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Oil's New Technology Spells End Of Boom For Roughnecks
Wall Street Journal ^ | 10 July 2018 | Christopher M. Matthews

Posted on 07/10/2018 1:16:15 PM PDT by zeestephen

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1 posted on 07/10/2018 1:16:15 PM PDT by zeestephen
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To: zeestephen

Wall Street Journal:

“Oil prices are back up to their highest levels in more than three years. U.S. production has topped record levels, hitting 10.9 million barrels a day in the last week of June, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, compared with its high of 9.6 million in 2015. But as of May, nationwide oil and gas employment is down 21% since 2014...”


2 posted on 07/10/2018 1:18:20 PM PDT by zeestephen
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To: zeestephen

That’s the story in every industry except for hand-crafted items.


3 posted on 07/10/2018 1:20:56 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (You cannot invade the mainland US. There'd be a rifle behind every blade of grass.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Eventually it will result in millions of unemployed voters who will gladly elect Socialists to loot the people who did this to them.

Disturbing, but you can see that coming.


4 posted on 07/10/2018 1:24:32 PM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: Buckeye McFrog

The elites are trying to get ahead of that with the “guaranteed minimum income” that they’re talking about.


5 posted on 07/10/2018 1:31:33 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (You cannot invade the mainland US. There'd be a rifle behind every blade of grass.)
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To: zeestephen
Everybody calm down. Nobody weeps for the carriage builders that went out of business with the arrival of the automobile. As mature industries become more efficient and needless workers the excess labor will allow new technologies and professions to grow and replace the lost jobs.

The way all these Cassandra's and Chicken Littles bleat makes you wonder why we are not all hunter gatherers in an cave sitting around a fire picking parasite off one another like monkeys.

6 posted on 07/10/2018 2:03:23 PM PDT by WMarshal (Because we're America, Bitches!)
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To: Buckeye McFrog

Yeah just like all those employed in the buggy whip manufacturing industry affected a huge political groundswell when they lost their jobs because of the automobile.

Times change, jobs change, people adjust and retrain into different fields. My guess is 50% of jobs which existed in the 1940’s are gone, replaced by jobs no one could imagine back then.

You seem to believe technology advances are bad, they are not.


7 posted on 07/10/2018 2:07:48 PM PDT by billyboy15
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To: billyboy15

We’ve never had technology like AI and robots that could replace half the workforce before.

Those displaced workers will go somewhere. I am betting they will go into radical political movements.


8 posted on 07/10/2018 2:25:42 PM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: Buckeye McFrog

Just make sure you own your own little robot workforce and you’ll be good.


9 posted on 07/10/2018 2:29:39 PM PDT by toast
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To: zeestephen

In the mean time, a truck driver in west Texas can knock down $100-150K a year right now.


10 posted on 07/10/2018 2:31:30 PM PDT by WASCWatch
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To: Buckeye McFrog

Maybe the robots will. Need ahuman to keep an eye on them.


11 posted on 07/10/2018 2:36:50 PM PDT by Trailerpark Badass (There should be a whole lot more going on than throwing bleach, said one woman.)
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To: billyboy15

As technology and efficiency increase, I’m willing to wager numerous jobs won’t be replaced by new jobs. It’s a legitimate concern to address.


12 posted on 07/10/2018 2:38:04 PM PDT by EEGator
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To: zeestephen

If this is true, then why is the
Permian Basin in west Texas and
eastern New Mexico complaining
they can’t find enough workers?
Oil field employment has always
been an up and down cycle.
Fracking has actually increased
the need for workers. Truck drivers
are in huge demand.


13 posted on 07/10/2018 3:25:43 PM PDT by Lean-Right (Eat More Moose)
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To: billyboy15; WMarshal

It’s important to remember that the most difficult part of managing a business is finding, and retaining, reliable, hard working, honest, sober human beings who do not disrupt the lives of other employees, and who are not constantly searching for ways to sue you.

Whenever business owners and managers can economically replace a human worker with AI or a robot, that is EXACTLY what they are going to do!

AI and robotics have infinite potential for greater efficiency.

Human beings do not.

Bottom Line - a lot of Americans are going to need a “minimum income” by 2040.


14 posted on 07/10/2018 4:02:56 PM PDT by zeestephen
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To: zeestephen

Yawn.


15 posted on 07/10/2018 4:04:48 PM PDT by Sequoyah101 (It feels like we have exchanged our dreams for survival. We just have a few days that don't suck.)
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To: Lean-Right
Fracking in west Texas and New Mexico is widely dispersed, and, from memory, most wells only produce a couple hundred barrels a day.

If pipelines ever make economic sense, the oil companies will build them, and truck driver pay will come down very fast.

As to fracking costs, in 2013 the average well broke even around $60 a barrel.

Five years later, break even is probably below $40.

Only one way to do that - replace roughnecks with AI and with better drilling and pumping tools.

16 posted on 07/10/2018 4:24:03 PM PDT by zeestephen
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To: WMarshal

1.2 trillion bbl. oil recoverable from sands found in Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming, with a newly proven solvent technique (derived from citrous). No water required to liberate +99% of oil from sand. Clean sand made available for sale after process. Break-even, depending on source information, quoted at $28 to $32 per bbl. Virtually sulfur and heavy metals free, a direct refinery replacement for Venezuelan heavy crude. Should be some good paying jobs in there somewhere.


17 posted on 07/10/2018 4:31:05 PM PDT by Ozark Tom
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To: zeestephen

Almost 3,000,000 barrels per day
is nothing to sneeze at. I live
here...they’re screaming for
oilfield workers and truck drivers.
Got a CDL and you’re guaranteed
a job. Problem is, no one can
pass a drug test.


18 posted on 07/10/2018 5:25:37 PM PDT by Lean-Right (Eat More Moose)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

That is like handing out $100 dollar bills on the street corner.


19 posted on 07/10/2018 5:41:48 PM PDT by TheNext
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To: Buckeye McFrog

“We’ve never had technology like AI and robots that could replace half the workforce before.”

percentage-wise, the power loom and associated power textile machinery in the late 17th century and early 18th century eliminated more jobs than AI and robots ...


20 posted on 07/10/2018 7:59:09 PM PDT by catnipman ((Cat Nipman: Vote Republican in 2012 and only be called racist one more time!))
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