Anybody else starting to get nervous, oil bounced off just over 40$ today. Any lower than this and there is going to be widespread layoffs.

 

Alaska is sucking right now too. We need oil do stay above $60/barrel to keep our budget in the black.

 

Well the US just laid off 533,000 people in the month of November.

I say start watching your back and tightening up your budget if you haven't already. 2009 is going to be a wild ride.

 

I think we will all be in for a wild ride. My employer announced he was retiring at the end of December. The hospital who employes us said they could not promise that there will be positions for us to fill or that we may not have to take a cut in pay. I have managed medical practices for over 30 years and there are no positions opened at this time. I am talking to a plastic surgeon who wants to hire me but unsure if he can pay for my insurance or I may have to take a $5,000.00 pay cut! Yikes! I have my 76 year old mother living with me and my 55 year old sister who is in a wheelchair with MS. I just pray for something to work out because times are hard but being out of work will make things harder.

Cat :x

 

Are you in the oil fields?

What am I missing?

WTF...Cheaper gas?!

USA has sooo much oil, we need to get started drilling NOW!

WHAT AM I MISSING?

"What, me worry?" Alfred E. Neuman

 

Yeah I am in O&G, lots of people have jobs dependent on high oil prices. I know lots of places need about 60$ p/b to stay afloat. For the oil sands the production cost is more than somewhere you can just plan a well and practically bottle the stuff. We have to separate it out from the sand, only high oil prices can make it cost effective.

Our client needs about 40-50$ to keep up the investment in engineering for future projects... the stuff I design!

If oil drops below 40$ this week... well it is going to suck. My phone has been ringing off the hook with people who have been laid off at the other major firms.

 

Ouch!

That you worked in the industry was my second thought.

My initial reaction was that the revenue loss was bad for the national economy.

I don't know what to root for, now. Lower consumer prices mean less employment for yunz guys!(Pittsburgheze for y'all.)

 

Yeah I have been pulling a "Homer Simpson" at the pumps these days...

20$ to fill my car... whoo hooo!...... (followed a few seconds later by) doh!


I was reading that yesterday, for Canada a similar situation; about 71,000 people lost jobs for November. The only thing that has been holding Canada together is the Oil-Sands pretty much, most of Eastern Canada has been in a recession for a while but the growth in Alberta has been masking that.

 

...i mean...

:d

 

I think I am going to do another 4 years in the Navy...not what I really WANT to do, but damn the economy is screwed and I'm safe here in the service...

 

Do 20 years, and then get out and make a second income on top of your military pension, brother!

Many people I do work for have done the same, and they recommend it!

 

The armed services usually see an increase in sign-ups during tough economic times. Job security is a big factor.

 

I don't know about 20 years man. I'm not a big fan of the military and deployments and overseas duty and stuff. I like it here in America. It's just my time is up in April and if I re-enlist I'll get shore duty for 3 years in 2010. That would be sweet. And the navy would pay my apartment rent. Something to ponder...come home after next deployment with 10 g's and do a K20 swap ;D

 

Options...always good to have a few...

 

Can I get a "Hell Ya" for Oil not going below 40$

 

I am so thankful that my engineering firm has interests in wind-power, high voltage electrical work, and oil.

 

Hmmm, alternative energy I just don't see the high dollar demand for the next few years.

Oil went above 49$ p/b today.... horray the recession is over!

 

It's kinda scary, but we're lucky out west... my fiance works in oil and gas so i can see how it gets a bit tense. she's more on the natural gas marketing side of the biz tho.

I'm fairly safe where I'm at, we get paid by military government contracts.. the more demand for digitizing the battlefield the more $$ we get.

It's a pretty safe biz, i'm happy here. I just hope I stay.. it's gonna be interesting to see how things pan out in the next year.

 

Crap, oil dropped to 38$ today


Well that was it; the magic number. Prepare for mass job losses in the next week or so unless something drives it back up. By my count between just the local big 3 engineering companies I know there have well over 1200 people have been laid off so far now. Those people would have been making between 50K to 150K on average, so once you add in all the other companies that have dropped 20 or 30 people that will impact local business dramatically in the coming weeks.

With this latest price drop even my "safe" job just went into the danger zone... stupid recession

 

The only way you can assure job security is to be working for an O&G company with a balanced portfolio of both oil and gas assets. Usually when one goes up, the other one goes down, but with this economic downturn, consumption is much lower and both have gone down. I'd be more concerned if you are working for a smaller O&G company as they tend to rely on a high oil and gas price to be profitable. This affects not only the producers but the service companies as well. They are probably seeing a drop off in work as many companies are not working over marginally profitable wells. They'll have to start lowering their workover and product prices to boost the amount of work they will do this winter. Drilling is pretty much out the door right now.

I don't think the oil sands is keeping us afloat. I'd attribute it to conventional oil and gas extraction especially in primary and secondary depletion. Tertiary depletion is probably on the fringe and no new wells especially deep gas wells are being drilled. Right now we are relying on assets we already have versus development which is unfortunate. Definitely bad for small companies, but for big companies, its a feeding frenzy. Expect a rampant rise of takeovers and buyouts of smaller companies to accrue their assets when they are vulnerable.

Whether we like it or not, O&G is at the root of our economy and way of life, so it is just a matter of time before the cutbacks of oil production and delivery find a happy medium with consumption. I wouldn't panic really, it's only a matter of time until oil starts to go up again. We just need some consumer confidence!!! I think a happy median would be $60-$80/bbl. Its funny how people complain about high gas prices, its a reflection of the success of the world's economy. Well, you have your lower gas prices now, but it came at a cost