The North Dakota Oil Fields and the boom that surrounds them

[NaturalBornHustler]

So in the Heeb update thread, AvonBarksdale suggested that you could just go to ND and start making 100k a year working in the oil fields. I have always wanted to do some crazy shit like this and even posted a thread on DD about it a while ago. The obvious first choice was Alaska and trying to get on a boat to fish, then I thought about Texas oil fields (I actually know someone who does that) then this idea came along.

This is one of the rare days I have off so I have been reading and watching youtube videos all day. Two specific channels I have watched every one of the videos on this subject, one just happens to be a guy who used to live in Vegas but then when it crashed he was SOL and needed a job.

This is his channel....

http://www.youtube.com/user/lasvegascollapse

The other guy is another one who went up there to find work.

http://www.youtube.com/user/poetskinny

Also CNN has a lot of videos and there is a bunch of other stuff related to this from various outlets

Very interesting stuff, but it is not quite as easy as just rolling up and finding a 100k job.

1. First off even if you have a reference (someone who is already up there working), it can still take months to find work. The first guy said that even with a good reference he had to call the HR person 35 times(literally, in a week)just to set up an interview. They have so many applicants from online and elsewhere they just can't keep up and tell the secretary to tell people they are not there. He surmised that he called so much they got tired of hearing his name and finally got through for an interview.

2. When you do find a job, you will probably be able to make 100k. Working 90-100 hours a week, not 40-50. A lot of the entry positions might pay $20 or so an hour, so to get to that kind of money per year you will need to pretty much not sleep at all. Temp work pays $14-17 an hour, but you have to show up every day and don't know if you will be working that day or not. In spring they "cut back" your hours to around 70-80 because of certain restrictions with the ground and spring dethawing cycle. You can't transport as much weight on trucks as you can other times of the year.

3. Speaking of sleeping, it will probably be in your car....for a while. The lasvegas guy was still living in his car after 2 months of working. There is no housing up there...at all. If you get a job with housing, it costs the company roughly $120 a day in a "man camp" so they will be paying you significantly less than what you would be making if you had housing lined up. The area is also having a mini revolt against all these people coming in, and where you usually used to be able to just park somewhere a lot of places aren't letting you anymore. If you have an RV you can pay about $500-800 a month for a parking spot. As far a place with running water and what not....good luck. Most of the hotels are rented out by the oil companies. The one guy recommended a car because you can be stealth and get away with being undetected, with a camper/trailer not so much.

4. If you think the hours are long, so is the drive to the rig. 2 hours there, 2 hours back into town in a lot of cases. They are literally in the middle of fucking nowhere. So those 12-16 hour days just turned into 16-20.

5. The black guy on one of his videos did have some good news, he said that IF you can actually get in front of someone who does the hiring they pretty much hire you on the spot. He said before he went into his interview they had him fill out his new hire packet. The interview was just a formality. The issue is actually getting to that point, it can be hard because they companies are just overwhelmed with job seekers. they get thousands of online people applying for jobs and have to weed through them day after day.

6. There are certain certifications you need like first aid and other types of shit that will make it easier to get your foot in the door. Most companies will train you but obviously if you have a leg up and are already certified in some stuff you will be a much more attractive hire. A CDL is a big one, lots of truck driving work out there.

7. Probably not a good idea to do this in winter, as it gets brutally cold and sleeping in your car you could freeze to death....no joke. At nights it is like right around 0 or - something or other. High temps around 25. The December average temperature is 8.7 degrees, and that isn't even the coldest it gets. They don't really get a lot of snow(compared to what you would think), but the potential is there for massive storms when it does come. I read a few articles where they were talking about 4-5 FEET. Because of the warm winter neither of the two video bloggers had experienced any of that, so the info there is lacking.

8. It is extremely hard with no experience (or even with experience) to get a job online not physically being there, they want people in the area who they know are already there and are serious and won't change their mind or whatever. It is also best to use a North Dakota address and cell phone on the app because those people go to the top of the list. But again, you need to be in ND to get this stuff, especially a mailing address. The black guy used a shelter when he first got there for his address.

One site that I cam across that was good was this one....

http://bakkenjobsguide.com/

Bakken is the name of the guy who used to own a bunch of land in that area, covers central to northwest North Dakota. and extends to surrounding states covering 200k square miles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakken_formation

Also some other concerns are with infastructure and what not, this is all happening so fast it is kind of out of control and what is there was not intended for the population increases. They are trying to keep up but it is hard. As I said before there is pushback from the locals and they are trying to make it as hard as possible to get shit done.

So in summary if you are a gambling man it is probably a +EV move and will probably work out in the long run, but getting in the door and for that first year it is gonna be a tough road. You basically have to pick up everything and move there, have some money saved up to live on for a couple months at least and bank on sleeping in your car for a while. And have a reliable car/RV that won't break down preferably 4 wheel drive.

Even with all this said I am crazy enough to try it, but I am thinking about other ways to capitalize on the boom to make the transition easier. There are TONS of opportunities out there not just in oil but other areas. Everything is booming because of the oil, but not just within the oil industry. They interviewed one guy who owned a Goodyear shop and they asked him how much he would sell for right now, not a big operation from the video I saw. He was dead serious and said "10 million". land values have increased 20 fold in the last 5 years alone, 2007 was right before the boom it started around 2008 and made a lot of locals rich.

[Dan Druff]

Thanks for the write-up on this.

I have read about this situation before, but I always thought that the "move to North Dakota, make 100k per year" crap seemed too good to be true.

I had heard about the extreme housing shortage, but apparently that's not the only problem, as you described in your post.

I think the "make 100k/year" thing is misleading if it requires 90+ hours of work per week.

