Posted on 03/24/2015 4:59:25 AM PDT by thackney
The boom in U.S. oil production over the past decade led thousands of workers to prairie cities from Texas to North Dakota.
Now, Saudi Arabia hopes those workers—many of them casualties of the ongoing downturn in crude prices—will consider the deserts of the Middle East instead.
Saudi Arabia has a long history of recruiting skilled workers from the West to develop its vast oil reserves. The country, however, also possesses shale oil deposits, and observers say the current oil market provides an opportunity for the Saudis to begin developing those resources.
“With the layoffs, it’s a great time to do it,” John Kingston, president of the McGraw Hill Financial Institute, told Bloomberg.
State-owned oil company Saudi Aramco reportedly posted ads on job websites last month while 35 new positions on the company's recruiting website call for experience in shale production.
Shale deposits require energy companies to use the hydraulic fracturing process, or fracking, to crack shale rock and extract underground crude. Fracking is much more complicated than drilling in traditional wells--and it comes with a host of environmental concerns--but the process fueled a dramatic increase in U.S. oil and natural gas production in recent years.
The continuing production increases in the U.S. contributed to rising global oil supplies and prices that are now trading at less than half of their mid-2014 peaks, a trend that led domestic companies to shut down rigs and lay off thousands.
Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf nations, of course, also helped cause the dramatic decline in prices after OPEC raised production levels in an effort to protect their market share. Experts say another consequence of that decision could be the acceleration of the region's fracking capacity.
"They don’t want to start from scratch," Michael Webber, deputy director of the Energy Institute at the University of Texas, told Bloomberg. "They have no experience with shale and they have to hire outside workers. It’s a way to leapfrog."
Saudi Aramco hiring US shale workers
http://www.shaleenergyinsider.com/2015/03/19/saudi-aramco-hiring-us-shale-workers/
Saudi Arabia’s state owned oil company is reportedly hiring workers and technical experts from the US shale industry, who have been laid off as US shale companies continue to cut jobs.
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Saudi Arabia Wooing Fired U.S. Shale Workers to ‘Join Our Team’
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-17/saudi-arabia-wooing-fired-u-s-shale-workers-to-join-our-team-
For decades, the Saudis have recruited workers from the U.S. for its conventional drilling programs, offering hefty salaries and benefits as lures. Even so, “it’s been hard for us to put people there,” Read said. “The conditions are just quite difficult.”
Previously, Saudi Aramco didn’t need expertise in shale oil and natural gas exploration because it has large conventional oil reserves that don’t require expensive extra steps to develop, such as the hydraulic fracturing or horizontal drilling used in shale rock.
As those highly productive fields age, however, development of shale resources, along with other hard-to-reach oil categorized as “unconventional,” may help Saudi Aramco maintain its dominance in the oil market, according to John Kingston, president of the McGraw Hill Financial Institute.
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Oilservice Sector Shouldering the Burden of Oil Patch Layoffs
http://www.oilandgas360.com/oilservice-sector-shouldering-the-burden-of-oil-patch-layoffs/
The Aramco web site is outfitted with a complete guide of what to expect while living in Saudi Arabia, including the quality of schools, popular vacation spots, positive testimonials and details of local communities. Of the 34 different types of positions available, skills in unconventional drilling are the most sought-after, with 35 available positions. A position posted on LinkedIn drew 160 applicants in one month. Saudi Arabia’s massive oil reserves (267 billion barrels as of 2013, the second-most in the world) had previously made hydraulic fracturing unnecessary, but Aramco kicked off its unconventional shale drilling program earlier this year with an investment of $7 billion. Last week, a note from Barclays said eight shale gas wells have been drilled to date.
Ahhh, the Muslims— too stupid to accomplish anything on their own with the exception of worldwide terror, and maybe handmade rugs.
Better to go on welfare than go to Saudi Arabia and give them more wealth in which to attack and destroy the West.
Ahhh, the Muslims— too stupid to accomplish anything on their own with the exception of worldwide terror, and maybe handmade rugs.
Also, too lazy to work.
This gives them more time to blow things up.
I have friends and relatives who have worked in the Middle East for big oil companies for three decades now.
Gradually the host nations have forced the companies to take on local hires, wannabee engineers and so on.
But the wannabees don’t wannabee there very much, so essentially sit around and watch the western talent do what they do.
Supposedly they are learning to take over but they don’t need or want to learn or work and do precious little of either.
Really. I’d tell them to pi$$ off!!
“Better to go on welfare than go to Saudi Arabia and give them more wealth in which to attack and destroy the West.”
Umm, somehow I’m guessing you’re not a laid off oil patch hand supporting a family.
Islam does not encourage productivity. It encourages rape and pillage.
In most cultures throughout most of history, the proof of one's worth was the opportunity to not work and get other people to do one's own work. The Protestant work ethic (which is similar to the samurai worth ethic, but I digress) turned this idea on its head, but those of us as working Americans tend to forget that our belief in work and accomplishment providing a person's worth in this world not only is not shared by most cultures, but has not been shared by most cultures throughout history. The shale issue in Saudi Arabia is therefore a kind of win-win situation, if each side doesn't listen too much to the other: we make the Saudis feel good about themselves because they don't have to work, and we feel good about ourselves because we get to work, accomplish stuff, and make lots of dinars.
“Better to go on welfare than go to Saudi Arabia and give them more wealth in which to attack and destroy the West.”
Umm, somehow I’m guessing you’re not a laid off oil patch hand supporting a family.
“Supposedly they are learning to take over but they don’t need or want to learn or work and do precious little of either.”
Personally, I see this as a good thing. Keeps the skill and knowledge where it belongs - with Americans.
I hear you get two buckets when you go to work in Saudi.
To carry home your cash?
One fills with cash, one fills with crap.
When you’ve had enough of either one, you go home.
So said one of my former bosses, who lived there for a while.
I understand that one. I used to live in Yemen. I decided both mine were full enough at the same time.
Ummm, I know financial hardship.
I stand by my comment.
“I stand by my comment.”
Umm, so what do you do for a living, hardship person?
Umm, so why don’t you mind your own business, oh annoying person?
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