How Have Landmen Responded to the Oil and Gas Industry Downturn?
From Powersource:
This is Mark Acree’s fifth oil and gas downturn. He’s been a landman in the business for 37 years and, each time it cycles down, there’s something old and something new. This time, he said, the something old is him. Keep in mind, he’s only 57.
It’s been a year and a half since Mr. Acree was laid off from Noble Energy Corp. where he spent three years as a senior land manager. Like many oil and gas firms, Noble has had several rounds of layoffs since the downturn began in 2014, with falling natural gas and oil prices.
“I’m used to being a guy who worked for large corporations who pedaled pretty fast,” he said.
The pace and the attitude was “just get it done,” he said. “Keep going, keep going, do what it takes to get it done.”
When the latest downturn hit, the focus shifted to cost-cutting and Mr. Acree believes the land profession has seen some of the worst of it — especially managers with many years of experience and more zeros on their paychecks.
“The companies trying to cheapen themselves up by retaining lesser priced (employees) are thinking they’re going to train them up during the downturn,” he said. “Who’s going train them?”It is a good question, one of many that face the industry as it plans for the eventual ramp up of activity that will inevitably come. Read the rest of the article by clicking here.
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