South Texas
RUSH A Special Publication of the Frio-Nueces Current
The Brush Country revived: Oil and gas production, industry, traffic and economic boom over the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas TOWERS OF LIGHT & STEEL... The face of South Texas has been altered by the discovery of the Eagle Ford Shale deep below the Coastal Plains, and today’s thriving industry is marked by the fast-working rigs that illuminate the night sky. (CURRENT Photo: Dean Smith)
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New life in the dry brush: Gardendale Rail lays tracks for oil industry terminals.
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A woman's touch: A day in the life of Jayna Reimer, safety supervisor at the jobsite.
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Texas' big project: Welding sections of the 450-mile line from desert to coast.
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Kickin' back: Pearsall General Store and RV park is a place to relax, eat, drink and dance.
2 Frio-Nueces Current South Texas Rush - Thursday, September 27, 2012
A brief history of the current oil and gas boom
What is the Eagle Ford Shale? T
he following is a brief background history of the Eagle Ford Shale formation. What is it? The Eagle Ford Shale is a hydrocarbon producing formation of significant importance due to its capability of producing both gas and more oil than other traditional shale plays. It contains a much higher carbonate shale percentage, as high as 70 percent in South Texas, and becomes shallower and the shale content increases as it moves to the northwest. The high percentage of carbonate makes it more brittle and “fracable.” The shale play trends across Texas from the Mexican border up into East Texas, roughly 50 miles wide and 400 miles long with an average thickness of 250 feet.
It is Cretaceous in age, resting between the Austin Chalk and the Buda Lime at a depth of approximately 4,000 to 12,000 feet. It is the source rock for the Austin Chalk and the giant East Texas Field. The name has often been misspelled as “Eagleford.” History It is named for the town of Eagle Ford, Texas, where it can be seen on the surface as clay soil. Eagle Ford is approximately six miles west of Dallas. An outcrop of the Eagle Ford Shale can be seen in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Petrohawk drilled the first of the Eagle Ford wells in 2008, discovering in the process the Hawkville (Eagle Ford) Field in La Salle County (District 1). The discovery well flowed at a rate of 7.6 million cubic feet of gas per day from a 3,200-foot lateral (first
perforation 11,141 feet total vertical depth) with 10 frac stages. Originally, there were 30-plus fields. However, due to field consolidations, the number has been reduced to 16 in Railroad Commission Districts 1 thru 6, covering 24 counties. The wells in the deeper part of the play deliver a dry gas, but moving northeastward out of District 1 and updip, the wells produce more liquids. One of the fields discovered in District 2 is actually an oil field, Eagleville (Eagle Ford). The major operators joining Petrohawk in drilling the Eagle Ford Shale Play are Anadarko, Apache, Atlas, EOG, Lewis Petro, Geo Southern, Pioneer, SM Energy and XTO, to name just a few. Information: Texas Railroad Commission
The Critical Mile New yard ignites rebirth of Gardendale Rail
An aerial view of the first two stages of construction at the Gardendale Rail.
F
By Breyana Segura
racking mud, sections of resistant-coated pipe and tank cars full of oil have put a tiny Texas community and onetime Wintergarden hunting hotspot back on the map. It's the Gardendale Railroad, and it is perhaps the largest and most visible sign of the oil and gas boom over the Eagle Ford Shale. Ironhorse Resources owns the rail in Gardendale that once ran into Crystal City, where the Del Monte vegetable packing plant was located. When the facility stopped shipping its products by rail in 1994, there was not enough business to sustain the 50-mile stretch of rail. Greg Cundiff, owner of Ironhorse Resources, chose to abandon all but one mile of rail. Today, the mile of single-track siding that lay in weeds for years no longer feels the weight of the wind-blown sand but instead bears the burden of millions of dollars in merchandise on thousands of steel wheels daily. According to Matt Cundiff, vice president of the Southern Region of Ironhorse Resources, Inc., the company chose to maintain ownership of those 1,600 feet of track because the company saw the potential value of the nearby interstate highway access ramps and the wye track off the Union Pacific Railroad between San Antonio and Laredo. "We didn't envision oil," Matt Cundiff said. In late 2010, the interchange yard began moving pipe on the short line, which receives its cargo directly from the Union Pacific mainline. As the Eagle Ford Shale play exploded, so did the Gardendale Rail (GRD). In early 2011, Ironhorse Resources took what the company describes as a "more aggressive" stance and began negotiations with landowners. The railroad company was eyeballing prime hunting real estate west of IH-35 at Gardendale for its expansion. Before the oil and gas play took hold of South Texas, land was valued at around $2,000 per acre. In the race to establish storage yards, office buildings, company headquarters and processing plants, the price of that prime South Texas brush has jumped to $15,000 an acre. To date, 250 acres of once sought-after hunting ground has been cleared to accommodate the
