Oil and gas extraction following other industries to automation

[K1052]

In the land where oil jobs were once a guaranteed road to security for blue-collar workers, Eustasio Velazquez’s career has been upended by technology.

For 10 years, he laid cables for service companies doing seismic testing in the search for the next big gusher. Then, powerful computer hardware and software replaced cables with wireless data collection, and he lost his job. He found new work connecting pipes on rigs, but lost that job, too, when plunging oil prices in 2015 forced the driller he worked for to replace rig hands with cheaper, more reliable automated tools.

“I don’t see a future,” Mr. Velazquez, 44, said on a recent afternoon as he stooped over his shopping cart at a local grocery store. “Pretty soon every rig will have one worker and a robot.”

Oil and gas workers have traditionally had some of the highest-paying blue-collar jobs — just the type that President Trump has vowed to preserve and bring back. But the West Texas oil fields, where activity is gearing back up as prices rebound, illustrate how difficult it will be to meet that goal. As in other industries, automation is creating a new demand for high-tech workers — sometimes hundreds of miles away in a control center — but their numbers don’t offset the ranks of field hands no longer required to sling chains and lift iron.

Roughly 163,000 oil jobs were lost nationally from the 2014 peak, or about 30 percent of the total, while oil prices plummeted, at one point by as much as 70 percent. The job losses just in Texas, the most productive oil-producing state, totaled 98,000.

Several thousand workers have come back to work in recent months as the price of oil has begun to rise again, but energy experts say that between a third and a half of the workers who lost their jobs are not returning. Many have migrated to construction or even jobs in renewable energy, like wind power.

“People have left the industry, and they are not coming back,” said Michael Dynan, vice president for portfolio and strategic development at Schramm, a Pennsylvania manufacturer of drilling rigs. “If it’s a repetitive task, it can be automated, and I don’t need someone to do that. I can get a computer to do that.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/19/business/energy-environment/oil-jobs-technology.html?_r=0

Like the coal industry and manufacturing it would appear that oil and gas jobs aren't safe from what has allowed productivity to increase while human employment decreases. Trump blaming everything on trade while the vast majority of jobs are being lost to technology probably sounds good to folks but it's wrong.

 

[ivwshane]

Yep and just like the backwards thinking of not pursuing a solid alternative energy program, America will be left behind in future industries and made further irrelevant. That's what you get when you put people in charge of government who lack the foresight to see how things like not raising the debt ceiling will impact the country.

Oh well, you reap what you sew.

 

[Commodus]

The sad part is that this is another part of Trump's short-sighted economic policy. Oh, you thought that suppressing climate change science and propping up the fossil fuel industry would keep jobs around? Hell no. Technology will get rid of your oil or coal job regardless -- you might as well embrace the truth about the environment and move to renewable energy.

 

[cubby1223]

Yep and just like the backwards thinking of not pursuing a solid alternative energy program, America will be left behind in future industries and made further irrelevant. That's what you get when you put people in charge of government who lack the foresight to see how things like not raising the debt ceiling will impact the country.

Oh well, you reap what you sew.

The U.S. has already lost the future of technology. Debt ceiling is irrelevant. While the U.S. has been side-tracked on debates of how much free handout reparations are owed to different groups, the Chinese government has slowly been positioning themselves to be the owners of future technology, especially in the semiconductor world. India has been learning software development and system platforms at a crazy pace.

Automation is coming and in greater waves. You can either be the disgruntled person who sits around waiting for the nation to shun Republicans for whatever your current anger-of-the-week is. Or you can position yourself to be the one who automates jobs instead of the one who has his/her job replaced by automation.

 

[Sea Ray]

So now Trump is to blame for automation taking away oil rig jobs? Trump can only do so much to keep jobs in America. His position on global warming has nothing to do oil companies replacing jobs with automation.

 

[IronWing]

So now Trump is to blame for automation taking away oil rig jobs? Trump can only do so much to keep jobs in America. His position on global warming has nothing to do oil companies replacing jobs with automation.

That's the point. Trump's position is to sell a fantasy. No matter what he says or does about global warming, it isn't going to bring back the jobs he's promising. The economy doesn't work the way Trump claims it does. It's the inverse of the "What if we make the world a better place for nothing?" cartoon.

 

[Aikouka]

Whenever I see one of these articles, I'm usually a bit baffled as to why I don't ever see any comment on how we'll start seeing a higher demand for workers to service and maintain the automated systems. This is like a farrier complaining that the rising use of cars will create this glut of unemployed workers. No, we're going to start needing a serious number of mechanics to work on said cars instead of horses.

 

[theeedude]

Hillary supporters in Silicon Valley taking Trump supporters jobs in oil patch and elsewhere. Revenge of the nerds.

 

[Sea Ray]

Whenever I see one of these articles, I'm usually a bit baffled as to why I don't ever see any comment on how we'll start seeing a higher demand for workers to service and maintain the automated systems. This is like a farrier complaining that the rising use of cars will create this glut of unemployed workers. No, we're going to start needing a serious number of mechanics to work on said cars instead of horses.

