It's Gotta Be The Speculators

In Defense of Greedy Oil Companies and Speculators - FoxNews.com

I found this article even with the failure of a spell check to at least be completely on point. I like bringing to light the fact that everything is affected by the actions taken in advance of an event. In other words; what we see in real time today has been carefully orchestrated by the reactions to previous events. So if you are told by your spouse that they no longer want to be with you then after a time of mourning you will replace them in your life. By that very truth the value of other members of the opposite sex goes up upon hearing the news that you will have a vacancy in that place in your life. Someone you might have only given passing conversation to in the past will no doubt be the object of affection in the new reality.

Much is the case with the value of anything else!

When supply goes down the future value goes up meaning that the cost for goods today is lower than the cost of goods tomorrow so long as the number of goods available continues to fall.

The art is in moving the goods in such a way that you can make a profit.

Why then would we be upset at the fact that someone is able to make money? Isn't that how we levy taxes?

Why would we be upset that the price of oil goes up with civil unrest in an oil producing nation? That would be like getting angry at the moon for reflecting the sun's light.

So in my opinion if the current administration would really like to reduce the cost of fuel there is something that they are in direct control over that can change the price of fuel immediately...

The taxes they levy on me for filling my tank with gas. The real speculator decided to increase the price of fuel and take a little off the top for themselves every time I go to the pump.

Something to think about I guess.

Subsidies or Deductions?

Repeal Oil Subsidies?

So there is news running about right now that the current administration is targeting some Oil & Gas industry specific subsidies but it would seem that the target is much more broad or that they are going to try to re-write the tax code in an effort to target a select few companies.

In this video snippet from Yahoo News you can see a clear statement that the tax deductions targeted are actually sweeping across all industries without that tax code revision and you can clearly hear the opponent having a tough time doing some simple math.

Apparently the industry pays about $100 Million per day in taxes to the US Government against profit of $200 Million per day. I think that if a company is forced to give 50% of it's profit in taxes then it is likely covering it's fair share of the load.

But that's just my opinion...

Must be the speculators! Why are fuel prices rising?

Energy in America: EPA Rules Force Shell to Abandon Oil Drilling Plans - FoxNews.com

So our President claims that there are "speculators" driving up the price of fuel in America. Sure that could be right? I mean a bunch of people in some from of Ponzi scheme mindset could buy up a bunch of futures and cause the prices of futures to go up maybe only to sell later and cause the last few people in to purchase wildly over priced and undervalued commodities right?

Doesn't that sound like the sort of business model you are in everyday in your current profession? Well sure if your selling some miracle cure for everything in the latest network marketing model...

YO!!! PRES!!! Gasoline ain't a Ponzi Scheme!

When supply goes down... and it is at your request.

Price goes up... just as you have stated you would like it too.

The only thing left is for an enterprising young capitalist to come in and still make money on the coat-tails of yet another abysmal decision made by the policy makers in this country who are allowing for our own domestic production to fall. We want our domestic hydrocarbon production to go up as well as our use of OTHER Natural Resources (Wind and Solar). We want the use of foreign hydrocarbons to go down. ALWAYS! For some reason I have been witness for my entire life to the propaganda of reducing our dependence on foreign oil while watching the decisions made which only prove to increase our dependence on foreign oil.

When actions are not consistent with the words we hear the only natural conclusion is deception. I no longer care why I am being lied to. I just want it to stop. There is every reason in the world to continue domestic production of hydrocarbons and as a country we are making decisions that jeopardize us in ways that, unfortunately, most can't even comprehend.

This has been a soap box editorial rant from the Hedhntr.

7 Things Not to Say During a Job Interview - FoxBusiness.com

I read through the list quickly and overall it seems like common sense.

But is it?

Just because I deal with these things every day certainly doesn't mean anyone else does so here is a link for you.

What not to do in the interview...

It really is so much easier to tell someone what not to do than it is to tell them how to nail it!

7 Things Not to Say During a Job Interview - FoxBusiness.com

If you want to know a secret to never walking out of an interview wondering what they think then be my candidate.

I am looking for Petroleum Engineers and Petroleum Geologists with 5 or more years of experience for several roles across the country.

Call now! Operators are standing by.

BACKHANDED REPORTING ~ Can't the industry get a fair shake!