148,000 feet of crushed stone ballast, timber railroad ties and steel rails that carry vital materials for shale production. How does it all come together? Gardendale Rail owns the tracks. Individual companies, many of them with names recognized around the world, maintain leases at the property and operate their own freight handling facilities, loading docks and terminals. So far, at least nine companies are operating their own terminals at Gardendale. Construction of the new railroad terminal complex, which ranks as one of the largest new rail facilities in the southern states, was no small feat. The mammoth construction expense was divided between GRD and its contract companies. Freight operations at Gardendale involve the delivery of whole trains by the Union Pacific, which has collected materials from across the country and coupled some 60 cars at a time in San Antonio for the southbound trek. Once they arrive at Gardendale, the trains are towed into their respective sidings on the ladder of new tracks gleaming in the blazing South Texas heat. By August of this year GRD had already offloaded approximately 3,500 rail cars bearing a total of 1,100 miles of pipe at Gardendale, according to Charlie Hankins of TG Mercer. The cars average about 1,700 feet of pipe each, but the total varies depending on the pipe diameter, which can range from eight to 42 inches. TG Mercer only supplies transmission pipe for pipeline construction projects. The pipe comes in by rail from pipe mills located from around the country. Many of the "mixed train" cargo loads that are delivered by the Union Pacific at Gardendale are distributed among the terminals, while the "unit train" deliveries include entire strings of freight or tank cars loaded with the same cargo. At the GRD terminals, the respective cargoes are offloaded onto 18-wheel freight trucks, tankers and flatbeds for delivery to the rig and worksites over the Eagle Ford Shale. In order to keep up with the constant demand for supplies and to keep operations efficient, the Gardendale yard features double-over tracks on
which in- and outbound trains are maneuvered continually. “The design for the phased interchange yard allows for growth to support multiple inbound unit trains, multiple outbound trains and simultaneously handle manifest trains.” Cundiff said. According to Cundiff, the yard's open runaround track and multiple 3,300-foot long sidings allow locomotive engineers to uncouple and pull out of the yard once their inbound trains have been delivered. GRD owns four locomotives to move the cargo to each customer's freight terminal. Customers receive materials that range from hydraulic fracturing sand to barite and bentonite, hydrochloric acid, line pipe, crude and natural gas liquids. The cargo is shipped in by rail car and trucked out. Some companies load their material by auger into trucks while others use silos to store and unload the sand. Companies with no on-site storage facility use an open weigh station. At other terminals, the silos are situated directly above the weigh stations, enabling operators to measure the truckloads as they are filled. The GRD's current infrastructure handles an estimated 25,000 freight carloads pr year. Phase 3 of the project will cover 220 additional acres and cross Stephenson Road, which runs directly west of IH-35 at Gardendale. According to Cundiff, the project could expand even further. The expansion will cost an estimated $6 million and may support five additional customers. While the GRD itself has 20 employees, there may be as many as 120 at the multi-faceted facility at any given time. The complex is open 24 hours a day. When the boom is over and the pipeline is complete what will happen to the GRD? Cundiff believes there are other markets that will rely on rail as a mode of transportation such as lumber, road construction material and maintenance cargo for the shale. "We are trying to support what's happening today," Cundiff said. "When the boom subsides, we will analyze at that point."
Thursday, September 27, 2012 - Frio-Nueces Current South Texas Rush
3
Living accomodations vary for shale workforce
Where I hang my hat By Breyana Segura
I
n a rush to find a job in the downward spiral of the economy, men and women from all over the United States have flocked to South Texas with hopes of securing their financial situations. The sudden influx of people seeking employment in the Eagle Ford Shale has left housing demands on the rise. South Texas communities were not ready for this. Oil company vehicles, welding trucks and tankers quickly filled hotel parking lots along the IH-35 corridor. Local landowners scurried to clear land and establish RV parks while others offered their corner lots as places to park mobile housing.
RV Parks:
In response to the sudden demand of housing, local entrepreneurs found gold mines in their back yards. By clearing the overgrown weeds, leveling the land and throwing down some caliche, they created RV parks. These areas allow for trailer homes, personal RV’s and have few, if any, amenities.
