These two stories on the same day in the same paper speaks volumes about my feeling that companies "laying down rigs" to cut costs is a red herring of a story in the oil patch.
The two stories: the first one I just posted moments ago, about MRO stating they are laying down rigs to save costs. The second one, the one linked above: a shortage of truck drivers in the Bakken.
Trucking companies are facing a labor shortage exacerbated by the needs of the oil field, but its growing population has also made North Dakota a more attractive state for truckers.
“The driver shortage is probably one of our biggest concerns,” said Tom Balzer, executive vice president of the North Dakota Motor Carriers Association.
Randy Roberts, terminal manager for Midwest Motor Express in Bismarck, said companies are stealing drivers from one another and many drivers are more likely to travel an hour to the oil field to make $25 an hour.If you still doubt that laying down rigs to cut costs is not a red herring of a story, go back and consider the QEP - Helis deal in which QEP paid somewhere between $20,000 and $40,000/acre depending on how one pencils out the numbers. And the shortage of truck drivers in the oil patch.
