Brian Zinchuk is editor and owner of Pipeline Online
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ESTEVAN – The oilpatch is hiring, and in a big way, in southeast Saskatchewan and southwest Manitoba. If you’re willing to get out in the field and work, some companies are offering starting wages in the $32 dollar range, with no experience. Housing is available, and compared to other parts of Canada, affordable.
One company is willing to pay for a hotel for your first month until you get established. Another group of companies will subsidize housing in their apartments by up to 60 per cent of your rent. They need people, and they need them now.
Several have turned to social media, posting ads. Others are using SaskJobs.ca, or advertise on this site. Pipeline Online spoke to several on April 20 about what their needs are.
Dirty Bird Oilfield Services
Dirty Bird Oilfield Services of Carlyle posted on Facebook “We are hiring.”
“Now hiring for the following positions: Maintenance crew, truck foreman and labourers.”
The company focuses on oilfield construction and maintenance.
Dexter Mondor, owner and manager of Dirty Bird, said they need four people. Turnarounds are coming and oil companies now have the money to do maintenance they have put off on their facilities for the last two years.
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“I don’t know where all the people in the oilpatch went, but they’re definitely not out there anymore.”
The wages they are offering “are competitive with everybody else,” he said.
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Aaron Well Servicing
Aaron Well Servicing, a service rig outfit in Weyburn that works throughout southeast Saskatchewan, is looking for rig hands, specifically roughnecks and derrickhands.
Aaron Cugnet, owner, said, “I’d probably take at least four or five right now.”
Their entry wage for a green hand is in the $32 to $35 per hour rage. They also offer subsistence pay. “We can help find accommodations, but we don’t supply that,” Cugnet said. “There’s lots of cheap lodging in Weyburn right now.”
Jerry Mainil Limited
Aaron’s next door neighbour in Weyburn is Jerry Mainil Limited, a dirt moving, welding, pipelining, oilfield construction and picker company. They are seeking experienced heavy equipment operators for graders, dozers, excavators and scrapers.
The company is looking for experienced dozer operators for D6 and D8 dozers; scraper, excavator and grader operators. Additionally, the company is looking for crew foremen and general labourers.
In addition to a competitive hourly wage and benefits package, Jerry Mainil Limited offers company-matching pension.
“Probably we’d be looking to take six to eight people, easily, with the right qualifications. Labourers aren’t so hard, but they’re completely green. Anybody with experience seems to have left the industry,” said Darcy McCormick, operations manager of Jerry Mainil Ltd.
Depending on the position and experience, wages run from $23 to $45 per hour, McCormick said. Nearly all their work is within a 90 minute radius of their main base in Weyburn, meaning you’re typically home every night.
Day Group of Companies
The Day Group of Companies, which now numbers 13, is headquartered in Carlyle. And of those 13 companies, director of operations Mike Fowler said they need workers at three-quarters of them.
Asked how many people they need, he responded, “Twenty-five to 30 isn’t out of the question, with all the companies.”
For instance, Fast Trucking Service of Carnduff is looking for a heavy duty mechanic. Forsyth Hauling, based in Virden and Pierson, Manitoba, is looking for Class 1A tank truck operators, vac truck operators, hot oiler/pressure truck operators.
The group also includes three service rig companies, two of which are looking for roughnecks.
“I was just at a meeting with Admiral Underground; that’s our directional drilling company. They need labourers,” he said. “It’s a little bit of everything, for sure.”
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Fowler is working with the Sunflower Network, a group of mostly business people based in or originally from Saskatchewan that are trying to assist Ukrainian refugees to relocate here and establish themselves. (Note: Pipeline Online editor Brian Zinchuk is part of the Sunflower Network).
“We’ve got three truck drivers coming over, I believe. We’re just working on getting them here,” Fowler said.
It might take a while for them to get over the language barrier and learn how to suck loads onto winch trucks, for instance, but that’s okay.
Asked for an example of wages, Fowler said, “For service rigs, like trainees on the service rig that doesn’t know anything, with no prior experience, and no 1A licence, they’re staring at $33 an hour and $50 for travel. Swampers would be lower than that, and truck drivers with 1As would be a little higher than that.”
Just to be clear, those are starting wages.
“That’s right,” Fowler said. “To put it in perspective, a lot of my world has been service rigs. An experienced roughneck, and experienced meaning six months, you can work your way up to $37 an hour plus $50 travel. I don’t know if we’re at the top. I don’t know where we sit with wages, but I know we’re competitive.”
Additionally, they have apartment buildings in Carnduff. For non-employees, a two-bedroom apartment is around $1,300 or $1,400 a month. “But if you’re an employee with us, we subsidize that were we pay 60 per cent of it, in whichever company you’re employed with.”
