Radville 鈥� 聽Phil鈥檚 Oilfield Contracting Inc. of Radville has endured the downturn thus far, and done so without diversifying outside of the oilfield, but rather within the oilfield.
鈥淚t鈥檚 going alright. It鈥檚 definitely different,鈥� said Phil Thompson, owner.
鈥淲e鈥檝e kind of diversified, again. We got into vac trucks. We got them at auction, and just got that going this last year-and-a-half.鈥�
Phil鈥檚 now has two vac trucks, one tri-axle and one tandem. They are both combo units, which have wash and vac capabilities. They鈥檙e not hydrovacs, but Phil鈥檚 does use them a bit for exposing lines.
The company has stuck with oilfield work, as opposed to diversifying into other fields.
They have eight people on staff. 鈥淲e only got up to 12 guys,鈥� Thompson said. 鈥淲e could have went right at it and done 15 to 20 guys, but didn鈥檛. I鈥檓 glad we didn鈥檛.鈥�
Staying smaller has made it a little easier to weather the downturn in oil prices which has been over three years. Phil鈥檚 is one of the few oilfield services companies to report they did not reduce wages, although there were reductions in hours.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 think it was fair to them. It was not their fault,鈥� Thompson said about wage cuts that hit most oilfield services companies, but not his. 鈥淲e鈥檙e currently working less. There鈥檚 no doubt about it. I think the price of oil is going to stay like this for years.鈥�
The current price of oil, floating under US$50 per barrel WTI for several months now, has an impact on activity. 鈥淯S$50 is big. It is. We need US$50 as the bottom Low US$40s is really not good,鈥� Thompson noted.
That being said, he added most oil companies have a plan and are sticking to it. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of belt tightening,鈥� he said, pointing out that contractors have been hit by the cuts.
Phil鈥檚 is on the production side of the business, which hasn鈥檛 been hit as hard as the exploration side, he noted. 鈥淭he spraying, mowing and grading they have to do every year,鈥� he said.
Phil鈥檚 operates batteries on a contract basis. Their work also includes lease maintenance like spraying and grass cutting. They have two graders going for lease roads. 鈥淲e did quite a bit of steaming and snowblowing.
鈥淟ast winter wasn鈥檛 too bad. We were busy, but the rates 鈥� we were right back to the 1990s for rates 鈥� at least 15 years.鈥�
Asked when he expected oilfield services companies can start charging more for their services, he replied, 鈥淚 think oil would have to stay in the US$50s for quite a while.鈥�
The Radville area has been hit hard by drought. Thompson said during a recent project nearby they dug four feet deep and didn鈥檛 find any moisture at all in the ground. That鈥檚 resulted in less mowing as well as less grading, as dry roads don鈥檛 rut up like wet ones.
A few years ago they added a water truck, and they鈥檙e keeping it full in case the local fire department needs them. 鈥淲e鈥檝e been out to three fires this year,鈥� Thompson said.
The downturn has mean increased competition on lease spraying. 鈥淪praying鈥檚 been crazy. Everyone wants to spray weeds. They think it鈥檚 easy to get into.鈥�
As a result, he said they lost some of their spraying work over the last three years. But they鈥檙e also into a lot of other things.
Phil鈥檚 has two backhoes and two tracked skidsteer loaders. 鈥淲e do quite a bit of cleanups,鈥� Thompson said. That, in turn, spurred the vac truck purchases.
They also have a 12-ton Deer excavator.
Phil鈥檚 installs a lot of well fence as well.
Their work area run from east of Radville, between Radville and Colgate, down to the Oungre area south of Highway 18, east to Torquay and west to Gladmar. It鈥檚 about a 45 minute drive to Oungre, which is home the Flat Lake play, one of the more active regions in Saskatchewan.
Thompson built a new shop in the fall of 2016 for cold storage and is still bringing in fill for the inside floor.
For the remainder of 2017 Thompson expects it will be pretty slow, especially if there鈥檚 no rain by November.
In early August Premier Brad Wall announced he was retiring from politics. Thompson is going to miss him.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think Phil鈥檚 Oilfield would be where it is without Brad Wall, with the expansions we鈥檝e done in the last six to eight years.鈥�
He doesn鈥檛 think oil companies would have invested as much in Saskatchewan as they have over the last ten years under a different administration.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it would have happened, to the degree it die. That鈥檚 what kept us going is Crescent Point kept going,鈥� Thompson said.聽
