Hey Oilfield Guys!!

[boh347]

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[AXIS_KILLER]

Good luck to all those being affected. Hopefully, it takes a turn for the better and yall can get back on your feet.

[bphillips]

I would like for it to also, but with the stand that Axis_Killer is making the thread is quickly getting derailed from its intended purpose. I have found this thread useful from the original post. But tired of seeing trolls that think they are smarter than everyone else ruin good threads. If he would move on we would be back to good.

It gets cleaned up daily. The mods are helping us keep it going I believe. It's been a good place for support and venting at times. Even a job offer or two will pop up

[locknload]

The REAL reason why oil prices dropped...

The oil price drop that has dominated the headlines in recent weeks has been framed almost exclusively in terms of oil market economics, with most media outlets blaming Saudi Arabia, through its OPEC Trojan horse, for driving down the price, thus causing serious damage to the world's major oil exporters – most notably Russia.

While the market explanation is partially true, it is simplistic, and fails to address key geopolitical pressure points in the Middle East.

Oilprice.com looked beyond the headlines for the reason behind the oil price drop, and found that the explanation, while difficult to prove, may revolve around control of oil and gas in the Middle East and the weakening of Russia, Iran and Syria by flooding the market with cheap oil.

The oil weapon

We don't have to look too far back in history to see Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter and producer, using the oil price to achieve its foreign policy objectives. In 1973, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat convinced Saudi King Faisal to cut production and raise prices, then to go as far as embargoing oil exports, all with the goal of punishing the United States for supporting Israel against the Arab states. It worked. The “oil price shock” quadrupled prices.

It happened again in 1986, when Saudi Arabia-led OPEC allowed prices to drop precipitously, and then in 1990, when the Saudis sent prices plummeting as a way of taking out Russia, which was seen as a threat to their oil supremacy. In 1998, they succeeded. When the oil price was halved from $25 to $12, Russia defaulted on its debt.

The Saudis and other OPEC members have, of course, used the oil price for the obverse effect, that is, suppressing production to keep prices artificially high and member states swimming in “petrodollars”. In 2008, oil peaked at $147 a barrel.

Related: OPEC Ministers Decry Price War Conspiracy Theories

Turning to the current price drop, the Saudis and OPEC have a vested interest in taking out higher-cost competitors, such as US shale oil producers, who will certainly be hurt by the lower price. Even before the price drop, the Saudis were selling their oil to China at a discount. OPEC's refusal on Nov. 27 to cut production seemed like the baldest evidence yet that the oil price drop was really an oil price war between Saudi Arabia and the US.

However, analysis shows the reasoning is complex, and may go beyond simply taking down the price to gain back lost marketshare.

“What is the reason for the United States and some U.S. allies wanting to drive down the price of oil?” Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro asked rhetorically in October. “To harm Russia.”

Many believe the oil price plunge is the result of deliberate and well-planned collusion on the part of the United States and Saudi Arabia to punish Russia and Iran for supporting the murderous Assad regime in Syria.

Punishing Assad and friends

Proponents of this theory point to a Sept. 11 meeting between US Secretary of State John Kerry and Saudi King Abdullah at his palace on the Red Sea. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, it was during that meeting that a deal was hammered out between Kerry and Abdullah. In it, the Saudis would support Syrian airstrikes against Islamic State (ISIS), in exchange for Washington backing the Saudis in toppling Assad.

If in fact a deal was struck, it would make sense, considering the long-simmering rivalry between Saudi Arabia and its chief rival in the region: Iran. By opposing Syria, Abdullah grabs the opportunity to strike a blow against Iran, which he sees as a powerful regional rival due to its nuclear ambitions, its support for militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah, and its alliance with Syria, which it provides with weapons and funding. The two nations are also divided by religion, with the majority of Saudis following the Sunni version of Islam, and most Iranians considering themselves Shi’ites.

“The conflict is now a full-blown proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia, which is playing out across the region,” Reuters reported on Dec. 15. “Both sides increasingly see their rivalry as a winner-take-all conflict: if the Shi’ite Hezbollah gains an upper hand in Lebanon, then the Sunnis of Lebanon—and by extension, their Saudi patrons—lose a round to Iran. If a Shi’ite-led government solidifies its control of Iraq, then Iran will have won another round.”