South Texas Housing Jay Welch, operations manger for South Texas Housing in Dilley, has provided a mobile home park set-up; the threebedroom, two-bath trailers are suited to accommodate three to four workers. Workers will find food and other amenities in the community. After the initial discovery and high-volume oil drilling activity ceases, Welch plans to leave the housing for roustabout crews. This applies to crews who provide maintenance to jobsite facilities an equipment such as the pads, fencing and pipe after the drilling crews have moved out. “We are doing permanent housing because once the oil crews move out, these production sites need maintaining,”
Man Camps:
This seemed like an adequate solution until community city councils implemented and enforced ordinances with strict restrictions on RV parks. In late 2010, when the Eagle Ford Shale took off, housing availability for workers was limited to hotel rooms whose prices jumped a hundred dollars a night. Homeowners turned spare bedrooms into living space charging upwards of $700 a month. Empty lots once littered with trash, overgrown with weeds and left abandoned for long periods of time have turned into RV parks. However, as the discovery of oil and natural gas has progressed, so has the availability as well as the variety of housing in the northern part of the shale.
Welch said. Welch added that he believes the trailers can be rented out to the general public if crews choose not to maintain residence in his park. Pearsall RV Park Situated on eight acres at the north end of town is the Pearsall RV park owned by Tom Lingan and Brian Shryock. The park offers many amenities from an onsite laundromat to a restaurant. Tenants also enjoy free WiFi, DirecTV, a swimming pool and live music a few nights a week. “You see that RV right there?” Lingan says, pointing to a well-established temporary home, complete with a grassy yard and plants. “He has been here since the beginning.” The park
opened in October 2011. Several of the park’s renters have made their homes away from home part of a makeshift community. During the day, when their husbands are out in the field, the wives are bonding; while their children are riding bikes and swimming, the ladies are cooking hotdogs and chatting over the laundry line. As a civil engineer, Lingan is looking into the future of his business by building infrastructure that will last for years to come. “When this boom is over this park is going to be competitive,” Lingan says. “The infrastructure is going to support a mobile home park as well as RV spots for people passing through.”
Several companies offer their employees compensation packages that include housing accommodations. These newly-built structures resemble layouts of college dorms, come furnished and provide comfortable, spacious living quarters. Although the living arrangements are the most expensive of the three, they offer corporate leasing options for companies. Some companies have chosen this route for convenience; the crews are situated in one place and develop camaraderie.
Eagle Ford Estates Adam Keller, president of Keller Enterprises Inc., has constructed man camps in Pearsall, Dilley and Cotulla offering what he describes as upscale lodging. The Eagle Ford Estates, featuring two-story structures with cathedral-style ceilings have been built in Dilley. The estates, along Hwy 85, include full laundry and maid services, cable television, WiFi access and a full food service. Keller believes that services for newcomers will be limited. “There is really no place to eat in Dilley,” Keller says. “Therefore, we will offer a full food service.” Keller says crews living in the estates will be provided a hot breakfast, a box lunch and a hot dinner. The estates also plan to have theme nights for dinners such as a fish night, barbecue night and Mexican cuisine night.
In order to accommodate supervisors, pushers and drillers, Keller has built separate units with suitable layouts. Office space will be provided as well as individual WiFi access. “There is not a Starbucks around here for them to do their paperwork,” Keller says. “This way, they don’t have to sit in their trucks until 2 a.m. It provides space.” Providing individual WiFi to the units promotes efficiency and prevents “lagging,” Keller says, adding that the private living quarters will provide “a quiet place for supervisors to do their paperwork.” Sendero Ranch Located in a curve on Business Loop IH-35 on the northern approach to Pearsall lies the Sendero Ranch, currently occupied by workers from Mission Well Services. As workers come in from the jobsite, they enter a fully
gated community with a main road that breaks off into private driveways with covered porches. Each of the hundred ranch-style dwellings is fully furnished and includes linens and bath towels, wine bottle openers and flatscreen televisions. Although this particular site does not offer food service, it has a centrally located pavilion that will serve as a “community center.” The pavilion offers a game room, large television screens, laundry and a place to relax and barbecue. According to Loren Gulley, vice president of development for Koontz-McCombs, contractor for Sendero Ranch, buildings on the ranch are removable. “Eagle Ford has provided many opportunities for a variety of people who haven’t had the opportunity in a long time,” Gulley said.
Rig Site Accomodations: Deep within the pasture, at jobsites hidden by miles of brush, are crews of men drilling for hours upon hours to find that South Texas gold: oil. These grueling days and nights and the fact they are miles from civilization have companies searching for options to accommodate employees. One way is to bring lodging and food to them. Crews this far out work a “seven on, seven off” schedule, some even “fourteen on, seven off,” and the solution to bring housing to them has proven not only beneficial but popular for safety reasons as well. Housed in a custom-made building, crews of up to seven men
can sleep comfortably. The units are air conditioned, have two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living area and a kitchen. Many companies have chosen to provide meals to their employees through local catering companies. Caterers will drive up to two hours down makeshift roads to provide food to the oilmen. Another option for these crews is to take a “field trip” into town to visit the grocery store. To some, however, the grocery store may be the local truck stop. Currently, Chesapeake Energy is building a housing facility at the Pearsall field office.
