Information Discussion for Gate Guards

Sent another Don

The Texan wrote:

Don/Shar wrote:
Update
Our service man was here today and he told me all the lots are full and there are several people wanting gates sitting in Rv Parks all around, talk about hard times a falling.

Check your PM box.....

I checked...no new PM since 6-28-2014. What is up.

Don/Shar wrote:
Update
Our service man was here today and he told me all the lots are full and there are several people wanting gates sitting in Rv Parks all around, talk about hard times a falling.

Check your PM box.....

Update
Our service man was here today and he told me all the lots are full and there are several people wanting gates sitting in Rv Parks all around, talk about hard times a falling.

We have been working gates in south Texas for 3 years, we sat on gates for up to 14 months. We are on a gate now and when the company left today he said they was through in south Texas moving to Louisiana. Another company in our area had 5 wells to drill, finished 1 and layed the rig down and back to the yard. The gate guard companies all have full yards of people waiting to get a gate. When our gate is closed we don't know if we will get another gate and we planned to be here till Oct 2015(may leave early)
If anyone was planning to come to gate guard this year you may want to rethink, gates are going to hard to get.

4X4Dodger wrote:
Why is it they are so critical in Texas and not in ND??? What is the pay?

The land owners require the oil companies to keep their fence structure intact, and to keep track of who comes and goes on the property, and ensure non-authorized people are not given free access to the property.

That's a pretty standard part of any drilling lease in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma.

All this drilling is occurring on privately owned land, not owned by the big oil companies or other large corporations.

Pay - Between $90 to $200 per day. Seven days a week, 24 hours a day. The average is probably closer to $130-150. Gate guards typically work in a day/ night shift with one of the couple doing nights, one doing days.

Some times it is very slow, and some times you can see several hundred trucks/ vehicles come in during a shift.

The reason for them in Texas is that 99% of the wells and other infrastructure is on private lands, mostly ranches. Ranches have cattle, hunting leases, and other things that have a tendency to wander off if the gate is left open and believe me, NO rig rat or sales critter would bother to stop and close the gate they opened, so the ranchers have the requirements for a 24/7/365 GG written into the lease contract. Also, for certain types of energy operations, the Texas RR Commission requires there be a guard on site 24/7.

The pay varies by company and location. The base is $135/day and the company furnishes full hookups at the site. The highest I have seen is $200/day for a single pad on site and that is for seasoned GGs with just a couple of companies. I have seen it as high as $700/day for an extremely busy site with approximately 10 active pads, but those type gates are few and far between. Almost all of the companies are back to paying by 1099's for Independent Contract work instead of a W-2 as an employee. The actual work can also vary widely, from 2 or 3 vehicles a day all the way to 500+ vehicles a day.

There are a couple of locations in ND that have GGs, but they are the exception. Also there are many locations in CO, NM, MS and LA that are now requiring them by contract.

Up here in North Dakota I dont think there are any Gate Guards not even at some of the larger storage facilities and train loading loops. I have never seen one at a working oil well. in fact most of the wells are not even fenced...thus not Gate to guard.

Why is it they are so critical in Texas and not in ND??? What is the pay?

At this point with 123 + pages of posts it just isnt feasible to try to read them for info. Maybe the first 100 pages should be archived? and start over?

Well, as to be expected, with the price of oil in a downward spiral, the business is slowing down. Gate Guard jobs this year will be very hard to come by. Many folks had already changed from winter Texan to full time GGs and even those are finding it hard to acquire a gate once their current gate closes. Folks, don't plan on getting a gate within a week or two like you used to. I know of folks waiting over a month to six weeks that are full time gate guards and the companies will place them before any Winter Texan or newcomer.

I worked in the oil fields for 18 years in the 70's and 80's. We never had gates to guard. I know things change over the years. Are most of these jobs dry camping or do they provide hook ups? I'll check out Andy's Forum. Thanks all for this great information. Sounds like something to help keep me young.