Ground Zero

[cbrasher1 + 272]

Hi guys.  Hanging in and hanging on still in West Texas...The roads are dead and the nights are pitch black.  Our company has had 3 rounds of layoffs from 322 employees at first of March to 83 today(and here I still am) 😂😂🤷‍♂️ With so few jobs, we're on a rotation schedule, one week 3 days on, 4 off, next week 4 dayson, 3 off....It is ROUGH!! Talking to some friends at Halliburton, they have 3 cores working, supposed to add a couple this week.  We picked up a job with Oxy, they started drilling a pad outside Pecos yesterday.  XTO has a couple frac pads going outside Coyanosa, and a few rigs going in New Mexico.  Talking with folks everyone's sentiment seems to be things will pick up July/August, course that is speculation and hopeful thinking.  Everyone says "be glad your still working" (and thats the folks laid off making 1K or more sittin at the house) 😂 At least 285 is nice and quiet on that commute to New Mexico.  I guess the way this country is acting I just soon be out here in nowhere by myself anyways!

[Douglas Buckland + 6,308]

I’d gladly trade places with you! I’ve been out of a paycheck for 5 years now...although the phone started ringing again last week.

New Mexico is close enough to God’s Country (Colorado) that I could sneak home on occasion... 

[Junior Geo + 25]

I have my fingers crossed that things pick up again here in Canada as well. Lots of bankruptcies happening recently and a lot of people being laid off. Due to end my contract at the end of August so lets all pray things start picking up soon!

[john bozeman + 42]

When I was young, people said "stay alive till '85"...... I knew a guy back then that lost a nice, big oilfield machine shop in Pampa,Texas to the bank. He kept a vacant lot next door, borrowed an unused, small, engine lathe, and put it on a 4' x 10' slab he poured himself.  When not in use he covered the lathe with a tarp.  He did a lot of fishing and raised a hell of a garden on the lot.  Eventually, he built a steel barn over the lathe with a dirt floor.  Over the next few years he kept adding back tools to this shop (still had the garden !)  He finally wound up back in the original fine shop he lost (after about 15 years).  Sure glad I like garden vegetables.

[Gerry Maddoux + 3,627]

48 minutes ago, john bozeman said:

Pampa,Texas

About 75 miles from where I grew up. You tell stories exactly the way I learned. Must be the microclimate in that area. 

As you know, the Granite Wash that runs through the Texas Panhandle and over into Beckham County Oklahoma is one of the last good conventional sources of gas and oil. Still a lot of oil down there in the Hogshooter, just partially blocked by slabs of thick granite. 

Good to read about Pampa!

[ronwagn + 6,290]

3 hours ago, john bozeman said:

When I was young, people said "stay alive till '85"...... I knew a guy back then that lost a nice, big oilfield machine shop in Pampa,Texas to the bank. He kept a vacant lot next door, borrowed an unused, small, engine lathe, and put it on a 4' x 10' slab he poured himself.  When not in use he covered the lathe with a tarp.  He did a lot of fishing and raised a hell of a garden on the lot.  Eventually, he built a steel barn over the lathe with a dirt floor.  Over the next few years he kept adding back tools to this shop (still had the garden !)  He finally wound up back in the original fine shop he lost (after about 15 years).  Sure glad I like garden vegetables.

That just goes to show you what persistence, durability, hard work, and skill can accomplish. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. You don't have to be rich to be happy, but it doesn't usually hurt too much. 

[ronwagn + 6,290]

2 hours ago, Gerry Maddoux said:

About 75 miles from where I grew up. You tell stories exactly the way I learned. Must be the microclimate in that area. 

As you know, the Granite Wash that runs through the Texas Panhandle and over into Beckham County Oklahoma is one of the last good conventional sources of gas and oil. Still a lot of oil down there in the Hogshooter, just partially blocked by slabs of thick granite. 

Good to read about Pampa!

https://www.naturalgasintel.com/granitewashinfo

[Gerry Maddoux + 3,627]

Thanks for posting the article about the GW. That area was drilled extensively back in the eighties, going for dry gas with conventional wells. Then in the early 2000's it was drilled unconventionally, going for oil. Unfortunately, there are some obstacles: granite. 

About 500 million years ago, there was a massive upheaval. South of the Red River, granite boulders the size of VW beetles were strewn everywhere. North of the Red River the granite slabs were lifted but not brought to the surface. The oil and gas are all north of the Red River. 

But they discovered that over in Wheeler County Texas there aren't many granite slabs to maneuver around. That's where most of the activity is now, over in Hemphill County Texas. Apache bought an entire ranch over there to drill unencumbered. 

It is sad that this field was all but abandoned, as there were massive wells being unconventionally drilled with few frack stages. Mr. John Bozeman will know a lot more about those. They were more economical than many of the Delaware wells, even, due to a massive infrastructure including several gathering stations and a number of large pipelines leading straight into the Cushing Hub. I keep waiting on someone wanting a low-risk, inexpensive shale basin to finish, but the way things are going . . . .

[Douglas Buckland + 6,308]

10 hours ago, Gerry Maddoux said:

About 75 miles from where I grew up. You tell stories exactly the way I learned. Must be the microclimate in that area. 

As you know, the Granite Wash that runs through the Texas Panhandle and over into Beckham County Oklahoma is one of the last good conventional sources of gas and oil. Still a lot of oil down there in the Hogshooter, just partially blocked by slabs of thick granite. 

Good to read about Pampa!

I worked a summer job with Phillips out of Borger around 1980. Remember good times at the rodeo in Pampa. Brings back fond memories!