re: Why all the hate for oil field baws?

The majority of the haters are just jealous they wasted all that time and money in college on liberal arts degrees and the oil field baws are making bank. It isn't fair

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egardless if they’re good people or intelligent people they are ultimately low class, uneducated and economically retarded to the majority of this board.

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That is because the majority of this board has an over inflated feeling of self importance.

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I never worked at a refinery but I had a cousin who did. Don’t these guys work their arse off working 12 hours days then switching to nights ? That alone seems difficult on the body.

Plus you work in potentially hazardous conditions. If a lot of these guys have families, your dealing with stress with that.

I might be way off base, I think these workers earn the type of money that they do. It seems to me that this kind of work is not cut out for everyone.

Personally, I work mostly swing shifts at my job where I stay on a regular sleep and food schedule. I would not want to change my working hours one week from the next.

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When peoe scream about O&G workers they usually aren't talking about the refinery workers or chemical plant workers.

On this board They are mainly speaking of the guys that work upstream who do things like identify deposits, drill and work the rigs, provide services to the rigs etc.

Refinery workers are downstream and are a little more insulated but are still affected by the price. Low oil prices are good for some chemical plants though and in general most plants like to do more maintenance when prices are low. Most of these guys are considered operators although there are a shite ton of engineers and office personal.

As far as working their arse off...not really. It somewhat depends what position along the food chain they are in. Your veteran guys who are really good, but are not really management material become board operators and like mentioned sit in front of the computer and operate and adjust things to make the process run. They usually only give orders or work the computer, making rounds once or twice a shift.

Outside operators sometimes have to work hard, but they mainly make rounds, adjust things in the field, report readings, write permits etc.

Only time an operator works hard, normally, is when the unit is upset. Maintenance guys work hard though usually, that's the Craftsman.

Operators work shift work and for the last decade has essentially required a minimum of an associate's degree plus experience or a bachelor's. Usually start at about 25/hour and then within 3-5 years are making 40-45 an hour. They get a ton of built in ot and get bad arse benifits. Most schedules have them work half a year as required, but most take a ton of OT as that's how they make the money.

Board or top operators usually are closed to the 50 dollar range. Most good operators that can go into some form of management and get off shift, usually drawing a salary in the 100k range plus bonuses.

Maintenance guys work days plus turnarounds when they have them. They are your Craftsman that don't want to chase money all over. Depending on what craft, they make a good but. Like instrumentation guys make as much or more than operators. Shop welders etc...not so much. Most places have since farmed maintenance out the Turner's of the world(nested contractors).

Then like upstream, you have the engineers and management. Most of the time, even at the unit supervisor/unit manager level, an engineering degree is required. Most management level people have an engineering degree plus MBA. Salary varies big time from 85-90k to 200+ for high level managers.

Usually the best people in the plant started as an engineer in a unit and moved to mutiple units learning everything about them and the process. They then get a supervision position after 5-8 years, get an MBA and after 15 or so years becomes some form of management. They are just like upper level management in other industries in that they are compensated extremely well, but there can be lots of stress at times.

Maybe one of the O&G baws can explain more in their side, I never really worked that side. FTR I'm an engineer in the chemical side of things, pvc market is killing us right now which is because of the shutdown. Oil prices being low are actually a benifits for my company.