill the well to that point, (which they may actually end up ruining with the kill operation..) and who knows what other costs to yet be determined. But unless you ride a bike everywhere and burn wood to heat your house you're part of the problem, not the solution. Tragic environmentally for sure, as is the crew loss, but if you think wells like that are drilled in a haphazard fashion, put down the Elmer's...

Thats awesome.. Good to hear your rods weren't lifted too rickr.

I'll be loading heavy for that float for sure.. As for Wildrose, burned through a Pig of Alberta Crude in fairly short order. Good stuff..

Seems alot of posts can come across as spurious.. As for the fish, whatever. I've seen no shortage of pics that I call BS on, but to be bothered wasting time on it, no thanks. As for someone that caught a brown or rainbow of whatever size, without a pic, that is what it is. A story for everyone else but the guy who caught it. The ones I see are the ones I believe. As for the dog skins, I have a friend who's family have a commercial fur shack not far from here. Should see what he gets in a year himself.. Personally, I find your numbers tough to believe, but whatever. Maybe you did..? I know guys that spend alot of time in the winter shooting coyotes and would be lucky to get 50 if they really tried hard. These guys are farmers and ranchers for the most part, let alone when in school all day 5 days a week. 5 or 6 years, means you'd have a license for 2 of those.. Alot of hard walking (or horse) miles in the winter I suppose. Myself, it's not worth the gas, the shells or the time to hunt the damn things, let alone skin them. But I guess they'd have been worth more in the 50's... And was wondering where you disappeared to Clive...

Awesome.

A provincial record I'd guess..

When I was younger I used to fish for them alot, hooked but never landed anything really big. Had one on once that was pulling a 12 foot aluminum boat. Upstream. Always wanted to fish for whites, haven't made it yet though.

I second that..

Sturgeon can live alot longer than the dam has been around, so good chance there may be the odd one above it.

The only way I'd fork over money to see Ann Coulter would be to see her step off the curb in front of a speeding Greyhound. Hard to believe that she got where she is by simply being loud mouthed and arrogant..

Very nice.

Hehe.. My dad had an XJ, those things were awesome..

Well said.

"I will say that if my post was the most assinine someone has read, I find it hard to believe that they have read all that many posts. " "Asinine" may have been a bit harsh. And for that I apologize. A little. I've read a good number here, and yours just hit alot closer to home than alot of the child-like pissing contests I see here.. But as it is, as I am one of the aforementioned field hands that has been on call for waaay too many days straight, and a long day full of stupid calls got to me a bit. " Typically, in most industries, the level of compensation is commesurate with formal training or education combined with experience. I don't find that to be true in O&G. " You can learn a hell of alot more standing on a rig floor than from a textbook, in many respects. I've gone through many "training" courses that I gained very little from, mainly because what I was taught was, to say the least, very reliant on everything going in a "textbook" fashion. This is rarely the case when dealing with things in the field. Better learn to think on your feet is kinda what I'm getting at. "To the gent that suggested the conditions are very rough and lonely in the field. I have no doubt they are. I'm not sure they are rougher than those that the men and women of the armed forces face that go out on ship for 4 months straight or to Kandahar for 6 months. A Warrant Officer in either place would make far less than half what a construction supervisor at an O&G site would make. You may not know many field folks that are making more than $220K but I do." Maybe a bit off. I know alot of guys that make a decent dollar, but aside from consultants that stay very busy, or guys pushing really busy rigs, its not a huge percentage in or above the 220 k mark. As for the military, my hat is off to anyone in that line of work. "To the folks that suggested that O&G field workers don't get 2 months off every summer. That is probably true, but a very large number of O&G personnel work 2 in 2 out. By my count that is 26 weeks a year they are off. And yes, they work damn hard and long when they are in." 2 in 2 out is, from the people I know that work that schedule, usually reserved for the oilsands or battery operating in remote locations. "I was heartened with the response from the one person who is in the field but recognizes that costs are still way out of whack. Supply and demand works, but it can get out of balance, especially when you're dealing with a somewhat captive and non-competitive market." I'm in the field as we "speak", so that makes 2. Costs are out of whack, but realize too that we are dealing with a finite resource. Why should there not be a somewhat trickle down effect. Everything costs more and more all the time. Try building iron when its flat out busy. Then eating the costs of said iron to keep your costs down when billed to oil companies, who never discount the price of what they sell to anybody... Competition for employees that are worth a damn goes up, along with what it costs to keep them when they can go elsewhere at the drop of a hat. At the end of the day, everyone wants the best equipment, with the most experienced personnel, for the cheapest cost. Pretty hard to balance that out I'd say. Look at what is happening now. Activity drops to a 10 year low, people get laid off, move on to other things, move home, etc, etc. Then, as though someone flicked on a lightswitch, everything goes from 0 to 120 km/h. Where are all the people? Why do we have to wait 3 weeks for a frac? Why all these problems? Gee, do the math on that one fellas.. Everyone screaming for iron when it's busy, but when it slows down nobody wants to touch it with a 10 foot pole. Wireline trucks, tubing units, frac spreads, drilling rigs, all cost an arm and a leg to build, yet make absolutely zero when they're sitting in the yard.

Nice..

A work related hazard I doubt most teachers have to worry about.. One guy was killed here, btw.

This is probably the single most asinine post I've ever read on this site. I don't know many field hands that get 2 months off in the summer, and get to shut the operation down when it's 40 below. (My bus didn't run in that weather when I was a kid..) Watch a service rig trip pipe in the middle of the Suffield block winter day then tell me the guys are overpaid. The days don't end at 4 pm, or whatever time a teacher wraps up the day. I've spent a month straight sitting in a camp, in the fine areas of High Level (which was 2 hours away) Conklin ( Lac La Biche- 3 hours.) Or Borealis. (From Ft. McMurray, a solid 3 hours.) among many others. Friends and family are a brief voice on the end of a cellphone in those places, if you can find service. I don't know alot of field hands that make high 6 figure salaries, perhaps you do. I put more km's on a vehicle in a month than most teachers or execs do in a year, almost all work related. And I am educated beyond high school, just so you know. But hey, I guess people like myself with a strong back and a weak mind have to find something to do with themselves...

May have posted this before..

Awesome..

No pics of Big Ern?

Ann Coulter is about as ignorant as they come.