Oil and gas exploration, drilling, extraction, transfer and shipping over the Eagle Ford Shale may reach its zenith in the immediate future, after two years or more of rapid growth and new development. Today’s picture of a reinvigorated South Texas economy and booming population would be incomplete without a clear view of the housing shortage and its short- and long-term remedies. Across the region, newcomers and veteran derrick hands are settling in for the long
“This facility will help to alleviate the hotel and housing shortage in South Texas and ensure living conditions for workers to meet Chesapeake’s standards of quality,” Communications Manager Haley Curry said. When completed, the Pearsall facility will accommodate almost 300 workers and include meals, housekeeping and laundry services. Depending on their shift, workers will be able to take their meals to go. Included in the facility will be a recreation room providing a comfortable environment for the crew men after a hard day’s work. Chesapeake also provides onsite housing facilities for workers staying overnight at a site.
haul, some of them in small temporary homes they share with their buddies, others in cabins with room for the family. Wherever they may sleep tonight, the oilfield workers of the Eagle Ford Shale surely know that the homes they occupy today along the streets that have only recently been carved out of the Brush Country represent part of a permanently changed image in the picture of South Texas.
Oil & Gas
FRIO-NUECES CURRENT 418 Frio-Nueces Current South Texas Rush - Thursday, September 27, 2012
THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012
Oil company offers media inside look at rig work
On the job at Chesapeake
By Rocky Alcala fficials at Chesapeake Energy offered an inside look at day-to-day operations during a media tour of one of its rigs last Thursday, June 14. Workers on hand described the many different aspects of drilling for oil and gas including some of the tools and technology used in the process. From drill bits to pipes and recycled mud, rigs use a
O
Rig Superintendent DA Rice prefers using poly-crystal and diamond drill bits, which he describes as the equivalent of a cheese-grater.
variety of tools and technology to more efficiently continue the search for oil and gas. "We find a better way of doing things on a daily basis," Rig Supervisor DA Rice said. "Safety is Job 1 and this is not only for the employees, but it's also for the environment protection," Chesapeake Senior Director of Government Affairs Adam Haynes said. Officials also noted how rig sites are self-contained; generating their own electricity, housing workers, providing cable TV and wireless internet.
Rice says the pipes that go into the ground during the drilling process are built up to 90 feet in 30-ft increments.
Once wells are drilled they run 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Recycled mud is crucial to the fracking process as it is used to drill the well. As drilling proceeds, used fluid is pumped into a reserve pit for storage and disposal.
Pipe is the backbone of the drilling industry as throusands thousands of feet of 5-inch piping is used at Chesapeake’s rig locations.
CURRENT Photos: Rocky Alcala
Using state-of-the-art equipment, the drilling process has become quite complex yet more efficient as companies are able to drill several wells from the same platform.
The entire well drilling process, from start to finish, can take between 20 and 30 days. With advances in fracking technology companies are able to save money and the environment by drilling several wells from single platform, covering more acreage per lease.
Thursday, September 27, 2012 - Frio-Nueces Current South Texas Rush
“
5
If you don’t have thick skin, this industry is not for you, ”
Jayna Reimer, HSE Field Representative Mission Well Services
With Reimer reason By Breyana Segura
I
n a male-dominated workforce, Jayna Reimer has made her mark with a feisty personality and contagious laugh as a health and safety field representative. Reimer likes to think she leaves positive footprints in the oil and gas industry. The Wyoming native ventured to Texas to follow her passion of what she describes as a “thankless job." It's all about safety “This is my passion,” Reimer says. She begins her morning with a mini-conference between her boss and fellow employees. She conveys her concerns regarding different jobsites and takes orders for her next assignment. The sites are colored-coded on a chart, along with driving directions. “How do you get to the white crew?” she asks. “You go down to Dilley and turn like you’re going to Big Wells,” an employee says. “You’ll see a big fan on the left; you can’t miss it. You turn there.” On her way down oncedesolate county roads, Reimer talks of her experience in the oil field. She says she
was once concerned about being a woman in the oil field and the idea that oil-related work required being "thickskinned." As she turns down the make-shift dirt road, the bumpy ride through thicket leads to a remote parking lot of semis and trailers. She dons her neon orange hardhat and Harley Davidson silverrimmed safety glasses. “These men are missing home, their wives, kids, a home-cooked meal," she says. "We, as women, are nurturing; me just bringing them water and bananas shows them I care. I can get more work done that way. However, this does not mean I am weak. “It’s the way you approach people,” Reimer says. “You get what you give.” She shows her love for Texas through her stories of chivalry not being dead and the memories she is making. Moreover, she misses home. Reimer is mother to three children and recently became a grandmother. “The hardest part of my job is being away from my family,” she says. “In this line of work, I don't get much
Reimer examines code compliance on fire extinguishers in front of parked trucks as per company protocol.