People could accomplish nearly the same thing anywhere by just working two 40-hour jobs and throwing in some 10-15 hour part time work on top of it.

Working 90 hours is also brutal, and is a lot tougher than it sounds. This is because there are only 168 hours in a week, and even if you only sleep 6 hours per night, that still would leave you with only 36 "free" hours per week. Subtract time spent eating, showering, getting ready, etc, and you are down to very few hours to do simple chores like laundry, let alone relaxing.

[Brittney Griner's Clit]

Thanks for the write-up on this.

I have read about this situation before, but I always thought that the "move to North Dakota, make 100k per year" crap seemed too good to be true.

I had heard about the extreme housing shortage, but apparently that's not the only problem, as you described in your post.

I think the "make 100k/year" thing is misleading if it requires 90+ hours of work per week.

People could accomplish nearly the same thing anywhere by just working two 40-hour jobs and throwing in some 10-15 hour part time work on top of it.

Working 90 hours is also brutal, and is a lot tougher than it sounds. This is because there are only 168 hours in a week, and even if you only sleep 6 hours per night, that still would leave you with only 36 "free" hours per week. Subtract time spent eating, showering, getting ready, etc, and you are down to very few hours to do simple chores like laundry, let alone relaxing.

If you have a manual labor job in lets say Detroit you can move to the Bakken and do work less grueling for double the pay with the same amount of hours. I'm not sure if that translates into 100k a year if you are completely green but it's damn close. If you have experience in whatever it is you do you will make more than 100k a year. I hear a lot of work is drying up though but that only be temporary. Also I hear the live poker scene is completely off the chain up there.

[SixToedPete]

I've enjoyed many threads on PFA, but this is one of the best.

It's well written, well researched and so very real. That so many men and women consider working the North Dakota Oil Fields is reflective of the sorry state of our economy. It's the 2012 Oil Rush.

The potential income NaturalBornHustler and others could earn in this oil field boom state hardly seems to trump the painful sacrifices NBH so thoroughly explained.

However, I understand why so many will try this hard life.

NBH made a great point when he wrote:

"Even with all this said I am crazy enough to try it, but I am thinking about other ways to capitalize on the boom to make the transition easier. There are TONS of opportunities out there not just in oil but other areas. Everything is booming because of the oil, but not just within the oil industry."

During the California Gold Rush it was the guy selling picks, shovels and tents who made the real fortune.

[BCR]

Whomever controls the meth distribution up there is getting wealthy beyond imagination. Given where it is, likely bikers are controlling that and the prostitution. I'd learn a construction trade if I was a kid thinking of doing this, and capitalize on the ton of shit they must be building, or simply get there and find what the influx of workers struggle to get. I'm just talking convenience items. There probably isn't a WalMart within 100 miles, and you could probably make $100k just shuttling personal convenience items to these guys. Fuck working 90 hours to make 100k, you can do that anywhere if you want to make $100k. If you lack a college education, any of these trades focusing on oil booms, or even the emerging shale operations springing up in places like here in NE Ohio and Pa will continue to boom for quite awhile. Hell, you could grind $1/$3 NL live and probably clear $100k at 90 hours with only having to declare $40k of it. Even with the horrible lower limit rake, I know the $1/3 grinders are making $15-20/hour nut peddling the mouth breathers. As mind numbingly boring as that is, it's still a 1000x more fun than sleeping in your car when it's 5 degrees outside and spending $25 a night to leave the car running and die of carbon monoxide poisoning when the snow piles up over night blocking the exhaust, only to wake and have a 2-4 hour commute daily. I've only spent 90 hours a week working a few times in my life, and I needed weeks of sleep to overcome it, and it wasn't physical labor. I don't even think it's sustainable outside being a new lawyer or doctor for 3 or 4 years, whom are working non-physical jobs for a big payoff in the future.

Good write-up.

[Rollo Tomasi]

I am thankful for the ND oil boom, as I supply the steel to the fabricator that makes the sludge boxes, one or two truckloads get delivered to ND every week, this is what one looks like

[The PHA]

Know a guy that did this. Couple points of reality:

a) You HAVE to have housing as there is nowhere to live / rent. Which means you need a RV / trailor. You can't do it unless you have housing

b) He worked from 6am to 'dark', whenever dark was

c) He got two days off a week, not consecutive. He got drunk twice in a year, because the hangovers would nearly kill you in the field

d) There were a couple strip clubs where skanks would fly in and it would be like flys on shit. You had to wait in line for a lap dance

e) Negative temps were the norm, not the exception

He left after one year. You basically go insane. No cable TV, I did not ask about internet. Unless you are writing a novel, its tough to stick to as you are completely isolated.

[NaturalBornHustler]

Couple additional things I found out about the two guys I mentioned...

The black guy originally from Tampa didn't make it through the winter, left around the end of January. Keep in mind this was a record setting warm winter for them out there. Too cold he said.

The other guy from Las Vegas.....completely batshit crazy. Still up there but if anyone can embed this video listen to the type of person that you need to be to survive out there. You have to be a mentally tough like very few are, this motherfucker is. Listen to what he says about working 104 hours one week, and then 107 hours the next week. No big deal!



He is dead serious when he says he doesn't know what the big deal is, and that working 100 hours plus doesn't really faze him. He even says "I mean there are a 168 hours in a week how much do time do you really need off to do stuff?" Listening to him talk you can take a peak into the mind of a complete lunatic when it comes to working those hours.

Now he is on a schedule where he works 20 days straight and then has 10 days off. He has a wife and kids still in Vegas as well.

[SixToedPete]

...The other guy from Las Vegas.....completely batshit crazy. Still up there but if anyone can embed this video listen to the type of person that you need to be to survive out there.