Take a moment to click the following link and read the extremely short article which ties Shell, of one of the worlds largest Oil Companies with a significant presence right here in my home town to a horrific photograph of the Deep Water Horizon. We all know that the rig had nothing to do with Shell and that in fact Trans-ocean BP and several other organizations had primary responsibility for the issues and resulting disaster but the fact that a photograph as large as the article itself is being used and that it ultimately is unrelated to the article applauding the approval of an environmental impact study is an egregious misrepresentation of the issue being reported on.

I expect "Fair & Balanced" not a null sum total!

Feds Give Shell Deepwater Drilling Project Environmental Approval - FoxNews.com

So the good news!

1. Shell has run a hurdle for the process and they are one step closer to a new drilling permit for deep water exploration in the Gulf of Mexico.

Now the rest of the story...

2. Shell must now get the exploration plan approved in order to drill 3 new exploratory wells in roughly 2900 feet deep water about 130 miles from the Louisiana Coast

3. Finally our red-tape wielding bureaucrats need to get off their butts and issue a drilling permit

Hopefully we will see more approvals in the coming months as companies move to meet the new standards set and continue to maintain operations here in our region.

Even more hopeful that we will see the first NEW drilling permit issued before the summer ends.

Age Discrimination - Isn't that Illegal?

Yes folks; age discrimination is against the law. More specifically you can not decide not to hire someone over 40 simply because they are over 40. There is no Bona Fide Occupational Qualification that prevents someone over 40 from being CAPABLE of doing a job.

Does that change the fact that a resume that makes you look old causes someone to look less favorably on it and you as a candidate. Unfortunately not! There is some good information here to help you update that resume. You likely did a little spring cleaning around the last house you sold if not a full update of the kitchen and bath. What makes you think the same old font and format is still good 15 or 20 years later?

This article has some good tips for our Oil & Gas job seekers who by the way are among the oldest of any industry with an average age of 49.

I argue with this article in 2 or 3 areas....

#7 State when you got your degree - I will ask you if you did not state it so I will find out.  Do not hide who you are.

#8 So what if your earliest job experience is most relevant.  If you aren't hiding when you graduated you sure better not hide what you did between graduation and 1995

#10 Hobbies and activities belong on your Facebook page PERIOD!  While it might be fun to discuss  how you race vintage British Mini's on the weekends or the training you are doing for the next triathlon; let's save that for the interview.  You can use it as a secret weapon when you are sitting in the interviewer's office and you notice the photo of a 1978 Spitfire on the wall or after you have seen the manager pull up with a 70.2 sticker on his window.

Does your resume make you look old? - Feb. 25, 2011

Bullish on the Black Gold - Only a matter of time

Okay, so we have known that the predicted prices of oil above $100 a barrel would eventually get here again. Heck it's a normal course of action for a global debt driven economy; prices will rise in order to pay last weeks interest rates. Now let's just hope we can squeeze a little margin out of the inflation and get a little income and new jobs for some of us. Good luck at the pumps.

Oil tops $106 as Libya crisis continues - Mar. 7, 2011

March Engineering and Geology Outlook

~ GRAY MATTERS ~
From the desk of Thomas Gray
My how time flies… It seems just a moment ago we were trying to disposition the remains of the Thanksgiving Feast I have looked up and realized that we have now gone through three major holidays and the close of football season. It’s already March!
In that brief time we have seen some activity begin again in the Gulf, well that happened yesterday. We have seen a lot of movement in our industry as companies continue to hire and grow the Engineering Staff in order to support their expanding growth. We are getting more requests to support offshore deepwater work and one clear sign of significant growth is a need for health and safety professionals to manage the on-boarding process of a growing employee base.
I have listed below 5 significant opportunities. Please take a look at the Universal Personnel website for a complete list of our open positions.

VP Operations – Houston, TX
• Posted on Tue, 2/1/2011
• Position Type: Direct Hire
• Education: Petroleum Engineering Degree
• Experience: 10+ Years with preferred specific experience in the Permian Basin, secondary recovery experience is a plus

VP Exploration – Corpus Christie, TX
• Posted on Tue, 2/8/2011
• Position Type: Direct Hire
• Education: Geology Degree
• Experience: 10+ Years with a focus on South TX SE TX and the TX Gulf Coast

Sr. Facilities Engineer – Offshore – International Rotation based from Houston
• Posted on Tue, 2/15/2011
• Position Type: Direct Hire
• Education: Engineering Degree
• Experience: 15+ Years with 5 years in deepwater facilities engineering role. Experience supporting FPSO and Platform reliability and performance.

