Roustabouts Still in Great Demand in 2014

MacDonald said that oil and gas companies such as Patterson UGI are constantly looking to the school’s students to fill its worker needs, and the feedback that the company has gotten on these students has been positive.

Demand for workers is likely to continue in the Bakken, one of six key plays that account for nearly all recent growth in U.S. oil and natural gas production. Adam Sieminski, the administrator for the U.S. Energy Information Administration, said during a Jan. 4 presentation that, of the six plays, the Bakken and Eagle Ford plays account for nearly 67 percent of oil production growth. The Marcellus shale play accounts for approximately 75 percent of gas production growth in the United States.

Exploration and production activity offshore eastern Canada also has started to pick up as companies such as Statoil ASA explore for oil and gas. In August 2013, the company announced it had made its third oil discovery in the Flemish Pass offshore Newfoundland. Statoil’s three discoveries offshore eastern Canada, Bay du Nord, Mizzen and Harpoon have made the Flemish Pass look "very prospective," Statoil CEO Helge Lund said at an October 2013 media briefing.

Source: Bureau of Labor and Statistics