female contact." Reimer is on the road for three to five hours a day. This presents a woman with challenges, such as finding an appropriate restroom. Afraid of snakes, Reimer refuses to use the jobsite conveniences, most of which are portapotties. She makes a point of seeking out convenience stores and restaurant conveniences before heading out into the open country. Policy does not allow for weapons, so she carries bear spray. She waves the can and laughs. It is incongruous, but it works. “This stuff shoots off 35 feet of the strongest pepper spray,” she says. Reimer compares her job in the oil field to that of a barmaid. Describing not the work environment but the relationships one develops with others in an average day, she points to other, more challenging aspects of the job. Someone who enforces safety regulations has to deal with workers with all sorts of backgrounds, various personalities and, in many cases, crew members who suffer from a lack of sleep. “You know you have those old grumps, the arrogant young kid and the guy who just goes with the flow,” she says. “It’s like working in a bar.” A fellow employee, Hugo, accompanies her at breakfast; the uncanny relationship between the two paints a picture of equality and kinship. They talk of football, children, music and, of course, work. Reimer’s "thankless job" entails much. Her tasks range from checking fire extinguishers, writing safety programs, preparing and checking OSHA documentation, to handling emergencies and addressing awareness through presentations. Traveling to remote locations in the extreme heat, however, leaves her concerned about employees’ vulnerability to high temperatures. Heat exhaustion is common among oilfield workers. Reimer is fully suited and visits the jobsites with water, visors and cool-packs.
Jayna Reimer She is passionately concerned with the well-being of the employees. It is a passing conversation with a worker at one of the jobsites she visits that typifies her day. She begins casually enough, asking him how he feels, whether he has had enough sleep and whether he needs anything. She even asks about his family and how his loved ones are doing. It is a warm and friendly encounter. He understands that she is genuinely concerned about him. She, however, has a specific goal. Having reminded him of the people he cares about back home and having given him a sense of worth, she can press her point. "Remember to wear that hard hat," she smiles. She means it, and he knows it. He will.
Inspecting an emergency eye wash station.
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6 Frio-Nueces Current South Texas Rush - Thursday, September 27, 2012
Welds across Texas Workers connect crucial pipeline two miles at a time By Breyana Segura
S
parks are flying in a 58-miles stretch of open country between Uvalde and Pearsall, where a vital link in a massive pipeline is being connected and will eventually carry gas directly across Texas to refineries on the coast. The new pipeline is being laid at a rate of two miles per day and will ultimately reach 450 miles, traveling from Odessa in West Texas to Bay City on the coast. Welders are working in teams of as many as 30 or more at locations far from the nearest town and, in many cases, far from paved highways, fresh water and lodging. Shaded by canvas awnings, the welding crews will work their way around each of the 20-inch pipe joints that are being temporarily held above ground. After the connections are made, each 40-foot segment of pipe is examined by x-ray to determine that a fully welded seal is secure, and the pipe is then lowered into a trench. When it is complete, the cross-Texas pipeline will be buried under as much as eight feet of earth.
Welding something as large and permanent as a buried pipeline that will eventually carry valuable resources for hundreds of miles is no easy task. A typical welding team consists of many workers, but there are four jobs that represent the core of the operation. The first is the bead welder, who will make what is known as the root pass, affixing the first weld to the pipe, the bead itself. Next comes the hot pass, followed in quick succession by the hot fill, the optional filler pass and, to complete the job, the cap. Four hundred and fifty miles of Texas desert, Hill Country, Brush Country and Coastal Plains have to be crossed by the line that will carry gas from Odessa to Bay City. For the time being, the pipeline will be used exclusively for the West Texas gas, but new gas wells are now being drilled into the Texas landscape, and the option to attach these new wells to the main line remains open.
Photos courtesy of Manuel Tijerina
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Thursday, September 27, 2012 - Frio-Nueces Current South Texas Rush
7
Pearsall RV Park and General Store...
