Houston area (along with DB's not from Houston) BS thread

nooo not always but im talking about pipe... the rough neck is old and a piece so doesn't work all the time.

 

Kids got a new camp bed for next weekends trip.

 

I started out as an MWD then went Directional, then a Well Planner. Now I do drilling optimization and real time survey corrections (Survey Management, IFR corrections, SAG corrections, MSA ect.)

But if I were to go to Albania I would be a Directional Driller.

 

Just a lowly derrick man, directional has caught my eye but then I'd never be home with the wife and kiddo...

 

Directional isn't bad. Just need to get on a rotation or find a followme rig.

If you're offshore there's always some sort of rotation. If you're inland? Well that's a gamble. There was a period in my life where I worked about 300 days a year. I was young and wasn't married so i kept my nose to grind stone. Saved every penny and lived on bologna sandwiches and ramen for almost 4 years.

 

What's your schedule now? 14/14?

 

well yeah if I go over seas I will be 28 /28 but its also a 16% raise for over sea wage.... also they pay for all travel...

and also every guy out there has kids and a family and many have been doing it for years and are not cheating on their women. its called self control.. yeah its not always nice being away for b days and holidays or with the kids or girl are sick but it is what it is and you have to be strong to work out there that's why its not for every person...

but you also got to think I get 3 weeks off straight and don't have to worry about work and get paid doing it so that time makes up for all the times away

so far yeah they are good maybe not the highest paying but they don't lay off from what I can see like others

 

Agreed. I put my wife through enough when we were dating and I was in the field. I figured it'd be unfair to be away from home so much again now that there's a little mongoose running around the house.

Plus what I do is all done with a calculator and a laptop so I don't need to travel.

Unless...... some silly number is thrown at me, but there are guys with more experience and better drillers that would do it for less than what it would take for me to do something like 28/28 so I doubt I'd ever see that silly offer.

 

Yeah 14/14 inland. Most of the DD companies we've used are non-rational and only have off as long from when we lay down pipe and bha after completion, and during the rig move... 3-5 days on average.

 

In 09 when everything tanked, I really put my nose down and worked. That was probably my busiest year. The let go of all the warm bodies and all that were left were people with half a brain. So it was better for the company in the long run.

 

3-5 days? You working in the Barnett? Or you on a West Texas rig single? You guys move and setup fast.

Yeah..... that was my life for years. It's a reality. The DD company has to be big enough to be able to afford keeping guys on a rotation.

 

yeah our DD on my rig right now do not get time off unless we are not in the hole with bha... so pretty much there for couple weeks and I think he went home for like 3 last time I was out there but had to be back for a couple more weeks.. and he said that after ours he was going straight to another project... he worked for Halliburton.. good pay but man they work a ton

 

what company was this??

 

Yeah, it happens. That's why I lived like a pauper and saved all the money I could. That way I didn't have to do it forever. I've seen too many times where the guys starts making all the money and then lives way above his means, and grows accustomed to making field pay. He then gets in a position where I can't make any less or he'll lose his stuff. So they stay out in the field.

Sometimes it's the wife's fault.... I've seen that just as many times.

 

When I started it was called Northstar then it was bought out and changed to Nevis, but now it's called Phoenix.

 

that's about 80% of the guys out there

 

Yes sir.

 

How long you've been latching?

 

Yeah was in the Barnett for almost 2 years now out in west Texas. This last rig move took longer because of the bad rain and making both locations and lease roads un drivable lol

 

I was in the Barnett from around 07-09ish Then they started slingshotting me all around. The Barnett work was sweet. There were times when I'd be a few hundred yards from a mall or Hooters.

Not like the work in South Texas. I'd have to drive 50+ miles to get to Laredo for a decent grocery store.