HSE Advisor – Houston, TX
• Posted on Tue, 2/8/2011
• Position Type: Direct Hire
• Education: 4 Year Degree
• Experience: 10+ Years with significant experience in multi floor support of Health, Safety and Environmental risk mitigation for a large company

Sr Acquisitions Advisor – Houston, TX
• Posted on Tue, 3/1/2011
• Position Type: Direct Hire
• Education: Petroleum Engineering Degree
• Experience: 10+ Years with significant experience evaluating acquisitions of 100 Million or more in dollar value. This is an engineering role in support of large acquisitions

The Noble Nod - Or is it?

So the news is that the present administration has approved a deepwater drilling project in the Gulf of Mexico, the first permit approved since the ban was lifted in October last year. The good news is that the project does not have to comply with new strict regulations that are being imposed on the new projects waiting for approval.

What?

The NEW project doesn't have to abide by the rules of NEW projects?

NO!!!

This is not a new project!

Noble Energy was already doing this work and they were forced to stop when the current administration jerked a knee and put our economy against the ropes with OPEC in the opposing corner.

Don't get me wrong it's great that this project is resumed and it will bring a few needed jobs; maybe. It will bring some more oil to the surface; eventually; maybe.

Just don't go running around saying that The White House is doing us any favors because they honestly have yet to approve a real new project to create real private jobs and a real organic boost to the economy.

I'll say it again. Drill deep! Drill now! Take action to relieve our dependency on foreign oil AND work on new energy initiatives to augment our hydrocarbon consumption requirements.

As I type this there is a project waiting for a green light in the Gulf of Mexico that would be a true boost. The largest offshore wind generating project in the world would be off the coast of Houston and already underway if the action matched the rhetoric from our current administration.

We need all of the energy sources running in order to power our wireless blogging efforts from the local coffee shop.

It is nice to know that something is moving again today that wasn't two days ago though.

Oil and Gas News | Lousiana Oil and Gas Association

A little news that is nice to hear - Something to warm the heart and make you smile.

Help for the Looming Energy Workforce ShortageFrom an Unexpected Source — Colorado Energy News

I always like to hear about people who manage to get their Philantropreneurial venture rolling. It sounds like this is one group that is on the ball to make an impact in a couple of areas.

GoodWill Industries of Denver is making a difference in the exploration and production of Oil and Gas as well as the lives of the young students who are able to achieve success in their program.

Two Thumbs Up!

Global oil drilling in deepwater surges while the U.S. goes stale

Oil drilling in deepwater surges despite BP disaster - Jan. 11, 2011

As the article states, the U.S. long a pioneer in so many things has been the single largest producer of oil from deep water operations in the world. We currently produce over 1.5 million barrels a day in our deep water gulf operations and that is with no new permits allowed in nearly a year.

Our administration has a choice to allow us to continue to grow our economic position or to hamstring us back from "Pioneer to Pilgrim". We should be well beyond "Pilgrim" status. We know what our resources are and we know how to get to them and exploit them. We have long been "Pioneers" in so many areas of technology and here we are in the lead on global deep water production and we are about to slide backwards if we aren't careful.

That giant sucking sound you hear when you remove the gas cap from your empty fuel tank will simply be a symptom and nothing more than a blip compared to the vacuum of talent as engineers, geologists and other professionals export their talents to the producing fields around the world.

Tread lightly Obama? NO! Tread deeply! As in 500' or below to keep your country in business. The ponzi scheme of government jobs is soon going to fall apart without some tax revenue generating jobs to back it up. I once thought, "You can't export Oil & Gas production." I never considered that we would even think about quitting in this country.

Chevron's $1.4 billion expansion means more jobs - WLOX-TV and WLOX.com - The News for South Mississippi

From an article by Doug Walker, ABC News; a little expansion in our US Production capability means 20 permanent full time jobs in Mississippi.
Chevron's $1.4 billion expansion means more jobs - WLOX-TV and WLOX.com - The News for South Mississippi
This is nice but... In my opinion we still need to get out of the way of the expansion of domestic exploration efforts if we are really going to get away from foreign oil dependency.

