Forwarded by a reader in the industry;
The oilfield is a place to make izzy money if you don’t lose it first, while some are asking for their fair share , some are having to lose more than their fair share. There is no royalty rebate on a wrecked truck or izzy money from an insurance company. The price of oil and gas exploration can be high even in a developed country.
(From a collection of 30 wrecks circulating around the oilfield internet.)
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(click to enlarge)
Steve: I think Dion was referring to the idea that Alberta could invest in educating its citizens
Oh, that’s rich, considering an international study written up in the Post today showed that Alberta students did the best of any Canadians in science, while French-speaking Quebec students had the worst performance. I’ve already recycled the paper, but IIRC, Alberta students also placed quite high in math and reading; Quebec students, not so much.
You know, I was looking at those pictures and figuring another rant at Saskatchewan’s rural highways was coming on, then I started reading.
Man, I saw something like that in Quebec just off Hwy 40, west of Montreal. A loaded big rig had augered into a semi frozen swamp at 120 kph as the driver fell asleep or something. Sploooosh! 200 yards in, windshield deep ( actually the cab was covered inthe bow-wave of swamp it pushed up.)
When I passed again later inthe day, they had something like 6 dozers using their blades as brakes to brace the 4 wreckers with winches yanking on, an excavator or 2, some tractors, a bunch of flatbed tractor trailers, and a round dozen big pickups loaded with gear,etc… What a mess.
A lot of rubber necking on that.
Kate, your main (and top) photo has absolutely nada to do with the oilpatch. It was the 2000 incident involving a fuel truck whose driver ignored the load limits on the ice bridge crossing the Mackenzie River near Fort Providence, NWT. The vehicle was recovered by Robinson Trucking, which does almost all of the recovery of vehicles that go through ice bridges in the territory. I’m not sure how it got in a montage of oilpatch photos, but it doesn’t belong.
In answer to: WL Mackenzie Redux at December 5, 2007 6:57 PM: I do sleep good at night, I do not have to look in the mirror. I have earned my money, spent it as I saw fit. Just came back from Maui, had a great time. I don’t care about the Bali idiots except for “Harper” to put them straight. All carbon tax will be staying in Canada until the agreement is signed by all the involved countries. Then and only then Canadian will sign it after it has a referendum on it. Money and all new technologies will not be given away to said developing countries. Merle Underwood.
“Kate, your main (and top) photo has absolutely nada to do with the oilpatch”
Interesting because Kate is always quick to point out when the MSM does something of a similar nature. Care to comment, Kate?
I was diesel frac’ing a well in the NWT in 2000, the diesal wasnt delivered on bikes. in came in a truck but I dont know which road it came on.
The photos should be viewed as a tribute to the dedication and endurance of the Canadian oilfield businesses and workers. Alberta is a strong and vibrant economy because of the “can do” philosophy of its oil patch and has become the envy of much of the world. Envied not for the decades of unbearable hardships or its evolution through decades of “the school of hard knocks” but for the perceived easy money and the overall economic infrastructure the industry has developed.
Alberta oilfield services and skilled labor is highly sought throughout the world, very much respected for it’s expertise bringing huge amounts of additional foreign earned money into Canada. Canadian machinery, people and businesses now operating throughout the world continue to drive our economy as a G7 nation, which in no small part includes the oil field. To me the photos above show the drive for success and the continuing learning curve as the Canadian oilfield leaves a legacy for our descendants.
Another point I’d like to comment on was the earlier criticisms and stereotypes of oilfield workers:
“Then there are the dangers of alcohol and drug addiction that testosterone fueled young men can fall into”.
“If they were, they wouldn’t be able to polish off a case of beer on the 25 minute drive from the dry camp to the dry site and vice versa, tossing their bottles out the window the whole way I might add”.
True allot of this occurred heavily in the early days and still to some degree today but what occupation or profession does it not? How many doctors or nurses prescribe their own stress medication?
The oilfield industry has stringent drug & alcohol policies backed with frequent D&A testing, both random and first hire testing. How many other occupations come close to that standard of monitoring?
This fantasy that most of the liberal left-wingers prefer to mudsling at mostly conservative young oilfield workers completely belies the fact that these are young hard working tax paying males of European decent who make too much “easy money” with little formal liberal indoctrinated education.
Hey guys, these fellows are all paying for your friends to lie around on the couch drinking and smoking their dope, all the while dreaming of ways to sell their poetry after graduation to pay off student loans.
How they decide to spend or “waste” their after tax dollars is no ones business but theirs! The funny thing though is if you take the time to meet some of them like Mr. Underwood above you would see thriving responsible people of high intelligence possibly with little education who have thrived in harsh environments and provide an extremely high standard of living for their families and the Alberta community. Much higher standards than exist in the majority of the world.
These are conservatively strait forward people who will not sell out their identities and heritage to the global masses of free loaders and politically correct sell out!
Itobo & stevo… obviously you didn’t read the part where it says”Forwarded by a reader in the industry” and “(From a collection of 30 wrecks circulating around the oilfield internet.)”.
Any work in the Canadian north is a challenge at the best of times. I’d heartily recommend a brief tour doing grunt work up there. The experience will give you an appreciation of “izzy” work.
Well, as a full-time resident, I’ve done more than a brief tour up here. And I read the part you speak of – what of it?
And most likly the enviromenatlists liars use doctored photos like those in the fruadulent mail campainges against oil drilling in the ANWR SCREW THE GREENS