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U.S. Oil & Gas Jobs are Disappearing Despite Record Production

Posted on 8/1/24 at 7:10 am
Posted by ragincajun03
Member since Nov 2007
22776 posts
Posted on 8/1/24 at 7:10 am
quote:

U.S. oil production is breaking records, but employment numbers have dropped in five out of six months this year as operational efficiencies allow operators to continue to boost production with fewer rigs and workers, the Texas Oil & Gas Association (TXOGA) said last week in a cautionary note.

Texas, home to the biggest shale basin, the Permian, has seen crude oil production grow this year, and the share of Texas of total U.S. production has further increased, according to data from the industry association.
However, the latest employment data in the upstream sector indicates that exploration and production companies are boosting productivity and efficiency without necessarily growing workforce numbers.

In a cautionary note, TXOGA said that newly released data from the Texas Workforce Commission indicates upstream oil and gas employment fell again in June, with the number of jobs dropping by 2,000 compared to May. This marks 5 out of 6 months this calendar year that the job count has dropped, TXOGA noted.

This is in stark contrast with the upstream job data for March, when data from the Texas Workforce Commission showed employment in the upstream sector of the Texas oil and gas industry grew by 4,500 jobs in March, representing the highest single-month growth in upstream jobs since June 2011.

Between the COVID-low point in employment numbers in September 2020 and March 2024, months of increase in upstream oil and gas employment in Texas outnumbered months of decrease by 33 to 9.

But this year, 5 out of 6 months have shown declines in upstream employment.
That’s mostly due to greater efficiency, TXOGA says.

“Operational efficiencies are driving strong production with fewer rigs, which can translate to declining industry job numbers,” TXOGA president Todd Staples said in a statement.

Baker Hughes data indicate the national rig count declined by about 14% between June 2023 and June 2024. At the same time, the U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates rig productivity gains of more than 20% year-over-year across major shale basins, with many companies maintaining or increasing production despite running fewer rigs.

“Clearly, oil and natural gas companies are delivering more energy with greater efficiency and lower emissions than ever before,” Staples said.


quote:

Efficiency is one of the key reasons for continued growth in Permian oil production.

“Drilling and completion efficiency continues to improve via lower drilling costs and shorter drilling and completion times,” Grigsby said.

“This year, every stage of a well’s building cycle in the Permian was 20-50% faster than in 2019, with the total average time from rig to production decreasing by a third to 63 days.”

This acceleration will boost the share of new and productive wells amid the stock of declining wells, Goldman Sachs says.


LINK

Efficiency and production up....truck nuts [ON] [OFF]?
Posted by 225Tyga
Member since Oct 2013
16951 posts
Posted on 8/1/24 at 7:12 am to
Workers are just changing industries. No big deal
Posted by Fusaichi Pegasus
Meh He Co
Member since Oct 2010
14606 posts
Posted on 8/1/24 at 7:14 am to
LNG
LNG
LNG
Posted by Tshiz
Idaho
Member since Jul 2013
7901 posts
Posted on 8/1/24 at 7:15 am to
Need higher margins, cut overhead expense is the way to do it (says publicly traded companies)

Do more with less they say
Posted by Loup
Ferriday
Member since Apr 2019
12819 posts
Posted on 8/1/24 at 7:15 am to
younger folks are more productive and as the older generation (boomers) retire companies are able to accomplish more with fewer employees.
Posted by Homesick Tiger
Greenbrier, AR
Member since Nov 2006
54730 posts
Posted on 8/1/24 at 7:20 am to
quote:

younger folks are more productive


Maybe, if you can find enough of them willing to do physical work.

quote:

as the older generation (boomers) retire companies are able to accomplish more with fewer employees.