The Saudis know the Iranians are vulnerable on the oil price. Experts say the country needs $140 a barrel oil to balance its budget; at sub-$60 prices, the Saudis succeed in pressuring Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamanei, possibly containing its nuclear ambitions and making the country more pliable to the West, which has the power to reduce or lift sanctions if Iran cooperates.

Adding credence to this theory, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told a Cabinet meeting earlier this month that the fall in oil prices was “politically motivated” and a “conspiracy against the interests of the region, the Muslim people and the Muslim world.”

[jooger17]

Weatherford let several very experienced hands go today out of the Midland office... Word from one of them is they're getting ready to close the doors on the Midland office soon.

[bphillips]

Weatherford let several very experienced hands go today out of the Midland office... Word from one of them is they're getting ready to close the doors on the Midland office soon.

Dang that's no bueno at all

[kyle1974]

Weatherford let several very experienced hands go today out of the Midland office... Word from one of them is they're getting ready to close the doors on the Midland office soon.

I heard they closed an office down in Laredo a couple weeks ago and merged with an office somewhere else... maybe in corpus?

[txoutdoorsman24]

Weatherford let several very experienced hands go today out of the Midland office... Word from one of them is they're getting ready to close the doors on the Midland office soon.

Pm sent

[txoutdoorsman24]

The simple fact of the matter is every O/G employee gets very upset/defensive when you mention how much money is in the field and how much O/G employees make.

Just like any other profession where people think someone is overpaid.

Yes oil prices being low work in many people's favor but YES the thread was designed for O/G employees to be prepared for the bust and start saving.

Good luck to everyone who has lost a job and hope yall can find a new job. I know a few people who no longer are employeed in the field so I know how it goes and how it feels.

Remember God always has a plan and he knows best!

That's the problem. People THINK we are all overpaid. Some of us are paid for what we do and how much time we spend at work. I'm salaried so it don't matter how much I work. I know some overpaid guys and some not so well paid guys.
Besides, wouldn't you be a lil upset or defensive when Joe Blow makes a comment about how he likes it that prices are super low and he Hopes it stays that way. When you're the one being affected, it's hard to hear or read those things. Yes BPhillips and a lot of other guys were right when they said save, but some don't understand that ya know. I nor anyone in this field want to see or hear someone gloating about what drives our lives. We all want a happy medium. That's all

[jooger17]

I heard they closed an office down in Laredo a couple weeks ago and merged with an office somewhere else... maybe in corpus?

I haven't heard about that but I did hear the Benbrook office closed the doors.

[Catarina]

Weatherford fired 100+ people from the Alice office a few weeks ago

I didn't realize until recently that Weatherford is such a poorly ran company. Pretty much every penny they use to feed the machine and keep running is nothing more than borrowed money that adds to their debt

[RJK70]

Weatherford fired 100+ people from the Alice office a few weeks ago



I didn't realize until recently that Weatherford is such a poorly ran company. Pretty much every penny they use to feed the machine and keep running is nothing more than borrowed money that adds to their debt

There are a lot of big oilfield related companies that do the same. Some are destined to fail or be bought out if this downturn last a long time.

[jooger17]

Weatherford fired 100+ people from the Alice office a few weeks ago

I didn't realize until recently that Weatherford is such a poorly ran company. Pretty much every penny they use to feed the machine and keep running is nothing more than borrowed money that adds to their debt

I don't know anything about that side of it. I can say this, I've been in the oil field for coming up on 13 years, and worked 6 years in construction. For the ones that want to be a smart *** and know my age, yes I started working construction at age 12. I have never worked for a better company. It may just be my particular coordinator and the company may not have a thing to do with it. I've got 6 months with them. They've laid off 15 year hands in my same position. I refuse to say that I am better than them. What I'm saying is, they do see the effort that I'm putting out and it matters to them. If I get laid off tomorrow I won't have any hard feelings towards them. It's a fiscal decision. They're certainly not the highest paying, but it pays good enough to keep the bills paid and they've kept me working longer than I expected.

[txjustin]

Weatherford fired 100+ people from the Alice office a few weeks ago

I didn't realize until recently that Weatherford is such a poorly ran company. Pretty much every penny they use to feed the machine and keep running is nothing more than borrowed money that adds to their debt

They have extremely high debt and quite honestly I'm amazed they are still in business. I think the main reason they haven't been acquired is solely based on their huge debt load.

[Cold 1]

Weatherford closed their yard down up here a couple weeks ago. Layed off 72 + is what I was told.