ODESSA, TEXAS—The Odessa Country Club on April 7 was the locale for a gathering of some of the best human beings in West Texas and New Mexico as the Permian Basin Petroleum Association held its annual “Spring Swing.” This golf tournament, a four-man scramble, was played over two courses simultaneously. Beautiful weather greeted the full […]
Dust, Wind, and More
The month of March is known for wind. Which we’ve experienced plenty of in the last month. And of course April is known for showers. But let me tell you, April is no slouch in the wind department. As you’re probably seeing right now, wherever you stand, in the Permian Basin. As I write these […]
Five-Day Wells, Challenges for OFS, and the Fallout of The Simpsons
The journal entries below are excerpted from recent installments of James Wicklund’s “Things I Learned…” newsletter. Anyone Care? A central topic [at a recent industry luncheon] was how the OFS companies survive—with consolidation winning that category—and thrive—a goal that no one seemed to have an answer for. The rig companies spend millions of dollars on […]
Holding the Line, Measured Approaches, and What the Web Revealed
The journal entries below are excerpted from recent installments of James Wicklund’s “Things I Learned…” newsletter. Funk. The oil and gas business continues in a funk, with oil prices around $70, the world fairly awash in oil and the hopes for demand growth not yet materializing. The sector has held the line on capex and spending, […]
Conventional Thinking, Efficiency Mindedness, Record-Breaking Outputs, and the “Value” of Political Prattle
Sentimental? No, not nearly. Exxon got the Pioneer deal done with the worst government requirements ever announced. It is now starting to reorganize its holdings. What that means is the legacy part of Pioneer, the conventional drilling that put them on the map appears to be going away. Exxon announced the pending sale of up […]
Portrait of a Roustabout
A roustabout is, in some ways, the essence of what the oil patch is all about. Sometimes confused by the public as a roughneck, a roustabout is generally thought of as just a less-skilled oilfield hand than a roughneck, but the fact is, their occupations are different. Roughnecks work on the rig floor, in proximity […]
Spring Swing: Fairways and Fellowship
ODESSA, TEXAS—It was a beautiful Monday, the 8th of April, the day of the solar eclipse, when the membership of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association took over the Links Course and the Old Course at the magnificent Odessa Country Club and once again participated in the grand tradition that is PBPA’s Spring Swing Golf Tournament. […]
The Unsung Permian Basin
I’m going to provide a spoiler alert up front: I love living in the Permian Basin and believe the already high quality of life is only growing. The ethos of the Permian is that of the wildcatters back in the day: If you have a dream and are willing to do the work, you can […]
The Ability to Drill a Crooked Hole on Purpose
The horizontal drilling techniques of today’s oil patch are the culmination of a long series of technological advances begun in the earliest days of the oil and gas industry. Originally, directional drilling—or sidetracking—using a variety of deflection drilling devices was developed to solve a number of problems associated with well drilling. In those very first […]
Roll On
by Paul Wiseman From the last mile, in almost every case, to every mile in many cases, trucks are indispensable in today’s delivery-based economy. Nowhere is that more true than in the oil patch, where trucks haul everything from drill pipe to drilling rigs to the oil itself, over tens of thousands of road-miles every […]
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