The oilfield’s IT revolution is streamlining operations and connecting the field with the back office like never before. These connections are changing the corporate culture for the better. by Paul Wiseman For the better part of a century field personnel have been chastised and glared at, if not outright berated, by office personnel seeking […]
When Staying in the Dark is the Brightest Idea
PBPA gets behind an idea that is out of this world: the Dark Skies Initiative. Acting before drilling operations pose a serious problem in Reeves County and Jeff Davis County (and the Fort Davis area), oil companies get on board a plan to keep the skies dark above the McDonald Observatory. By Bill Wren, McDonald […]
PBPA Matters: On Texas and the National Economy
The discussion that follows was the luncheon presentation at the Sept. 23 meeting of the membership of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association, held at the Midland Country Club, in Midland, Texas. The proceedings were taped and this is an edited transcript of that event. PBPA President Ben Shepperd: We’re going to hear a conversation […]
From Fresnos to Caterpillars
Dirt Work is the oilfield’s under-appreciated trade, and yet nothing gets done in the Patch until the dirt’s been worked. by Bobby Weaver I’ll never forget the first time I went out on a tanking job. It happened early in the summer of ’55, when we contracted to build a battery of two hi-fives in […]
Workers’ Compensation Insurance
Workers’ compensation is a state-regulated insurance program that helps people with work-related injuries and illnesses. Employees covered by workers’ compensation insurance (a.k.a. workers comp) get medical care necessary to treat their injuries and illnesses. Depending on the type and severity of the injury, workers’ compensation may also provide: payments to replace some of an injured […]
Outstanding in Their (Oil)Field
We share the following item that was originally published by the Petroleum Museum, the organization that maintains the Petroleum Hall of Fame. The Petroleum Hall of Fame is dedicated to those who cherished the freedom to dare and whose work and service helped build the Permian Basin. The Hall of Fame exists “to honor those […]
Wireline Comes into Its Own
As wireline goes, so goes the O&G industry. Wireline makes a good barometer for what’s happening not just in the service industries sector, but in Basin energy development on the whole. Wireline is a trade that plays a part in exploration as well as in ongoing, down-the-road production, so it rides with the fortunes of […]
Oil Scouts and Landmen: Perceptive, Perspicacious, and Persuasive
Oil scouts and land men have a history that intertwines—and skills sets that have some things in common. by Bobby Weaver The oil and gas industry has always been an extremely competitive field. From its very beginning in Pennsylvania in the 1850s, it was an industry whose practitioners found it necessary to know what the […]
Generational Shift
New money, new blood, new horizons: The next generation of wildcatters gears up for the future. By Paul Wiseman “This rise is like the World War II rise—those guys coming home after World War II. You know, the oil field kind of ramping up for them,” says J.D. Smith. J.D. Smith is the 30-something cofounder […]
Holding Stuff Together
Welding transformed the oil and gas industry. Electric arc welding and oxy-acetylene have been tools for shaping a world. by Bobby Weaver Welding is one of those trades necessary for the operation of today’s petroleum industry. It is hard to imagine almost any type of oilfield equipment that does not involve welding in one […]
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