The Pendulum Swings

A little report about jobless claims and turnover in the workplace. We have been hearing about the glut of talent out there looking for jobs but quite frankly, I have not seen the numbers of qualified unemployed that the media reports. In fact I have warned a few of my clients that the exact opposite is true and that in order to attract the talent they want they must look at a recruiting mechanism to bring people from their competitors to them.

Now the article is out and apparently the data is in...

Numbers released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that in November, the last month for which data are available, more workers voluntarily left their jobs than were laid off. Some 1.849 million people quit, compared to 1.657 million who were laid off.

Alan Farnham ABC News

For the fourth straight month more people are leaving one company to join another than are being laid off in America.

That not so large talent pool just got a little smaller...

Mind the Gap

You may not realize it but the major integrated oil companies have been tapping a resource of talent for years. As the numbers of graduates from Petroleum Engineering and Geology programs have declined there has been a huge gap created between the talented and experienced professionals who have been in the industry for many years and the young engineers coming into the work force. That gap is where the mid level engineers would be; the ones that didn’t enter the work force between 1990 and 2000.

So what do you do? Extend your retirees and tell them that the needs of your company outweigh their right to take an earned vacation in their twilight years? Do you increase your salaries and try to attract employees from other companies? Do you hire people from an alternative industrial space and train them?

YES! YES! AND YES!

One more thing…

You take a look at a new candidate pool altogether…

The ranks of the Military offers a resource of focused and dedicated problem solvers who have been operating in high stress environments and facing unusual challenges for over 200 years with unparalleled success.

The Military officer has been trained to think quickly under pressure and accomplish the directed mission despite overwhelming opposition, with limited resource, for a generally unappreciative benefactor. Not unappreciative because they don’t see the value but unappreciative because they can not comprehend the challenges that are faced. Sometimes we say, “Thank you for your service” and we quite frankly have no idea what in fact we are truly thanking them for. The sad truth is that so often we only focus on what they haven’t done.

• They haven’t designed a high-pressure vessel for use in a refinery ~ so?
• They have never stopped the production line at Coca-Cola to change out a motor control unit ~ and?
• They have never sat on the board of a Fortune ranked company ~ is that important?

The world is full of successful firsts and even more full of experienced failures but focusing on statistics and odds is not the way to select your next Six Sigma Implementation manager or Maintenance Reliability Engineer. The first time anyone ever did something in one area was surely after a successful venture in another. So let’s discuss what the typical Junior Military Officer has done…

• Graduate from a service academy or ROTC program at traditional university, owing 3-5yrs military service upon graduation
• Relocation 2-3 times
• Extensive travel
• Avg. work week of 60-70hrs
• Direct supervision of 20-200 people
• Accountability for millions of dollars of equip.
• Total responsibility for maint., safety, and operation
• Project mgt. responsibility (systems integration, network administration, new equip. fielding, acquisitions, budgeting, manpower planning and training).

Qualities you can expect…

• Exceptional maturity & proven leadership ~ they have been given more responsibility than other people their age
• Ability to do more with less ~ Let’s face it sometimes that supply line is short and you can’t wait for the replacement. The planning required of a JMO is to be ready for the contingent situations
• Superlative stress tolerance ~ They keep going when the world is falling apart around them
• Strong team orientation and team-building skills ~ team building and support fo their co-worker is drilled into them from day 1.
• Adaptability and flexibility on location and hours ~ in both training environments as well as operational environments things change at a moments notice with no guarantee that they will not suddenly change back in the next moment. The life of a JMO is constant change
• Highly skilled and with a quicker learning curve ~ the training demands that you pick it up quick or you get left behind. The result is that the ones who make through are operating with great mental acuity and at a tremendous skill level
• Loyalty and stability ~ They volunteered to give their life for their country

As we discuss the value to a team we certainly want someone who is able to add more value in a shorter time and achieve the stated objectives within a tight budget as well as react to a change in the stated objective with an immediate positive impact.

When you’re looking for that next gem to add to your team, consider the faithful patriot with a hell of a lot more to offer than meets the eye.