Oh Lucky Day.

Short and sweet today, I've got a lot of Guinness waiting to be drunk.

Well after 16 days in Fort Worth, the good Lord decided to reward me with a vacation on one of me favorite holidays...St. Patty's Day. My Da has a bit o'irish in'em but no one believes me. But I reckon a day like today proves it. I have me an excellent job, money in the bank and no work to speak of on this festive eve.

I also want to tell you about a friend of mine, Patrick Mathes.* Pat is more of a character than a man but at 6'4" and 250lbs this 58 year-old man is an imposing figure. He's got a few scars and smokes about 3 packs a day. Big buck teeth and a pony tail frame his weathered grimace well. When I hear the Johnny Cash hit "A Boy Named Sue" I picture the father looking and acting just like ol' Pat Mathes. Yeah, he's a "charmer." And he's my friend. I don't want to spoil all of his stories about women and drinking...oh I've heard a few about ex-wives, gambling, stealing and stabbing and getaways in 58 Fords. But his best story is about his birth. The son of a Scottish-American oilfield worker and an Irish homemaker, Pat was born in the wake of the second great war, on a barge off the coast of Belfast, arguably in Scottish waters. I'm not sure if anyone really knows. His grandmother was a Scot through and through and when she saw his hand reach out of his mother's womb, she noticed something. He had an extra knuckle on his right, little finger.

According to his grandmother, this means that he is the "last defender of Scotland". I have no clue what that means and I can't recall what Pat said it means. But his grandmother worked to make him a Scottish citizen while his mother tried to make him an Irish citizen. His father overruled making him an American citizen and taking him back to Mississippi. According to legend he is no longer allowed to enter Scotland or Ireland. We know this because a terrible storm in the North Sea forced his platform rig to evacuate to the nearest point by helicopter which happened to be Aberdeen, Scotland where Patrick Mathes was unable to set foot on Scottish soil. However, being born to an Irish mother, he was flown to Ireland where he was allowed to sleep in the airport terminal just for the evening.

Pat Mathes is a Great American Oilfield man. He's worked in Africa, Alaska, every state in the US and most countries in Europe. Each year he works each day tirelessly, 24/7, no matter what...but know this: On January 1st of each year Pat Mathes will submit 2 vacation request forms. One form will be for December 25 and the other is for March 17. Whatever city Pat is in today, I garuntee you can find him in an Irish Pub drinking scotch.

As for Christmas, he'll be at home with his wife probably drinking Jack Daniels. Every other day, it's tequila...but not while he's working.

* The events and stories in this blog may or may not be true and are not to be accounted for as historical fact. The author has been known to add a little color to each story for the benefit of those who will listen and read.


Sláinte.
rf

The PDC Bit killed the Oilfield

I know I usually don't blog on Sunday but living in the Bible Belt keeps one thinking about the good Lord... and energy exploration. Plus my Jewish friend C.W. (who celebrates the Sabbath on Saturday) sent me this. You'll find a significant correlation in information between this article and a few of my older posts and since the NY Times has been tapping into my blog I wanted to be sure y'all new that my information truly is cutting edge. My sermon is simple....

Jesus Saves,
God Spends... &
We Consume.

Our consumption, or rather over-consumption, has gotten us in trouble once again. We are a nation of heavy-hitters, over-eaters and over-reactors. In my last post I wrote of changes-- quick and even rash changes. We have to be real about our economic recession. Things are not better than they seem, they are going to get worse. I wish they were not but they are. 3 years ago when I first entered the oilfield, the outfit I was with must have hired a hundred employees in a year's time. The oilfield was booming and we needed as many hands as possible to meet the demand. They over-booked to cover themselves in case another worker was ill or needed a vacation or left/fired. A company with 300 employees 2 years ago, servicing 70 - 90 jobs a day is now employing 200 employees and serving 40 jobs a day...if they are lucky. This does not include pay-cuts. Oh and did I mention that the energy stocks and companies continue to outperform the rest of the markets by at least 10% daily. I'd hate to see what the marshmallow peeps Q1 numbers look like.

When the boom hit, companies doubled their prices and their employee base. Demand and exploration is down so jobs and pay follow suit. In the Barnett shale, a service company like mine will charge $9000.00/day for a standard package. Recently, I have heard of companies offering the same services for $3500.00. Trust me this is an absurd number that barely covers the cost of tools and supplies, never mind compensation. I agree with the linked article above which points out that when the oil and gas demand increases again, we will see a sharp increase in prices at the pump. Since the oilfield and market is in a constant cycle of over-reaction, when we see a resurgence in demand, it will take time to hire recently laid-off or fired workers. Money will be thrown around again in a rushed and haphazard manner. The supply will again fall short of the demand and vice versa. Time is money and to get it done quicker...well, there will be a fee for that.

One last comment about time and the Barnett Shale. We use different drilling bits out here. Roller-cone pits, button bits and PDC bits...and others. PDC are diamond coated, and have cutters all around the edges. They are mean, aggressive, fast drilling bits. Button bits and roller-cone bits often drill at a tenth of the speed at which PDC bits drill. These Shale wells used to drill 8000' in 3 weeks at about 15'/hour. We drilled 8000' in 6 days last week. Technology is a two-edged sword as it has significantly contributed to the ease at which we are now able to drill while simultaneously taking vast quantities of money out of the pockets of many men and women (keeping even greater capital circulating throughout the economy) as they sit at home for longer durations between jobs.

Now we are cutting back so much, that oilfield hands are faced with surmounting bills and credit payments that they can not afford because they over-extended themselves believing the market would sustain itself after 4 amazingly profitable years. Not to mention the rig workers that remain in the field don't see home often because they are some of the few hands left, thereby imposing additional strain on their psyche by keeping them away from valuable time spent with their families. So when they do have time off they may self-medicate with alcohol or worse. I'm not trying to paint a bleak picture for you but I'm giving you some truths that I've realized while out here on the open road. This is the oilfield and this is part of our American landscape.

But, Dallas/Fort Worth and Texas in general maintain a flowing well amidst an economic drought. (Dallas #1 fastest growing city in the nation, Houston #2) It could be the ridiculously low housing prices, the infrastructural and industrial diversity, the non-existent state income tax and government benefits for business owners...the weather maybe, but I like to think it has to do with faith: real hope and belief in one another and a higher power. Many of these hard working longhorns are willing to make sacrifices while expecting the industry to recoup by late November and it is by the grace of God that I can spend a few bucks on my friends and family these days. Plus the mighty invisible hand of the market favors the bold.

Keep consuming...that's all we seem to do well.
Be Blessed.
rf