Temporary Slowdown in the Oilpatch?

[Jets4Life]

I've just been wondering if anyone that works in the Oil and Gas industry is experiencing a shortage of work, due to weather conditions? I have been working 3 weeks on/ one week off, but I had two weeks off, with no call from the office.

This is my fourth winter in the Oil and Gas industry, and I expect it to slow down after Christmas, and during Spring breakup, etc. However, I find it odd that this is happening now. I was just curious to see if anyone was experiencing a slowdown in their employment. I just hate sitting at home and waiting to be called up. I'm getting a little restless.....lol.

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

It's the fall freeze.
Roads get wet/muddy and things slow down, happens every year.

[Jets4Life]

Thanks. As you can tell, I'm not the most patient person in the world...lol. Maybe I'll hit the temp agency tomorrow and find something until I get called back to work.

[nickerjones]

Originally Posted by Jets4Life

Thanks. As you can tell, I'm not the most patient person in the world...lol. Maybe I'll hit the temp agency tomorrow and find something until I get called back to work.

Here in the States there seems to be some type of holding pattern waiting on the election... This comes just on the heels of the slowdown caused by Chesapeake here in Oklahoma.

[Trailer Fire]

I haven't experienced so much of a slowdown as a shift of priority. Before it was get the job done, now its more of a remove the snow and ice, keep the tracks clean and keep warm then do your work until you do it all again.

Then again I haven't been working in the sands all that long.

[K1LLswitch]

Seems like lots of oil companies are in the holding pattern...it's tough on us service providers, and thus we aren't calling the crews back as often :-/

[NomNomNom]

Originally Posted by Bring_Back_Shantz

It's the fall freeze.
Roads get wet/muddy and things slow down, happens every year.

That's more common with the Spring break-up I believe. My Dad's been in the patch for about ~14 years and is pushing now - he's never really experienced lack of work around this time of year.

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Originally Posted by NomNomNom

That's more common with the Spring break-up I believe. My Dad's been in the patch for about ~14 years and is pushing now - he's never really experienced lack of work around this time of year.

Depends where you are working. It certainly isnt as slow as spring, but when things start that freeze/thaw cycle in fall, in some areas it gets really sloppy and things slow down.

[Swarly]

I know one of our biggest clients has spent their budget for this year and we are in a holding pattern for them until Jan 1st. It's not too bad as they will be pushing ahead with tons of work come Jan, where normally we see a slow down then.

[GP_Matt]

One of my clients has cancelled a few projects and shifted the money to my area. Now they are in a hurry to tie things before year end when the budget expires.

It certainly doesn't seem to be slowing down around Grande Prairie.

[red sky]

http://business.financialpost.com/20...our-shortages/

[Violator]

Originally Posted by red sky

http://business.financialpost.com/20...our-shortages/

I have been trying to find job in the patch with no luck I was open to moving bit couldn't find any companies atleast out of calgary.now I can't move but still can't find a job out of town

[Bootsy]

Originally Posted by Bring_Back_Shantz

Depends where you are working. It certainly isnt as slow as spring, but when things start that freeze/thaw cycle in fall, in some areas it gets really sloppy and things slow down.

Yep our leases are a mess right now, lots of snow but the ground underneath isn't froze yet.....this weekend if it gets to plus 10 C like they say then its just going to get nastier.

[Bootsy]

Originally Posted by GP_Matt

One of my clients has cancelled a few projects and shifted the money to my area. Now they are in a hurry to tie things before year end when the budget expires.

It certainly doesn't seem to be slowing down around Grande Prairie.

That is true , I guess it depends which part of the patch you're in too...for certain projects they want rushed to fit in the 2012 budget, other things get held up to fit into the 2013 budget.

[Mr.Coffee]

There seem to be a lot of majors with capital drying up earlier than usual, but I presume these are mostly gas weighted entities. Some majors with international options are re-deploying dollars for better ror's elsewhere. Canada is expensive, and although the recent uptick in NG price, I'm not sure you'll meet many people confident in these prices continuing their rebound or hanging around for any kind of sustained amount of time. NGL's seem to have slightly come back to earth and oil has dipped a bit.

January will see spending as certain budgets are renewed, but overall the industry will likely see a similar tightening of capital throughout the rest of 2013 unless prices rise and revenue comes with it.

The O&G sector has some serious ass problems on two major fronts. Foreign investment and the "net benefit" test, and pipelines.

Canada is truly at a cross-roads these days on the energy front, and truly at risk of making some long-term economic mistakes (in my opinion but not world ending).