Carnduff鈥� When the number of active drilling rigs drops by over half since January, those companies that are the closest to drilling feel it the most. You don鈥檛 get much closer than 小蓝视频 a rig-moving specialist, like Fast Trucking Service of Carnduff.
Dennis, general manager of Fast Trucking, explained on Oct. 13 the impact is not from just the volume of work, but the margins.
鈥淚t鈥檚 got a lot of impact. Oil companies are asking for discounts, discounts. Everybody鈥檚 so hungry and starving for work, I think a lot of people are working on a very thin margin. You take have the work and work on a very thin margin.
Fast Trucking, at the peak of the recent boom, could move seven drilling rigs at the same time.
鈥淲e鈥檝e kept a lot of our guys. We can still move five rigs,鈥� Day said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got lots of long-term employees, and we鈥檙e trying to keep everybody working. And for my guys, there鈥檚 not a lot of places they could go to work, because everybody鈥檚 in the same boat.鈥�
鈥淭here鈥檚 more competition for everybody,鈥� he said, including drilling rig companies and service rig companies.
鈥淭here鈥檚 been so many companies started up in the last three years. With it 小蓝视频 slow in Alberta, a lot of Alberta companies are coming here, looking for work,鈥� Day said.
In early September, the active drilling rig count for the entire province hovered around 17-18 rigs for the entire province, including the active Viking play near Kindersley. Crescent Point, which had been running up to 23 rigs in Saskatchewan earlier in the year, was down to one rig, before resuming activity a few weeks later, according to Rig Locator (riglocator.ca).
Day noted. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got eight weeks to December. The majority of oil companies say they鈥檙e shutting down in early December.鈥�
From the beginning of January to Mar 15, the usual start of spring breakup, is just 10 weeks, Day pointed out, adding there鈥檚 another 10 weeks or so of sitting during road ban.
鈥淲ith the rain we鈥檝e been getting, a lot of guys say they鈥檒l be going to work in July,鈥� he said.
Fast Trucking is running leaner now. 鈥淲e鈥檝e had to cut some staff, and move some around to other companies that are a little bit busier, which has helped a lot. Some have gone over to General Well, some have helped on the farm, some have filled in on our tank trucks,鈥� he said.
It鈥檚 very important to the Day family to keep their workers going. 鈥淚 live in a small community. One guy said, 鈥榃hat鈥檚 it matter to you?鈥�
鈥淚 said, 鈥榃hat does it matter to me?鈥�
鈥淚鈥檝e got a whole bunch of people depending on me to keep them working and making payments. That鈥檚 part of any boss鈥� job, to keep the men working so they can stick it out until it does get busier,鈥� Day said.
Management has taken a cut in pay, he added.
Day has been through downturns like this before. 鈥淚 would say this is kind of like 鈥�86 or 鈥�98.鈥�
Asked what his father, Tony, founder of Fast Trucking, has said about this downturn, Dennis said, 鈥淗e said it is what it is, and you just have to deal with it.
鈥淚鈥檝e been going out to drilling rigs myself, looking for work for the company.鈥�
Oil will have to hit US$55 to $60 WTI for activity to pick up, Day feels. He pointed out that wells that used to cost C$600,000 now cost C$450,000. With the Canadian dollar down, and service costs down, that all comes into play.
鈥淚 think oil鈥檚 going to steadily go up from here,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e looking at next June. But I thought, in February, that oil would go up. It did go up, but it went back down.
听
Bypass will make moving rigs easier
When you鈥檙e hauling large loads with dozens of trucks every day, a truck bypass makes a difference. Pipeline News asked Dennis Day, general manager of Fast Trucking, what he thought of the soon-to-open truck bypass around Estevan.
鈥淚t鈥檒l save us time going through town, worrying about traffic.鈥�
Sam鈥檚 Trucking, a sister company to Fast Trucking, based in Estevan, will benefit, according to Day. 鈥淚t will be easier for Sam鈥檚 to get out of town,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be a lot better for the people working in town, because we don鈥檛 have to drive through town with our trucks.鈥�
Typically wide loads from both companies wide loads, especially drilling rigs, would take the gravel roads around Estevan. 鈥淩eal heavy loads can鈥檛 go over the overpass in town,鈥� Day said of the overpass that goes over the Canadian Pacific line on the east side of Estevan.
Day wonders if there should be traffic lights at the major intersections of the bypass, including at Highway 47.
鈥淚f you鈥檙e loaded with one of those big trucks with a jeep and a booster and two pilot trucks, you need quite a bit of room to get past,鈥� he said.
Day is glad to see the bypass鈥檚 completion.
He added their trucks are a lot larger than a typical semi, usually running with a 10-foot wide trailer. A substructure for a drilling rig isn鈥檛 small.
