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In this
guide we talk about the life of a roughneck on a
service rig, what your life will be like, the pay,
your job duties, and what to expect while working in
the Alberta oil fields.
Before we
talk about a roughneck’s life first let me explain
to you what a service rig is. When most people hear
the term “oil rig” they typically think of a
drilling rig operation which drills new wells and
installs casing pipe.
Service rigs are different than drilling rigs in
many aspects; for starters they do different things
to a well. While drilling rigs are used to drill a
new well service rigs perform services on wells that
have already been made. Service rigs performs such
tasks as completing wells that have just been
drilled, fixed wells that do not produce oil, and
abandoning old wells that have stopped producing.
Service rig operations are much smaller then
drilling rig operations and are usually manned by a
crew of 4-6 people. A service rig crew generally
consists of a tool push (the boss), a driller
(second in command), a derrickhand, and 1-2
roughnecks. If you are new to the oil patch (e.g.
have no experiences in the oil patch [green]) you
will start out on a crew as a roughneck.
In the chain of command the roughneck is on the
bottom rung, or in other words is the lowest man on
the totem pole, but hey, we all start out somewhere
right? The service rig crew’s roughneck(s) is
responsible for all of the menial and unskilled
tasks the other crew members don’t have time to do
(or want to do).
A roughneck on a service rig is responsible for
everything from making the coffee in the morning to
greasing the axels on the rig. On a typical morning
the roughneck will wake up between 5 am and 6am
(depending on how far away from the jobsite you
are), prepare for work, and wait in the crew truck.
The roughneck should always be the first person in
the crew truck; this will show the tool push and
driller you are ready for a hard days work. Once the
tool push, driller, and derrickhand make their way
to the crew truck you are off to work.
Once at work the roughneck should be the first one
in the doghouse (crew quarters) and making coffee
and turning on the heat. Once you have the coffee
brewed and the heat cranked the roughneck should get
his work gear on which includes coveralls, hard hat,
steel toed boots, and work gloves. When you are
dressed you should go out to the rig and get all the
tools ready for the day. It is important that the
roughneck be the first one out of the doghouse every
morning, again this shows your boss you are a hard
worker.
Once all of the tools are ready you wait outside for
your driller to come and tell you what to do. When
you are outside you do anything and everything your
driller tells you to do, and if he is not around you
do whatever the derrickhand tells you to do. They
may ask you to do anything from making them coffee
to cleaning out the restroom, and if they don’t have
anything for you to do then you find something to
clean. A roughneck should always be doing something
and should never be doing nothing unless told to
take a break.
The job description of a roughneck may not sound
pleasant but their current pay rates are more then
that. A typical roughneck’s salary right now in
Alberta ranges from $22 to $28 per hour depending on
what company you decide to work for plus you are
able to make certain bonuses such as danger pay, out
of town allowances, overtime, and holiday pay which
can add up to quite a bit of money on top of your
regular wage.
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