Arcola鈥� Things are picking up for Eagle Oilfield Services Ltd. of Arcola.
鈥淲e鈥檙e moving lots of used iron, moving some new iron,鈥� said Micky Grimes, president, on Feb. 8. 鈥淭rucks are staying busy. It seems to be picking up. It鈥檚 not crazy.鈥�
鈥淎fter the New Year it seemed to pick up quite a bit, with more of a steady oil price. Guys are getting a lot more hours. We haven鈥檛 really upgraded, people-wise, but we hadn鈥檛 downgraded a ton, either.鈥�
Whereas a lot of oilfield services companies in southeast Saskatchewan have told Pipeline News their staffing levels had dropped about 50 per cent since 2014, Grimes said they had only dropped around 10 per cent, and remain there. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got enough work for everyone right now.鈥�
鈥淩entals are down, but we see a lot more purchasing,鈥� he said. 鈥淓verything they used to rent, they buy instead of rent now. Why waste money on rent when they can own it, and they have the cash in place, I presume. I would say it鈥檚 90 per cent buy, now and 10 per cent rent. We used to be the opposite in busy times.鈥�
There are more rentals in test separators, but those are 小蓝视频 bought as well.
Eagle is moving lots of used pumpjacks, as well. 鈥淚 have lots of clients that used to always run new running used now. The big companies to the small companies 鈥� everyone鈥檚 buying them.鈥�
Asked about the rest of the year, Grimes said they had lots of orders, as long as they all go through. 鈥淲e鈥檙e starting to get new tanks from Kansas again. I think it鈥檒l be pretty well the same. I think it will be better than last year, for sure, but who knows? Time will tell.鈥�
鈥淓verything is kind of going good. It seems a lot better than the slow years. It鈥檚 picking up. There鈥檚 lots of new small companies coming in, which is nice to see, which means things are starting to level out.鈥�
The big question for many oilfield services is when they can start bringing their rates back up. 鈥淭he trucking game is really tough. There鈥檚 no question there. The rates are basically not there. I presume some guys are going to try right away, because it鈥檚 been long enough, and they鈥檝e been hurting. We haven鈥檛 addressed it yet, ourselves. But I don鈥檛 think you鈥檙e going to get it this year. I don鈥檛 think you鈥檙e going to get much of an increase this year, to be honest with you. The oil companies have had two bad years, and there鈥檒l still be someone who will do it for that rate. It鈥檚 not that busy. That鈥檚 my gut feeling.鈥�
