Weyburn – Southern Range Well Servicing of Weyburn, like most service rig companies in Saskatchewan, could use a few more hands. Pipeline News asked Ron Newett, the owner of Southern Range, about the labour shortage via email on Nov. 17.
Pipeline News: How would you describe the labour market for service rig hands these days?
Ron Newett: I would describe it as grim. With all the advertising we do, we end up getting just a couple of resumés, usually.
How active are you right now? How many rigs do you have, and how many are usually working?
Newett: I currently have nine rigs and lately have been running six or seven. It’s been a bit busier, but our rates are still low, making my margins tight.
P.N.: If you had additional staff, could you put another rig to work?
Newett: I believe that there is an opportunity to put another rig to work if we are able to find a crew.
P.N.: If a genie could grant you a wish, how many hands would appear on your doorstep?
Newett: I would say the magic number would be seven workers. Enough for the refurbished rig, and we always need a couple extras to fill in on other rigs as guys need days off sometimes.
P.N.: I understand you’ve been working with Miller Well Servicing, sharing a few workers as need be. How did that come about?
Newett: Bruce Miller and I have known each other for over 30 years. We used to work together at Woodard Oilwell Servicing. We both know how tough it is to find workers, so if we can help each other out in these tough times it is much appreciated by each other.
P.N.: Is there anything you would like to add?
Newett: I hope that we could get a couple pipelines, the Canadian economy would improve and have people wanting to invest here. Also, the price of oil getting up to the $75 to $80 mark and stabilizing would be great. If oil companies can make some more then I hope we could raise our rates and with doing that, increasing our wages and getting more people interested in returning to the oilfield.
