Anyone work at Murphy Oil? I recently got a call about some availability in Murphy. My background is on the exploration/subsurface support side. The biggest concern however is the recent announcement by Murphy that they'll be selling off a large percentage of their Malaysian assets but I'm also wondering about company culture etc.

Ha ha cowboy gak. How different is Murphy compared to the other small US based companies eg. Hess or the former Newfield? I heard good things from 1-2 friends about Hess and Newfield pre Sapura Kencana, not so much about Murphy. A bit worried about stability I guess since Murphy's announced that they're selling off Malaysian assets. Why are they hiring when they're downsizing?

Ha ha, now I'm suspicious. When I'm back from Houston I'll buy you lunch and pick your brain a bit I don't mind cowboys

I'm working with a small operator. There's definitely been some downsizing, not significant but with demand on the low side I'm not sure there's going to be much hiring in the near future.

I'm guessing it'll be slow for 2015 as well based on the news going on around the world. WTI futures pricing now below $90 per barrel already!

Are you looking for a list of companies in that swec category? Petronas has the list, ask them for the latest spreadsheet. I've been told not to send the spreadsheet around

Or are you trying to get into that category? Also ask Petronas, they have their requirements.

Why would crude price > $100 per barrel be detrimental to cash flow of oil majors? I'm no analyst, still learning the ins and outs of the oil production business.

Also while OPEC cutting down production might tighten up supply, everyone is still talking about how China's demand for oil is slowing down significantly in the upcoming year which should put more pressure on the price of crude. At least from looking at things today, I don't expect crude oil pricing to go > $100 unless there's a major war somewhere.

I think you missed a comma in your original statement, which I understood as "crude above $100 per barrel is detrimental to cash flow" which is definitely confusing. We're on the same page on this one.

Yep, the email is going around internally already but I've not seen anything reported yet.

Of course there are those with big paychecks and 9-5 work too. That reservoir engineer downstairs for example...

But life goes on, we plan it accordingly and slog through the tough days.

BRC is correct.

In my limited experience, within IT there's almost always two (or more) groups. The first more generic group are the ones doing business IT support ie. the email/desktop/server stuff that everyone uses. These are the ones being paid average or maybe above average salaries depending on where you work. These are the groups that are typically outsourced as well.

The second is the IT group supporting exploration/subsurface/seismic/drillling/production etc. which are much more specialized. I'm paying US$20k per month for my Petrel support guy for example.

I don't know about work and/or benefits directly for Exxon but a colleague of mine who came from Exxon wasn't very happy with their forced ranking system and left.


This post has been edited by tishaban: Oct 29 2014, 11:34 PM

Personally though I think the current oil price is the new norm for the next few years. China cannot maintain its growth and oil consumption much longer so the glut in supply will continue. There's also a potential lifting of the US crude export ban in the future. $80 per barrel will probably be considered the new high with the average hovering between $50-60.

I'd love to be wrong though

This website usually has some details on heavy crude.

History repeats itself with the oil price dip and retrenchment, unfortunately most people don't bother to learn history and rush to join the industry

It's not a matter of supply, demand is low as well so even if production is cut, some analysis I've read point to something like 6-12 months of existing crude/refined products in storage so it'll be awhile before prices stabilize.

Personally I feel that the new normal price is probably in the $50-60 range. Enough to produce but no huge projects in the near future.