We wrote this 8 part series on Oilfield Trucking with one goal in mind. To help those considering a career in oilfield trucking to understand it better.
We wanted to give an introductory yet comprehensive look that would allow you to make a sound decision on whether this was the right career move for you or not. We hope you enjoy it and it helps you in your decision.
When I first considered an article about oilfield trucking, I thought it would be like squeezing 100 loads of freight into a single trailer. I couldn’t possibly fit everything I wanted to say in one article. It would be more like a novel, or a series of articles.
With this in mind, I decided to break this article down into different sections. This allowed me to focus on a different aspect of oilfield driving for each section.
There are thousands of truck drivers from all over the world looking for these Alberta trucking jobs every year. Unfortunately, nothing like this existed when I made the decision to do this myself. I was happy I did, but I prefer to base my decisions on a little more information than I had at the time.
Oilfield Trucking. Arriving at a drilling rig in remote area. Notice the worker camp on the right.
It will require an hour or two of your time to go through all 8 sections, but This is designed for people that are serious about their decision. This is a move that will affect your life, and the lives of those close to you. This investment of your time is a small price to pay in order to help you make the right decision.
Tar sands or Drilling work?
The first thing I learned about the oilfields is that they are often referred to as the oil “Patch”. Oilfield work is just like any other trucking, it gets in your blood. And just like any other trucking, it’s tough to get it out. This is sort of ironic as a “Patch” is something that is supposed to rid of us another addiction.
Oilfield Trucking. Tar sands mining facilities are different than traditional drilling for oil and gas.
My experience in oilfield trucking was a drop in the bucket compared to other people I met in the industry. Nonetheless, my years actually seemed like a lifetime. I don’t consider myself an industry expert, but I took it upon myself to document, learn, and analyze the industry so I could share my knowledge with those considering a career in oilfield trucking. What you take or learn from a job is just as important as the time you spent doing it.
There were many things I didn’t know before getting involved in the diverse oil and gas industry. I wasn’t aware of the difference between mining the “Tar Sands” (Oil sands) and drilling for oil and gas, or “Oilfield” work.
These are both different than “Ice road Trucking” in the northwest territories and we’ll get into this in another section on our site. I was fortunate to have spent some time in all three of these sectors.
Oilfield Trucking. Large plants have been built to extract the oil from the tar sands in the Ft. McMurray region.
Tar sands and Oilfield work both happen in what is called the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin.
The Tar Sands are more exclusive to the northeast part of Alberta, but have been expanding into other areas like Peace River. The deeper shale deposits that require drilling occur almost everywhere in this vast region. Click on this link for a closer look at tar sands region.
I’ve worked in all these areas including Ft. McMurray (referred to as Ft. Mac). FT. Mac is the hub city for most tar sand work in Alberta.
Since 2008, the Alberta economy has experienced some ups and downs like the rest of the world. Despite the economy, it has still remained one of the few North American hot spots for jobs and higher than average wages. This continued until the crash of 2015 which was the worst seen since 1980. The expectation is that things will turn around, but who knows how quickly after a crash of this magnitude.
This oil and gas basin covers more than just Alberta. It’s a vast area stretching from northern British Columbia, across Alberta to Saskatchewan, Manitoba and into the northern US.
Western sedimentary Basin
Source: “Location of Western Canada Sedimentary Basin” in NEB publication titled “Northeast British Columbia’s Ultimate Potential for Conventional Natural Gas – Fact Sheet”, (dated March 31, 2006), http://www.neb-one.gc.ca/clf-nsi/rnrgynfmtn/nrgyrprt/ntrlgs/nbcltmtptntl2006/fctsht0609-eng.html, 2008. Reproduced with the permission of Public Works and Government Services, [2013].
Continue reading Oilfield Trucking…..
Choices to live and work
Almost every center in Alberta has ties to the oil and gas industry, which leaves you many possible choices for relocating. There’s something for everyone and it may take some trial and error to find your fit. Most people start with a “Trial run” before committing to a full move. We’ll get into this in another section.
Many people remain transient when working out west as “Hot Spots” for work can change frequently. It often depends on investments into different regions made by the oil companies.
Calgary and Edmonton are the two largest regions with populations of just over 1,000,000 in each one. They both have many head offices of oil companies. Almost halfway between these two cities is the smaller city of Red Deer. It’s a much smaller center with just under 100,000 people, but it’s centrally located in the province and serves as a large equipment base for many oil and gas companies. Red Deer is roughly 1.5 hours to both Edmonton, and Calgary airports.
Oilfield Trucking. Edmonton, Alberta is the capital city of Alberta and is located 3 hours north of Calgary
Oilfield Trucking. Calgary Alberta is the largest city in Alberta and is located in the southern part of the province. Many oil company head offices are located here.
There are many other great places throughout the province from Lethbridge or Medicine Hat in the south, to Hinton in the northwest and Lloydminster in the east. Grande Prairie is the largest city base servicing the oil and gas fields of Northern Alberta, and British Columbia. It sits roughly 94 km southeast of the border to BC. Most of the drilling and service companies have bases situated in Grande Prairie.
I enjoyed the scenery and the challenging terrain of the foothills along the edge of the Rockies and up the Alaskan Highway, but it may not be for everyone. You can expect to chain up your tires as part of your daily routine.
Oilfield Trucking in the foothills and mountains of northern Alberta and British Colombia provides much more challenging terrain.
Not far across the border in Dawson Creek, BC is where the famous Alaskan Highway starts at “Mile 0”. The Alaska Highway runs north through Ft. St. John up to Ft. Nelson. From here it continues through the rest of northern BC, into the Yukon, and Alaska.
“Sedimentary basin” oilfield work is limited north of the Ft. Nelson area except for Horn River Basin. There are some great opportunities with companies servicing the oil and gas industry in northern BC if you don’t mind the higher taxes.
Most of central and southern Alberta is relatively flat, and may be more appealing to those looking for a bit less off road driving challenges.
The Saskatchewan landscape is also mostly flat with a few rolling hills, but for those of you that love large bodies of water, be prepared to miss it.
Oilfield Trucking in Southern Alberta and into Saskatchewan is relatively flat and less challenging.
Hopefully, you now have a better picture of the “where” we are referring to when we talk about oilfield trucking in Canada.