While housing costs have gone sky high in some parts of the country, the southeast Saskatchewan oilpatch region has housing available that is much more affordable. And for some young people looking a totally unobtainable homes that cost a million a pop, they can actually afford something of their own here in Saskatchewan.
Fowler said, “If you are work-minded and you’re energetic there’s a lot of opportunity in in southeast Saskatchewan, southwest Manitoba to make an honest living, with low living costs right now.”
Preferred Energy
In Stoughton, Preferred Energy Inc. has immediate positions for pipeline foreman, labourers and trackhoe (excavator) operators. Allscott Trach, one of the owners, said they are looking for around 15 positions to work on projects throughout southeast Saskatchewan.
“I would say it is hard finding people. I think the reason is a lot of experienced people left the area and they’re not willing to come back.”
Thus, he expects a lot of green labour in the future.
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Asked what the wages are, he said new labourers could be between $22 and $28 per hour, whereas someone with experience in a foreman position could be from $28 to $40 per hour. Equipment operators are anywhere from $35 to $45 per hour.
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Independent Well Servicing
Estevan-based Independent Well Servicing is looking for at least six people, according to Brian Crossman, one of the partners. And they are looking at putting more rigs in the field later in the year.
“We’re probably looking at five or six here pretty soon, as soon as the snow quits snowing,” he said with a laugh.
“We’re starting at $34.50 an hour, green. And after one month, full benefits,” Crossman said. “For the first month, we will put up a guy in a hotel until he finally gets settled in.”
A Class 1A drivers license is preferred, but a Class 5 is a minimum requirement.
“You’re part of the team. We’re all family here, basically. We treat each other well,” he said.
A new incentive for carbon dioxide pipeline construction was announced on Nov. 4. Such a pipeline would look very similar to this one, built by Ironside Energy this past summer, near Lampman. Photo by Brian Zinchuk
Ironside Energy
Estevan-based Ironside Energy. They are advertising for six heavy equipment operators, six crew truck labourers and 10 pipeline labourers.
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Many, many more jobs available
Beyond the companies listed above, SaskJobs.ca contains many more. For instance, as of April 20, in Weyburn, Southern Industrial & Truck Ltd. is looking for a diesel mechanic and parts technician. Aldon Oils Ltd. needs a contract geologist. Alchem Energy Services Ltd is advertising for a drilling fluids technician. Rigid Oilfield Services Ltd. needs a truck operator. Trucking firm Goudy Transport Inc. is offering signing bonuses for owner operators to haul oil as well as a tank truck drivers. (They’re also looking for people in Stoughton and Estevan.) Streamline Oilfield Services needs two Class 1A drivers for oilfield hauling.
An hour down the road in Estevan, R&R Tank and Equipment Rentals Ltd. needs a metal fabricator and a sandblaster/labourer. Thunder Oilfield Construction Ltd is looking for crew labourers and a crew foreman. McGillicky Oilfield Construction is looking for a truck driver in the oilfield to haul heavy equipment. RPM Vac Services needs vac truck operators and labourers. CSL Picker Services needs a hotshot truck driver. Camion Trucking Ltd. is also looking for a hotshot driver, picker operator and swamper. Bert Baxter Transport needs two truck operators.
Still in Estevan, Hank’s Maintenance & Service Co. needs a pump unit swamper. Sun Country Well Servicing is looking for two floorhands and two derrickhands. Prairie Rathole Services Ltd. needs a concrete operator and a backhoe operator. Apex Oilfield Services needs a shop and field technician. Pride Upkeep Ltd. needs a herbicide applicator/labourer to spray oilfield leases. Double J Oilfield Construction needs three oilfield labourers, four oilfield foremen, two sandblaster techs and two paint techs. Redhead Equipment needs a construction equipment/truck service technician.
In some of the surrounding smaller towns, Vertex Logistics needs an admin assistant and three tank truck drivers in Alida. Spearing Service LP of Oxbow is looking for an apprentice mechanic/truck and trailer technician. Also in Oxbow, Stimco Services needs a cementer/pumper operator. In Lampman, Hutt’s Trucking Ltd. is looking for a picker operator and a truck driver.
Mustang Vac Service needs drivers in Stoughton. R. French Transport of Arcola needs tank truck drivers and a dispatcher. In Carlyle, Spartan Trucking Inc needs experienced Class 1A drivers and lease operators. In Redvers, Longshot Testing needs an agriculture/oilfield production engineer and production testing supervisor/operator.Shaw Earth Moving Inc. of Gainsborough needs a dozer operator and finishing grader operator.
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