WorldWide Drilling Resource

My Story about the Drilling Industry and Its Caring for its Own by John Christ J.C.’s Drilling Consultant The year was 1994, and I was in Tucson, Arizona. I had taken some time off due to being burned out after owning a recovery business, courier business, and a breakfast/lunch café all at the same time. After selling everything, I was spending a lot of time with my children. I was also golfing, hunting, and fishing. Then it happened, the boss (my wife) said it was time for me to go back to work. I didn’t want to start another business. One reason was I had non-compete clauses, so I couldn’t do what I was good at. I picked up the newspaper and saw an ad for a delivery driver. The guy who was doing the hiring said he wanted to take a ride, so we left at 9:00 a.m.; we went all over the state of Arizona, and got back at 11:00 p.m. He then said if I wanted the job, to meet him at the warehouse at 4 a.m. Well, I showed up and we went to southern California to another jobsite. He was a mud engineer working in water well and mining. This was my introduction to the drilling industry. It was a small drilling fluids company, and even though we were only two guys, we gave the big drilling fluids company a run for the money. You know what happens, the big company buys the small company. I have mostly worked for myself. The big company is just that. The guy I was working with didn’t last long. He went to the oilfield where he had lots of contacts and experience. He told me to let them train me and he would take care of me. So I was sent to mud school, and when I got out, the mining business which goes up and down, was on a down stroke. I really didn’t want to follow the guy who got me into the business, so I got transferred actually to the part of the country where I grew up - the northeast part. I did well and made a name for myself. I was a direct influence in starting the first state association for horizontal directional drilling (HDD). I was on many state associations along with the national association. I worked with state regulators writing construction rules. I also climbed the corporate ladder. Then in 2008, the country took a turn for the worst. In the HDD business, we were doing a lot of utility installations, telecom installations, and pipeline work. The water well industry took a bad hit. Being part of a large corporation and being in manage- ment, we had meetings about everything. I didn’t agree on the direction the company was going and had some health issues which needed to be attended to, so I took an early retirement after almost 20 years in the business. There is an award in the water well business the national association puts out. It took a couple years, but I was an influ- encing factor in getting a friend this recognition. The national association’s convention was in Nashville, Tennessee, that year. I was talking to a special friend in the industry and she offered to pay for my and my wife’s admission to the show. The drilling industry is all about relationships. I still talk to the guy who first hired me back in Tucson every year on my anniversary date. There is a large HDD show in Louisville, Kentucky, every other year. With résumés in hand, I went to the show and started passing them out. I ran into a friend who had a fairly large HDD company based out of Cleveland. He wanted help to get more involved in the pipeline business and just had a shakeup of employees. The new crew was a bunch of guys I had worked with off and on for 15 years. The pipeline business is very competitive. After about a year, my friend told me he was done with that side of the business. Here I go again, unemployed for the second time in two years. All the while, I’m still getting calls from drilling professionals with problems. Remember I said the drilling industry is about relationships? Sure, I can say I’m no longer with the large corporation and give the people the corporations’ contact information, but these are my friends from those relationships. So I answer their questions. Unfortunately, I was in a bad accident and cannot do what I think is my best asset, talk. The only way I can keep in touch with people in the industry is by texting and e-mailing, so I have been reaching out. Even though I’m getting a lot of sympathy, I’m a little disgruntled with my relation- ships. I know I’m limited, but someone who has tried and helped me in the past, is trying to help me again. I love the drilling industry! Thanks for the great re- lationships! Hopefully, I can share some more insight into what our drilling indus- try is losing, and how we might get it back. And now for my next career...a contributing writer for WWDR ! John John Christ may be contacted via e-mail to michele@ worldwidedrillingresource.com $3- :163 &$.(0'$34 )13 5+( 45 006$. 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