After I received a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Florida in 1995, I worked for a bridge construction company, a tunneling company, an underground utility construction company, two tower erection companies, and a shipbuilding company, all of this in Florida.  By the time I was in my mid-thirties, I had a pretty good understanding of different types of construction, estimating, accounting, project management, and engineering.  I was not worried about money or being able to find employment.  I wanted to see what it was like to live in the West, so I went.  I lived and worked in Colorado, Arizona, Idaho, North Dakota, Utah, and Texas.

It wasn’t until 2011 that I first worked in an oil field, it was in North Dakota.  The following year I went to the oil field in Vernal, Utah, and from there I got sent to an oil field in southwest Texas.  In 2013, I returned to North Dakota, and have been here since.

2011 through 2013, I was trying to learn as much as I could about the oil industry.  Some company owners and managers that I worked with knew a lot, about everything, but they all chose to tell me just a little.  Co-workers and other workers that I met in different places gave me additional bits and pieces of information.  It wasn’t until I had met and talked to many people, made more friends, and began having long discussions with local people over 60 years of age that had lived through a previous oil boom, that I got a clearer understanding of what was going on.

So much to know:  Oil companies world-wide, their origins, size, areas of operations; history of oil finds in the U.S., previous booms, successful companies; current oil field locations, drilling companies, fracking companies, specialty service companies; every job from geologist, siesmographer, landman, driller, dereck hand, worm, mud-logger, wireline operator, horizontal driller, fracking operator, casing installer, workover rig, pump jack installer, roustabout, swamper, pumper; pay rates, bonus pay, work hours, work rotations, qualifications, certifications.  All of that is just what is directly work related, which is only 30% of what you need to know in the middle of an Oil Boom.

What else you need to know is how to get hired, how to get along, how to not get hurt, and how to stay out of trouble.  How to find a place to live, where and how to get things you need, like food.  To forget about being clean, being warm, being dry, being comfortable, getting time off, or having fun.  One of the most important things to know is that it will come to an end, and then, the oil companies will not need you anymore.

In 2014 I decided to start writing articles about what I had learned in order to make things easier for other people.  In particular, I wanted to help people from out-of-state that were planning on moving to North Dakota based on rumors that everyone was making over $100,000 per year.  Many people were arriving daily in North Dakota with very little money, not knowing about the shortage of housing, high cost of housing, or the difficulty they would have in getting a job without youth, a trade, or job skills.  I wished that the national television news and newspapers would have accurately and truthfully reported what was happening in North Dakota.

In late 2014 the price of oil began to decrease.  In North Dakota the number of oil drill rigs operating began to decline all through 2015 as the price of oil continued to remain low.  By the end of 2015, approximately 80% of the oil field jobs went away in North Dakota.  Many businesses, investors, developers, and property owners never saw this coming.  Many businesses have closed, and many more will continue to close.

All through 2015, the people who had access to the media in North Dakota, the business owners, the oil companies, the investors, the developers, the Chambers of Commerce, they all chose to say that nothing was wrong, that everything was fine economically.  I understand that they were trying to keep things going, but I believe that ordinary people would have been better off with current and correct information, because they were about to lose their jobs and face financial difficulty.  I wrote articles on the internet that were contrary to what television and newspapers were reporting about North Dakota, because I didn’t want ordinary people to be harmed.  It was not the time to move to North Dakota, sign a year lease, or buy a new vehicle.

On this website and in my paid subscriber newsletter, “Land and Oil News”, I want to share what I learned living and working in Oil Boom Towns for five years.

What I had found out living and working in the Western U.S., talking to old retired geologists, siesmogrophers, drill rig hands, pipeliners, and large land owners, there is oil underground in every state.  It is only a matter of time before every state experiences an Oil Boom.  Everything that I experienced during the Oil Boom and the Oil Bust, will eventually happen in your state.

I will provide some useful information on this website, but more valuable information will be included in my paid subscriber newsletter, “Land and Oil News”.  This newsletter is sent by mail or e-mail each month to paid subscribers for a cost of $40.00 per year.  To begin receiving this newsletter, please e-mail me at   landoilnews@aol.com