They may work for the oil companies as pumpers and work cows on the side. They are not “oil companies”. They are employees.
I was very involved in the Bakken years ago during the Obama years.
I can tell you firsthand that most pumpers are farmers and ranchers and nearly all of them DO NOT TRUST THE OIL COMPANIES.
They are very protective of their land and so are the Native American tribes which hold millions and millions of acres of shale oil rich land.
The driving force behind the miracle of the Bakken which has allowed the US to become oil independent because it has proven reserves more than 10 X Saudi Arabia are the rancher families and their coops, NOT the corporate oil companies.
The only reason I and my small startup were successful is because I had with me some folks that were down to earth, Christian, having high integrity and it took awhile.
The actual decision makers in those rancher and farming families is most often the mother of the family, the matriarch and she will look you over and study you up one side and down the other. And it could take weeks to get her approval if you get it at all.
One of my team had a very humble way about him and knew about ranching in Eastern Washington, he went out to do some volunteer work on ranches and develop friendships, He attended Church, prayed with the families and some finally gave him a chance to bring oil and gas trucks to their pumps and fill up, signing a contract to act as a sales representative but not exclusive, not even near that.
There are thousands of such families and they dominate the landscape. These are real Americans and they don’t trust Wall St. at all, not even a little. God bless them.