Is This Typical?

[rkaiser]

I actually know it is typical, but wanted to draw you all in with the Topic statement.

Had a couple (TWO) oilfield workers on my property this morning locating a Gas line for our power pole crew. Showed up about 8:00 a.m. and sat on the lease for about half an hour before they left their truck. Walked around the lease for another half hour before I stopped chores to see what they were up to. Said that their map showed a line that seemed not to be there. I showed them where the line was and left them to their task.

The power is to cross this gas line once. They spent close to 1 hour pounding 10 pegs in the ground along the line and sprayed off close to a can of paint on the same line. They were smart enough to notice the herd of cows in the field and put a short stake beside the long one (which the cattle bowled over in a perfect ten pin strike right after they left).

Leaving was the problem. They seemed to be enjoying the lovely morning as they sat on the lease for another hour before I broke out the .22 and a box of long rifle shells and proceeded to shoot some gophers fairly close to their picnic.

Finally got their truck in gear just before noon and toodled off down the road.

How many dollars per hour do you think this little adventure cost Encana cowman?

[mb_rancher]

Mr Kaiser,


When you mentioned that you started doing a lil gopher hunting fairly close to where they were pinicing, Sounds like something I might do.....lol ... And we wonder why fuel costs are so high.

[rkaiser]

Gotcha manitoba rancher. Those hollow point long rifle shells make a pretty good bit of smack, especially when you ring one off a rock. Got a couple this morning by the way.

[farmers_son]

In 2005 Encana earned $3.5 billion on $14 billion of revenues after royalties so how many dollars per hour this little adventure cost is probably as much concern to them as the cost of the 22s was to you. But hey… you got two gophers.

Encana was formed by the merger of Pan Canadian and Alberta Energy Company. AEC was a government owned company in its beginning formed so Albertans could participate in the provinces oil and gas.

Wouldn’t it be nice if the Alberta government formed a corporation so Albertans could participate in the provinces beef industry and then sold the shares to the cattle producers of this province.

In the early seventies there was a vision for oil and gas in Alberta, and oil and gas still is the vision of the province. The bright light of oil and gas is taking attention and focus away from other opportunities in the province like agriculture. There is no vision for agriculture except to provide workers for the oil patch. Imagine what agriculture could be like if it received the same priorities and investment from government that the energy sector received, for example Alberta Energy Company.

Alberta Beef Processing Company...has a nice ring to it. All the province would have to do is form the company, get it off of its feet and sell the shares to the cattle producers of this province. If the Government of Alberta could do it for the oil and gas industry then they could do it for the cattle industry.

Anyway I digress. Yup, those workers were taking it kind of easy.

[roly]

That is nothing to over here you have more chiefs then Indians driving around in their company cars you find them all the time asleep in gateways.

[coppertop]

The first question I have to ask randy is whether or not you contacted the company and advised them of what the workers were doing and how long it took them.

If no-one knows that field staff are not making efficient use of their time then how in the world are they going to rectify the situation ! Last thing the company should be doing is sending a foreman out to make sure the workers aren't lazing around, that would only cost more !!

[PureCountry]

I hated these types of math questions in school!

Anyways, if I'm correct, they spent 3 hours actually on site. Knowing oilfiled policy as I do, that means there would also be 2 hours of travel time to and from the site. That makes it 5 hours in total.

So, the usual rate for a "Service Truck" w/operator is $85-$100 per hour, so even at $85, that's $425. Then with a helper, er, I mean, Technical Assistant, at a rate of $25-28, adds another $125, for a grand total of $550.

$550 6% GST = $588

Not bad for a morning's work.

[blackjack]

...if you guys think thats bad ...you should go on a tour of the joffre plant...some of the things that go on in there are enough to make a grown man cry...

[coppertop]

which plant at Joffre ?

[blackjack]

...its been quite awhile since i was there coppertop but when e1 was pretty well completed and the crews were building e2 ... i realise they need to have there safety rules but to me as a rancher many times there would be guys standing around waiting for the o.k. ...my best friend went to work up at carbide as an operator in the early eigthies ...and makes good money ... but to me it was not a job i was interested in...

[cowman]

Well I doubt the two workers wasted as much time and money as Mr. Horner and company did in the above post...and hey they might have actually accomplished something!

[dalek]

Come watch Ontario Hydro. While I was disking today I watched a guy GPSing individual hydro poles. Stopped as I went by the edge of the field, yep, his full-time job is driving a shiny new truck up and down the roads getting GPS co-ordinates for each individual pole. He's got it down to a science, the rules allow him 30 minutes per pole and he takes 29. And what's the great need to have longitude and latitude for each pole? Can't you tell that the pole is going to be just past the one before it and just before the one after it?