BEDS, BOOTS AND BARBECUE W
here the South Texas brush was once cleared for watermelon crops, a new and increasingly popular business has found its footing on the harsh, dusty soil. Taking a cue from the stores and dance venues that used to lie at the edge of town in decades past, a trio of newcomers to Frio County was inspired to weld the need for immediate and temporary housing over the Eagle Ford Shale with the working man's hunger for a full plate of homestyle food and a night of great Country songs under the starry sky. The Pearsall General Store, just off Power Plant Road on the northwest side of town, with its down-home country air, also serves as frontage to a burgeoning enterprise in South Texas today: the recreational vehicle park. Tom Lingan and business partner Brian Shryock opened the Pearsall RV Park and General Store in October 2011 with just one row of customers parking their trailers. Today, the park includes 85 RV spots and is currently working on infrastructure to support 20 mobile homes. Furthermore, Lingan now rents out trailers for fifty bucks a night, regardless of how many workers will stay. "I'm retired," Lingan grins. "It's not about the Benjamins. Its about doing what's right." The retired army colonel was on his way home to Tampa, Florida, two years ago and passed through South Texas when he stopped to see the property. He hasn't left yet. Lingan is a civil engineer and saw potential in the available eight acres right away. “My partner said he wanted to show me something,” Lingan said. “I saw the potential and jumped on it. "We took a huge risk with this venture," Lingan adds. "It wasn't easy, starting from scratch here." The Pearsall venue offers several amenities, including WiFi, cable television, a swimming pool, an on-site laundromat, showers and live music. Recently, the park began offering haircuts and massage therapy, for which restaurant owner John Pettit says there is a demand among the hardworking oilmen and their families. Pettit and business partners Blake Olsen and Jason Strange have created what they describe as a kick-your-boots-off environment for workers and their families. "The restaurant offers a broad menu, including popular favorites such as French fries topped with cheese, mouth-watering brisket, grilled chicken salads and barbecue
By Breyana Segura
ribs that are so tender they fall off the bone," Pettit says. What was once a room full of dull round tables has been transformed under the business trio's touch into a true Texas welcome. Hand-painted slogans, flags, mascots, collee insignia and autographed shirts line the walls and cover the tabletops, all combining to give the place a colorful, spirited atmosphere. Pettit began trading over the Eagle Ford Shale in Carrizo Springs when the boom began, working on leases and venturing into the housing business. His friendship with Olson, however, soon opened new doors for him, one of them being Pearsall's new nightlife attraction. “Blake wanted to start a catering business in the Austin area,” Pettit said. “I asked him, 'Why don't you come check Pearsall out first?'” Currently, the trio operates the restaurant and a thriving catering business. Between two crews, they service fracking sites with two hot meals a day. The full-time certified chef on staff as well as other employees stay up till the early morning hours preparing meals, often putting together enough food to serve sixty workers in a single sitting. “We travel as far as Gonzales and down to Cotulla, and we have business here,” Pettit said. Not to be daunted by the range of enterprise ventures open to an entrepreneur looking to become a part of the oil and gas boom in South Texas, Pettit manages to share his love of food and good times with talent promotion. He is the executive producer for up-and-coming Texas Country artists such as the Pear Ratz. “I grew up in a family of music,” Pettit said. “My son loves to play the guitar, and is pretty good at it, so I wanted to help him out.” He has brought his appreciation of the art to the general store by giving new artists a chance to take the stage, which is nicknamed “La Cantina.” Patrons at the general store and park tenants are free to pull up a lawn chair, drink a beer and enjoy the tunes at no extra charge. The facility also offers a washer pitching court and a place to throw darts. Pettit and his business partners plan to follow the shale play action and open six to eight more venues. They're looking at Carrizo Springs, Pleasanton, Kennedy and Cuero. "What am I going to do when this oil boom is over?" Pettit laughs. "I'm gonna take a nap."