Less experience would mean less productivity would it not?
Posted by PetroAg
Member since Jun 2013
1460 posts
Posted on 8/1/24 at 7:25 am to
Most of the efficiencies are drilling 3 and 4 mile laterals instead of 1 and 2.
Posted by Salmon
On the trails
Member since Feb 2008
84506 posts
Posted on 8/1/24 at 7:30 am to
consolidation
Posted by JusTrollin
Member since Oct 2016
247 posts
Posted on 8/1/24 at 7:35 am to
I’ve never seen any boomer roughnecks and maybe 1 boomer driller.
Posted by Bring Da Wood
Texas
Member since Dec 2006
1768 posts
Posted on 8/1/24 at 7:41 am to
Is this because exploration and therefore new wells coming online over the last 3 years has slowed down considerably? They shift their labor to existing wells which were previously approved for development. No need to hire more labor as workers leave since no new exploration has been authorized. They have no choice but to focus on existing wells and be more efficient.

Demand for oil certainly hasn’t slowed down nor will it, so prices will remain relatively high. Hopefully those existing wells can sustain demand for a foreseeable period of time.
Posted by evil cockroach
27.98N // 86.92E
Member since Nov 2007
7879 posts
Posted on 8/1/24 at 7:45 am to
quote:

“Clearly, oil and natural gas companies are delivering more energy with greater efficiency and lower emissions than ever before,” Staples said.
this . Way more automation. Recently , I was on a seawater flood start up. Usually , there’s a lot of man power needed just to monitor (pull samples , analyze , trend data, backwash filters , etc.) . This one, though? Dang near every thing was automated and in-line monitoring.
Posted by low end
504/985/225/713
Member since May 2024
307 posts
Posted on 8/1/24 at 7:51 am to
quote:

younger folks are more productive and as the older generation (boomers) retire companies are able to accomplish more with fewer employees.


Automation in the O&G space is my entire job and this is 100% accurate. Older folks who resisted the shift to automation are no longer employed, voluntarily or not.
Posted by Loup
Ferriday
Member since Apr 2019
12819 posts
Posted on 8/1/24 at 8:10 am to
quote:

Less experience would mean less productivity would it not?


You would think but in my experience that's not the case. They (might) know more and are a great resource as far as knowledge goes but damn it's hard to get them to do anything quickly or out of their normal scope of responsibility.
This post was edited on 8/1/24 at 8:55 am
Posted by kciDAtaE
Member since Apr 2017
16512 posts
Posted on 8/1/24 at 8:16 am to
Thanks Obama
Posted by Tridentds
Sugar Land
Member since Aug 2011
21680 posts
Posted on 8/1/24 at 8:25 am to
Automation, focus on product reliability and a lot of the maintenance is now being handled by 3rd party companies that specialize in that. Combine that with the incredible liability that comes with employees and companies are increasingly trying to limit exposure.

Drilling companies don’t need nearly as many employees as they used to.
Posted by VetteGuy
Member since Feb 2008
30691 posts
Posted on 8/1/24 at 8:29 am to
Ain't nobody throwin' chain...
Posted by tigburls
Member since Feb 2010
560 posts
Posted on 8/1/24 at 8:46 am to
Jobs have still increased in 34 of the last 48 months.

Of course automation and efficiencies will make some jobs obsolete but every company I know is hiring good people. Everything from low level hands to top level engineers there is shortage of labor in O&G.
Posted by jizzle6609
Houston
Member since Jul 2009
7201 posts
Posted on 8/1/24 at 8:51 am to
quote:

cut overhead expense is the way to do it (says publicly traded companies)


Thats exactly what you do. Thin out the back-office nerds like me then move to the gentlemen or gentlewomen that are actually turning a buck for the company last.

101
Posted by Nado Jenkins83
Land of the Free
Member since Nov 2012
61201 posts
Posted on 8/1/24 at 8:55 am to
We did some horseshoe wells recently.

Planning 6 well pad with 4 on it for September

2 1.5 mile laterals and 4 that turn 180 and drill other slots without needing to move the rig

Posted by chinhoyang
Member since Jun 2011
24422 posts
Posted on 8/1/24 at 8:57 am to
Locally, there are a lot of o and g jobs, including a lot of work in pipeline construction.
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