Slowly Losing My Job

There it is. Oil is a fickle b*tch goddess, and those in its silky employ are but motes circling a drain. We saw it coming, didn't we? Despite cutbacks and streamlining, the end has come well nigh.

As of now, my team has been told that we have 2 months of tying up loose ends and documenting what we can, then we'll lock the doors behind us. What else can I say?

This seems like a sh*tty market to dive into, but what the hell? I'm not getting any younger.

a reply to: CrikeyMagnet

Sorry to read this and hope you have enough time to look to find another job, either in the oil industry or change and do some else. Often though that means uprooting though. Good luck.

a reply to: CrikeyMagnet

I thing we are witnessing the entire western economic world be thrown on the scrap heap and a new economic order establish on Chinese, Indian and similar slave labour countries displace us all.

thank christ Im only a few years from retirement ..... if they don't take it away from me before then and I'm not in your country

a reply to: CrikeyMagnet

Bad news. Maybe it's time to start polishing those transferable skills and looking for other jobs now? It might improve chances with increasing job cuts being forecast. Less competition now than later etc.

I guess it's dependent on the skills and experience you have?

Oh, that mode starts today.

Family to feed, don'tchaknow?

Totally saw it coming, and yet it still sneaks up on a guy. At least my job makes a living out of being transferable.
a reply to: Kandinsky

a reply to: CrikeyMagnet

Good luck!

a reply to: CrikeyMagnet
Part of that trickle-down effect? In Sask we're seeing a lot of it too - even though you don't hear a word of it except via the drop in real estate numbers.. thats impossible to hide. Laughable as all the headlines still read, and the radio jocks still spew out "We're booming!" bs.

Sucks about your job loss - at least they told you ahead of time; hopefully good time to prepare and use those transferable talents you spoke of. All the best.

The problem is the oil industry has been living beyond its means for a very long time, now that oil prices have dropped they are still making massive profits but are unwilling to reinvest but would rather close factory's in the hope of the people feeling bad about mass unemployment and be willing to pay more for there fuel

Depending on what you did in the oil field, you can always find a job in Mining.
We are constantly hiring here at Lac Des Iles Mine.
Palladium and Platinum will always be in demand...as long as cars still need it lol

a reply to: CrikeyMagnet

That really sucks man and I hope you find something else soon.

If only I could get people to listen to me, cutting jobs would be a good thing for all of us.

The closest we will ever get to true freedom is through Communism.

Liberty is a trap.

a reply to: Bone75

And here I was going to say at least he lives in a country with a diversified economy that hasn't built a complete command economy experiment based solely on oil revenues ... like Venezuela. Their entire system, top to bottom, is now collapsing and dysfunctional thanks to their socialist/communist oil fueled system.

He at least has a chance to find a job in another industry with transferable skills.

In Venezuela, it's all going to hell.

a reply to: CrikeyMagnet

As of now, my team has been told that we have 2 months of tying up loose ends and documenting what we can, then we'll lock the doors behind us. What else can I say?

Be glad that you got some advanced notice and have a chance to prepare. After 15 years of working for one of the largest Oil Exploration companies in the world....I was given a WEEK. I'm at the end of my career so it's not so bad....but more than 22,000 guys that used to work in the patch were summarily dismissed with no notice at all.

Indeed the industry is a cruel mistress.

Best of luck to you my friend.

a reply to: imod02

The problem is the oil industry has been living beyond its means for a very long time,

No...in point of fact it hasn't. Oil companies are subject to the same laws of economics as are the rest of us. When they were rolling in the cash they were handing out 100k a year jobs like they were candy...largely to unskilled workers. When your profit margins disappear...you cut back or you close. Simple as that.

oil prices have dropped they are still making massive profits but are unwilling to reinvest but would rather close factory's in the hope of the people feeling bad about mass unemployment and be willing to pay more for there fuel

Utter tripe. I worked in the oil industry for a little over 15 years....so I know of what I speak. The majority of companies require a $35 dollar per barrel price....just to break even with operating costs. As of my writing this...the price of oil is sitting at $43.11 per barrel. As I have stated above....profits are slim indeed and running an oil operation is anything but cheap. Oil companies don't care what you're willing to pay at the pumps....and I can guarantee you they aren't sitting around the board room table discussing how to make folks feel bad about the low cost of gas....they are more concerned with survival at this point.

Just so you know....the price of oil has been purposely been driven into the ground in an attempt by OPEC to destroy the US shale oil business. The Saudis in particular want their competition dead and buried....so they have increased production to drive down the price....making profitability nearly impossible. Add to that the recent agreement with Iran, which has huge reserves that they can now sell on the open market and you have the perfect storm, so to speak.


I have no particular love for the industry....but business is business.

Energy is such an unstable industry to be in anymore.

I have re-engineered by career more than once to change with the tides. Its the way it is anymore.

originally posted by: Bone75
a reply to: CrikeyMagnet



The closest we will ever get to true freedom is through Communism.

Liberty is a trap.

Ask any Cuban.