Cotulla Auto Parts/NAPA 103 N. Front Street • Cotulla, Texas • 830-879-2378
John Pettit and Blake Olson
8 Frio-Nueces Current South Texas Rush - Thursday, September 27, 2012
Power to the people By Breyana Segura
R
ural communities are slowly facing problems metropolitan cities have faced for years: traffic and rolling brown-outs. Since 2011, the demand for electricity has increased by ten percent and, as the population steadily increases, so has the demand for power. During the summer months, extreme temperatures increase the demand for electricity. Children are home from school, electronics are being used and the strain put on cooling devices to survive the daytime heating are all contributing factors to the increase. However, modern advancements in technology have made household devices more efficient, decreasing the average intake and peak load requirements for residential homes. People are quick to place blame on the oil field. This, however, is not the case. The rigs many men are earning their livelihoods on are run by massive generators that consume 1,200 to 1,500
gallons of diesel a day in order to operate. Rigs are normally in a desolate location for an average of three weeks, according to electrician Shawn Beavers. “Generators are more mobile and they do not use energy that should be used for towns,” Beavers says. Electric companies are currently installing cross arms on power lines to supply fiber optics for communication to
to growing communities, Medina Electric Cooperative has gone into contract with eight companies to double the supply of electricity. According to Santos Ramirez, district manager at Medina, the company is installing fiberglass crossarms to power lines. “The crossarms will be used to support capacity,” Ramirez says. “They will double the capacity.” To date, the lines run
talks of a new power plant are always on the table to support the demands. “We have enough fuel; it’s the restrictions from the EPA (US Environmental Protection Agency) on power plants,” Ramirez says. The company is upgrading and installing new poles at a rate of ten miles per month. “This growth is driven by the oil field,” Ramirez says. “We will continue at this pace.” In 2011, the company had contracts with three outside individual contractors; the demand has them currently sitting at eight contracts and the pressure is on to hire new employees. “We only Santos Ramirez, District Manager of Medina Electric Cooperation hired a few employees; it’s the rigs. 7,200 volts of electricity. A a lot easier to hire a contractor “This is more cost residential home uses an for a short-term period than efficient,” Beavers says. “We average of 150 kilowatts a day. to have to let someone go don’t have to run wires.” Currently, the projects because you are overstaffed,” The command stations do not support broadband Ramirez says. on job sites are primarily run Internet. However, when the Across South Texas by computer systems. The drilling is over and the natural today, new power lines are operator is able to monitor gas is not strong enough to being strung on additional the pressure, speed and depth push the oil on its own, the crossarms at power poles during a hydraulic fracturing lines will support the 60-watt alongside interstate and job. horsepower motors on the rural highways as well as In response to the increase pumpjacks. along county roads between in demand for electricity According to Ramirez, outlying towns, many of them
“This growth is driven by the oil field,”
to communities few people expected would have such high demand so soon. The lights are coming on at new subdivisions and at RV camps, at new businesses and service facilities, and the gas pumps and soda fountains at every station between San Antonio and Laredo are running nineteen to the dozen. Much of the power to fire up the new economy is being provided via fresh
cables that have only recently been connected. Meanwhile, the generators at the rigs are making power of their own. Together, the oilfield and the new growth in towns from one end of the Eagle Ford Shale to the other have combined to change the face of South Texas forever. It's taken a lot of power to do it, and it will certainly take more before the day is done.
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Thursday, September 27, 2012 - Frio-Nueces Current South Texas Rush
9
Oil industry boom means new medical demands...
Bring on the whirlybirds By Shannon Triplitt
The oil boom in the Eagle Ford Shale brings economic development, changes to infrastructure, increase in traffic, and concerns about access to health care. The impact of increased population and influx of high-risk jobs can affect the communities’ access to health care. The population in the Eagle Ford Shale has increased more that 25 percent over the last three years. According to the University of Texas at San Antonio Workforce Analysis in the Eagle Ford Shale Region of May 2011 report, it is projected that 68,000 full-time jobs will be created in the area by 2020. The current population increase brings concerns and challenges specifically related to health care. A primary concern centers around local EMS and hospitals not having enough staff to expand services to meet the increased demand. The limits on staff create longer response times for emergency services and longer wait times at doctors’ offices. This concern does not come without challenges. According to Frio Regional Hospital Administrator Michael Thompson, bringing new physicians to a rural area can prove to be a challenge. “The recruiting process for new doctors can take two years,” Thompson says. “Attracting the right fit for a rural area is difficult.” The length of the recruiting process paired with cuts to Medicaid funding by the state make quickly improving services more difficult. Another challenge is the lack of clinic space for incoming physicians. “We must have qualified people in place before we build more facilities,” Thompson says. “Without personnel, a new building does not improve health care.” The lack of properly trained medical professionals is not limited to physicians. Lab techs, radiology techs, nurses, EMTs, and other highly skilled positions must be filled also. There is a difficulty in recruiting for
