The best drilling company to work for?

Since there is alot of guys on here with time invested in the patch. Just out of curiosity what is the best company that you have worked for? Ive hear the same stories for rig to rig and company to company.
Is it always going to be about who you know and cut throat business. Good hands getting tossed to the side so a lazy friend can be on that takes his job for granted..
When i came to work i put 100% in every day. I wasnt there to make friends and gossip or kiss the bosses ass, but grated i did make a few very good friends that i still keep in touch with. I thought for sure my work ethics, and inteligents would trump the buddy system, but it did not.. Maybe i was just working around arrogent, small minded people at the time.
Now ive had many guys say " hey, dont take the patch personal" thats the way it is... I dont under stand how i couldnt take it personal because its my family future your playing with, and its some thing i love and planned to retire from one day..
Maybe this is a company thing or maybe not, but if you would like to this and discuss it i would love to hear what you have to say...

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Permalink Reply by Coty Koricanek on April 13, 2010 at 2:06pm: H&P by far. Have worked for them in south texas and wyoming...on rigs 210, 254, and 180. The employees are knowledgable and for the most part...go by the books. The safety is wrote in blood and shortcuts will end with even more blood shed. There iron...in my opinion...is far better than most. Now as for the best company...is there really a BEST? Its all who you know and who you blow. I am sure there are some of us who have been screwed by almost and company around...and others who would say they never got treated wrong. What we do is something 99% of the world cant do. and 50% of us that do work in the oilfield shouldnt be here. Some go to work hating there job. Come on man...aalll you do is make it rough for the rest of us! With my OPINIONS out there...just want to say to the patch...keep up the hard work and safety. There are alot of ppl out there that love to see us come home every week, and keep er turnin to the right!!!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by George Deglman on June 15, 2010 at 2:58am: Look i used to work Nabors RIG M15 in Rifle CO is anyone out know about this rig since i have worked on it back in 08 and i 'am trying to get back in to the swing of thing so i can get back to roughnecking; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Chris Koloski on June 15, 2010 at 6:55am: Try this link
http://stats.smith.com/crystalgen/Report_Output/WeeklyRigDetail/Wee...

It looks like M15 is back working/ I got laid off M37 out of Rifle when it stacked about the same time.
At rig down (stack out) there were many new hands showing up from other Nabors rigs that were most likely promised jobs for awhile.

I saw this happen several times back in the early eighties and got out of roughnecking for about 25 years, Until, with the bad economy I hired back on with Nabors, that was fun going back to school on their training rig in Wyoming.

I have heard they had many pay cuts again like back in the eighties. $12.50 hr derricks/ perdiem/OT (7 and 7) , $26+hr floors Nabors/OT (14 and 14)

I live in Florida so its not so easy for me to go out and see if anyone is hiring, I did call Nabors HR in Wyoming and got a recording "were not hiring at this time".

Good luck and hope you can hire back on; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by George Deglman on June 15, 2010 at 9:40am: I have a buddy of my working up in North Dakota and me and him where both laid off about the same time from M15 and i am going to talk to him on his days off. to see if they are hiring up there. about 4 months ago he said they are looking for perior nabors employees to work up in north Dakota and no new hands at all. like i said i will talk to him when he gets on his days off. oh yeah he worked in wyoming about 6 months ago and they are finishing there contracts out so all the work that i know is in North Dakota and there is no paycuts. and i don't get out much to see if there is any drilling jobs because i live up in North Idaho. my buddy is my life line to the Oil feild; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jeff Steinke on June 15, 2010 at 11:38am: All kinds of work to be had in ND. We are picking up more new rigs weekly. I think the last count i heard was 132 rigs running in ND and most all companies are hiring people with experience on the spot.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by George Deglman on June 16, 2010 at 2:43am: do they plan on stacking any of the rigs any time soon. because last time they just laid me off and that sucked becasue i could not find work for allmost a year.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Chris Koloski on June 16, 2010 at 7:20am: I think the hands are the last ones to find out, but if at the rig down you are wrapping up everything extra tight, coating everything in extra grease and oil and lots of time painting, then guess what, theres a good chance you will be stacking .

They are not going to tell everyone they are about to loose their jobs because some people would react bad to that information.

What area in ND (nearby cities)? Most of the guys that I was with on the Nabors training rig were from ND and had no experience at all.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jeff Steinke on June 16, 2010 at 7:58am: Most of the companies that are hiring right now are located in the williston area with a select few in the dickinson area. Bronco from what i heard just gave a nice helthy raise but not exactly sure on the numbers. Their office is located in killdeer ND. Pattersons office is located in Dickinson ND. Pretty much all of the rest are located in williston ND. I have not heard of any stacking right now. As im sure you all know it will depend oil price and the oil spill in the gulf.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Micheal Briscoe 1 day ago: H&P gets my vote as well. Probably not the same everywhere, but in my experience there is NO "brother-in-law"ing going on. Haven't seen any outside hires for other than floors in a while. All rigs I've been on promote from within.

Haven't missed any work. Pay is close to the top. Benefits are great. Iron is TOP NOTCH. Majority of rigs are Flex3's, oldest of which are 8 years old.; ▶ Reply to This