Ryan Sitton is new guy at the Texas Railroad Commission, but with his technical background and measured approach, he was made for this post. by Al Pickett, Special Contributor Ryan Sitton, the newest member of the Texas Railroad Commission, has now been on the job a little more than a year since being elected […]
Don’t Train In Vain
Steve Sauceda’s grassroots training coordination services have enabled his Hobbs, N.M., outfit to compete with the big boys. by J. Chase Beakley Steve Sauceda’s voice has a warmth and tempo found only in men who recognize both the importance of their work and their own aptitude for it. As he describes his work as workforce […]
The Glo-ing Terms
The Texas General Land Officer’s new commissioner, George P. Bush, is taking his office in some fresh new directions and finding some positives in a challengingly slow energy economy. by Al Pickett The Border Energy Forum has been held for 22 years, but this year’s event—and future forums, too—took on even more importance because of […]
The Hands That Build The Basin
by Chase Beakley Machinists don’t like to talk. They listen. They listen to their customers and draw custom designs to increase productivity and safety. They listen for a phone that might call them out for a rig repair at any time of the day or night. They listened to my questions and when it came […]
Diversionary Tactics
by Al Pickett, special contributor Things are never as simple as they seem. And sometimes when you think you understand something, you find that there’s another stage that calls for fresh scrutiny. As Frank Zamora pointed out recently, many in the industry believe that nearly 50 percent of the perforated clusters in hydraulically fractured wells […]
Giving a Hand to One Who’s Given Back
Lana Cunningham “An optimist who charges ahead—that’s what leadership is about. And that is Curtis Mewbourne.” This description of Curtis W. Mewbourne by a University of Oklahoma professor underscores one of the numerous reasons for his selection as recipient of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association’s Top Hand Award, to be bestowed Jan. 28 at a […]
A Global Perspective
Colin Fenton, keynote speaker for the 2015 Annual Meeting of the PBPA, addressed the past, present and future of oil and gas—here and around the world. Colin Fenton, managing partner at Blacklight Research and Columbia University fellow, was the keynote speaker at October’s PBPA Annual Meeting. Hailing from the Ivy League, the corporate banking […]
Workforce Turnover: Changing with the Times
By Shanti Terry As times change, people change. No industry is immune to the effects of this undeniable principle. For today’s oil and gas industry, the workforce best demonstrates these changes. In this series of articles, we will address the prevailing questions regarding how things are changing and why. For this, the first segment of […]
Pink Petro
A new social media channel hopes to turn black gold a new shade of pink. By Paul Wiseman, Special contributor “Just the good old boys / Never meanin’ no harm.” For most of its history the oil and gas industry’s mode d’emploi could’ve started with the opening lines from that Dukes of Hazzard theme […]
National Memorial Worker Week
By Darrel Canada Starting on April 28 and continuing through May 2, 2014, the OSHA Training Institutes across the United States and its territories conducted free and reduced cost seminars in remembrance of all the employees who have lost their lives on the job. I took an active role of teaching an OSHA 7405 class […]