necessary. Haley Curry, “Safety is job number one these positions due to a lack of affordable In response to staffing and funding for Chesapeake Energy, from beginning housing. issues, Frio Regional Hospital is working to end. “Chesapeake believes workplace The increased number of high-risk on these issues; two new physicians have safety, employee welfare, protection of our positions coming into the area are a cause been recruited to work in a Pearsall clinic. natural resources, care of environment for concern. According to the Bureau of According to Thompson, Frio Regional and compliance with governmental Labor and Statistics, truck drivers and oil Hospital has legislation make a fundamental part of our field workers hired more business philosophy and daily operations,” are at a lab techs and Curry says. “We employ environmental, greater risk for radiology health and safety representatives to injury on the techs to train employees, and work to ensure all job. meet the employees are complying with federal, Potentially, demand. The state and local regulations and corporate with more increased policies and programs.” calls to aid activity in the With safety as the number one priority the on-the-job area should of Chesapeake and its subsidiaries, on-theMichael Thompson injuries, first generate job incidents are kept to a minimum. Frio Regional Hospital Administrator responders more hospital In the end, the many entities involved will be pulled tax money to in providing health care to the residents of to those help pay for these additional services, he the shale are working diligently to ensure incidents which will draw them away says. 24/7 access to the best health care services. from the day-to-day needs of the existing The high-risk positions that are cause There are many challenges and concerns communities. for concern are being addressed by the about health care in the shale. With all of these challenges and oil field companies themselves. According to Thompson, “We are up to concerns, many in health care and the According to Chesapeake representative the challenge.” business community have been forwardthinking in developing long term plans. Sacred Heart Medical Service entered in to a contract with Frio County as the ambulance service. “The agreement with Sacred Heart Medical Service was the first step by the local government in addressing the issue as EMS service is now provided by multiple ambulances 24/7 at the paramedic level,” according to Bo Reger, vice president of Sacred Heart. “This increases services to residents of Frio County who used to have limited services from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.” Methodist Air Care, housed at the Frio County Airport, provides additional emergency services. “The air med service provides a higher level of pre-hospital care than before,” program manager Lee Fernandez says. “Patients who need the service wait only 15 – 20 minutes for a helicopter now as opposed to nearly an hour wait.” The increases in wrecks and other critical injuries make this new level of care Methodist Air Care and Sacred Heart Medical Service personnel.
“The recruiting process for new doctors can take two years... Attracting the right fit for a rural area is difficult,”
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10 Frio-Nueces Current South Texas Rush - Thursday, September 27, 2012
The Hidden Boom Cleaning and cutting, small business benefiting... By Breyana Segura
Oilfield workers’ hours normally do not follow a typical eight-to-five schedule, making mundane chores such as laundry complicated. There can be no doubt that a coin-operated laundry is one of the businesses to reap the benefits of the Eagle Ford Shale oil boom that has hit Frio and La Salle counties. Cleaners/Laundromats Many workers have turned their laundry over to local cleaners to take care of their washing, drying and starching. “I’ve had to turn people away,” Susan Hinnant of Shelton’s cleaners says. She adds that the first to come as part of the new crowd of customers were land men who have since moved out of the area due to land having been leased. Now the cleaners are serving the welders and company employees. “I have trained them,” Hinnant says “to not wait till the last minute, because I will not put them in front of my regular customers.” Currently, Pearsall has two laundromats for those who want to save some money or who are turned away from the cleaners, to do their own
laundry. Laundromats, which once stood vacant in the mid-morning hours, are now busy around the clock. A new privately owned laundromat is expected to open soon in downtown Pearsall. House Cleaning services A local, elderly woman who asked to not be identified has seen a significant increase in her house cleaning service since last year. “Once these RV parks starting filling up, I found myself working six days a week.” she says. Prior to the arrival of multiple RV parks, work was limited. “I found myself struggling to provide for my grandchildren.” In late September last year, Mario Moreno and his company, Moreno Janitorial Service, moved into the area and have since expanded rapidly. According to Moreno, the company cleans offices as well as the employees’ living quarters. “I currently have eight employees, but we are growing,” Moreno says. Hair Salons Local citizens were accustomed to walking in on Saturday morning or late Friday evenings for haircuts. They may now have to wait in line behind several oilfield workers. According to a local hair salon owner, since the oil boom her business has not seen a “slow period.” “I had four or five people waiting, plus someone in the chair,” Guadalupe Gutierrez says. “Then a rancher walked in and it was nice to see a familiar face.” He expresses his gratitude for the oil boom and all the business it has brought in. “Everything has gone up; I’m glad I had my shop already.” Gutierrez says. He and his wife are the owners of J&L Barber and Beauty Shop. Other companies that have seen visible growth are area car washes, office supply companies and embroidery places. It is easy for individuals to overlook the growth of these businesses due to the overshadowing from new hotels, crowded restaurants and the long wait at gas station pumps. Pearsall barber Guadalupe Gutierrez tends to one of his many new clients.
Aside from the obvious boom from oilfield-related jobs, local communities have also seen an influx of activity in small businesses.
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Thursday, September 27, 2012 - Frio-Nueces Current South Texas Rush
Construction By Big Cat Environmental & Construction LLC President Heather Keller (830) 709-2200
11
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12 Frio-Nueces Current South Texas Rush - Thursday, September 27, 2012
Welcome Everyone in the Oil & Gas Industry!
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Drive-Thru 830-879-4640 Liquor Store 830-879-2063
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