Pumper

[hunter_deer]

I never thought I'd work in the oilfields but I have a part time job now checking pump-jacks and measuring crude oil tanks. It's interesting with all the electric motors, pumps, separators, and plumbing, it's a mechanical fans delight. What I do is go to oil leases and check the operation of the pump jacks, oil the stuffing box and be sure the

Comments

[avon_deer]

When I was unemployed in 2001, straight out of university I might add, one of the jobs I went to was on the rigs in the Forties field. :D

I'd have had to have moved to Scotland, but at that time I was desperate for work of any kind. I did not get the job though.

Desparation job

[hunter_deer]

That's my problem too, I would never do anything like this unless I had too.
It's a dirty, smelly, and I don't enjoy exploiting the earth for profit.

Re: Desparation job

[avon_deer]

My opinion on oil is somewhat mixed. The internal combustion engine has done wonders for the world back at the start of the century. However now our reliance on it has become a burden. I would say that we should be looking for alternatives to what was always going to be a finite resource, but the truth is; we should have been looking since the 60s. We're playing catch up now, purely because of the "not my problem" mindset that humanity seems to have. Things are going to change a hell of a lot in the next few years. I highly suspect that my nephew is going to have a much harder life than I will have, as it looks like I am going to have a harder life than my parents had.

[whitetail]

I think crude oil smells yummy. I'd love to have a job like yours!

Crude oil

[hunter_deer]

Actually the aroma is strangely alluring to me, maybe I fear it because I really like it too. My sense of smell is really keen, and aromas remind me of things, I have to ponder what the crude reminds me of, then maybe I'll understand.

[dmdominion]

Well,with the current state of the economy, it is probably the most secure, non-backbreaking job around.

Just remember 2 things:
-Oil booms ALWAYS end. Put away.what you can for the rainy day, bacause it will come.
-it's a means to an end.

Rainy Day

[hunter_deer]

I pray for that rainy day here, things are getting pretty bad.
The work situation here is gloomy, and it's hard to get ahead.

[nacht_hirsch]

I just came across your post regarding the oil lease job. I remember watching Moody dodging counterweights while hopping aboard pump-jacks out off Ward Road. He had to lube bearings and generally service moving parts. He wasn't the fastest person on the planet and I honestly felt that if he stayed with that kind of work that eventually he'd slip, or maybe lose his concentration and misjudge his timing... getting brained by those weights. Spinning fly-wheels on the stationary engines could have got him too. All a person would have to do is sneeze at the wrong time and you'd be ground meat. I'm glad I got pics of him doing his work. Maybe he has family somewhere that might like a shot or two of him doing the work he liked. I mean his real family... not the thing he ended up with.