Oil and gas future uncertain for some: Workers say they’re looking to move on from oil

The oil and gas industry has been down before and it’s always seemed to work its way back up.

That’s the good news.

But the bad news is that there are literally thousands of local workers who are in the field right now – many who aren’t sure whether or not they’ll be able to make ends meet while waiting for things to pick back up.

Local workers in the oil and gas industry expressed guarded optimism about the industry’s future this week, saying mostly that they do believe work will pick up in the future.

But many others added that if the downturn lasts much longer, they will not be able to hang on and will have to either move out of the area and/or seek employment in other industries in order to pay bills and keep moving forward.

“It’s been a struggle,” Houma native Kevin Williams said. “We’re told that it’s temporary and we’re told that it’s not going to be this way for much longer. But it’s hard, you know? Pay was cut several months ago and it hasn’t come back up. A lot of people have been laid off, which is making us all have to do a little bit more to keep up. I don’t know how much longer I’m going to be able to do more work for less pay without deciding that I can’t do it any longer.”

Williams is one of the lucky ones. He still has a job in the industry, though he asked us not to list his employer in this story.

Houma native Ben Verret wasn’t as lucky.

Verret said he has worked two oil and gas jobs since 2015 and has been laid off from both. In the first job, he was told there wasn’t work to support his services. Because he did quality work at that job, his boss gave him a good word for another opportunity, which also quickly faded.

Now, Verret, a welder who also said he’s trained to do almost any other type of general labor, said he has eyeballs outside of the area.

“The first opportunity that I get elsewhere, I’m gone,” he said. “I have applications out in Lake Charles where work is booming and also out toward Houston and throughout Texas. I know there is a lot of uncertainty in Texas right now after the storm, but I’ve had a couple people call me back and tell me that once the recovery efforts are complete that the work will come back really quickly. I like it here. My family is here. But I don’t have a college degree and I like to work with my hands. The jobs just aren’t there for me.”

Thibodaux resident Jeff Mott is in the same boat.

Mott said he is from New Orleans originally, but moved to the area about 10 years ago when the industry was doing well.

“The work was great at the time,” Mott said. “Everyone had work and everyone was making an awful lot of money.”

But during the downturn, Mott, like many others, was first asked to take a salary reduction and then was laid off from his job altogether.

Mott said he has a few friends who do carpentry, so he’s been able to pick up some side work with them to make ends meet in the past year and a half.

But now the 32-year-old is considering a big leap of faith which would take him out of the industry for good.

“I am thinking about doing some coursework to get into the classroom to become a teacher,” Mott said. “Maybe a shop teacher or a mechanics teacher. That’s more stable. That’s something that I’d be interested in. It’s just easier on the mind. It’s not pleasing to wake up every day, hear your boss call your name and have to wonder if this is the time he’s going to call you in and fire you. I think we’re all looking for something that’s a little more stable right now.”

But even with as much of a rut as the industry is in currently, there are some who are hanging on for the long haul.

Lockport native Ricky Lowell said he’s been able to hang on to his job so far, adding that he believes the oil and gas industry has bottomed out and will not get any worse than it’s been for the past year or so.

Lowell said he’s been offered jobs in Texas and in Shreveport-but said he’s learned one thing about the industry, which he’s keeping with him during this current bad time.

“When it’s down, it’s frustrating and there’s no doubt about that,” Lowell said. “But when it recovers, it usually comes back at a newer, bigger high than it has ever been at before. So that’s what I am thinking right now, is that if we can get past 2017 and get past 2018, something is going to shake and we will see things take off again. A few of my colleagues tell me it was this bad in the 1980s and then the 1990s were great. I was in the industry for a few of the low points in the early 2000s, and those all came back pretty strong, too. I trust history. I think it will repeat.”

That’s what Williams is banking on, too.

He said he also hears from people that there will be a comeback in the near future, though he quickly adds that there’s a certain level of impatience growing as to when that’s going to take place.

“A year ago, a lot of people said it would be over if Trump won,” Williams said. “When he won, they said it would take a few months. Now that a few months have passed, some people are saying it will last for another year or so. I believe in the industry. I believe in what we’re doing. But belief doesn’t pay the bills. We need things to get better very soon. We’re all in need of some relief.” •

Oil and Gas

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