I'm sure that there is a net loss in jobs with automation but you make a good point that there are jobs to be had in automation. Here in southern Ohio/Northern Kentucky area where I'm from I can give two such examples:

Festo is a German company that makes automation products for industry and they just built this nice new building providing hundreds of good jobs:

https://www.festo.com/cms/en-us_us/58348.htm

But Festo is small potatoes compared to plans from Amazon to set up its own shipping terminal at the Cincinnati airport in N Ky. This will provide thousands of jobs:

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/money/2017/01/31/amazon-plans-2700-jobs-15b-investment-cvg/97283034/

 

[Homerboy]

So now Trump is to blame for automation taking away oil rig jobs? Trump can only do so much to keep jobs in America. His position on global warming has nothing to do oil companies replacing jobs with automation.

No - he's to blame for giving false hope to those replaced (and soon to be replaced) to automation. He played them like a fiddle and they elected him.

 

[K1052]

Whenever I see one of these articles, I'm usually a bit baffled as to why I don't ever see any comment on how we'll start seeing a higher demand for workers to service and maintain the automated systems. This is like a farrier complaining that the rising use of cars will create this glut of unemployed workers. No, we're going to start needing a serious number of mechanics to work on said cars instead of horses.

The workforce you need to maintain mechanization/automation is FAR less than you would need to do production the old fashioned way. This is why manufacturing (and now increasingly resource extraction) and production have diverged aggressively from each other in the last few decades.

 

[Aikouka]

The workforce you need to maintain mechanization/automation is FAR less than you would need to do production the old fashioned way. This is why manufacturing (and now increasingly resource extraction) and production have diverged aggressively from each other in the last few decades.

Possibly, but that's also not the only position that would open up from using automation. The point is that people are incapable of realizing that just because an existing door closes doesn't mean that there aren't new doors opening. Are there necessarily going to be an equal number of doors? No. How about doors of equal difficulty levels? No.

Perhaps what we could do is try to offer some training courses to affected employees in burgeoning areas? I mean... that's pretty much what unemployment would try to do too.

 

[K1052]

Possibly, but that's also not the only position that would open up from using automation. The point is that people are incapable of realizing that just because an existing door closes doesn't mean that there aren't new doors opening. Are there necessarily going to be an equal number of doors? No. How about doors of equal difficulty levels? No.

Perhaps what we could do is try to offer some training courses to affected employees in burgeoning areas? I mean... that's pretty much what unemployment would try to do too.

I agree that retraining for relevant job skills and different industries should be rigorously pursued. Also people need to go where the jobs are.

Too bad the government is moving in the opposite direction.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Whenever I see one of these articles, I'm usually a bit baffled as to why I don't ever see any comment on how we'll start seeing a higher demand for workers to service and maintain the automated systems. This is like a farrier complaining that the rising use of cars will create this glut of unemployed workers. No, we're going to start needing a serious number of mechanics to work on said cars instead of horses.

Why baffled? The point of automation isn't to move people to different jobs or assist them, it's a direct replacement for humanity. Where you had a thousand workers you have ten or twenty maintaining them.

Since there are no positions to replace the 980 left over it is small consolation for them

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

I agree that retraining for relevant job skills and different industries should be rigorously pursued. Also people need to go where the jobs are.

Too bad the government is moving in the opposite direction.

If you have a hundred million workers and technology eliminates all but a million positions remain, how do you train and relocate to take advantage of something which no longer exists?

This is distinctly different from historical changes where humans created new jobs. This is now about humans creating mechanisms to assure that jobs do not happen.

 

[K1052]

If you have a hundred million workers and technology eliminates all but a million positions remain, how do you train and relocate to take advantage of something which no longer exists?

This is distinctly different from historical changes where humans created new jobs. This is now about humans creating mechanisms to assure that jobs do not happen.

There are still jobs that aren't as vulnerable to automation, yet anyway. Or people can cover their ears and hum real loud hoping for the best...which seems to be the current plan.

 

[Aikouka]

Why baffled? The point of automation isn't to move people to different jobs or assist them, it's a direct replacement for humanity. Where you had a thousand workers you have ten or twenty maintaining them.

Since there are no positions to replace the 980 left over it is small consolation for them

I only brought up maintenance and service, but it's not like that's the only work that we create through automation. Someone has to build the machines. Someone has to design the machines. Someone has to write the software for the machines. The idea is that jobs can adapt to the changing market, but if the people are unwilling to adapt, then there's not much that you can do. Am I suggesting a perfect 1:1 equality between jobs? Nah.

Now, if you want to discuss impact, you could note how removing low-end jobs affects the social pyramid. Some of the aforementioned tasks won't be high-end, but some of them are definitely an increase in skill, which would imply a raise in overall worth. Theoretically, we could see a bit of a shift of people closer toward the middle class.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

There are still jobs that aren't as vulnerable to automation, yet anyway. Or people can cover their ears and hum real loud hoping for the best...which seems to be the current plan.

Sure there are for now. In a decade if unemployment reaches double digits and climbing with no hope of recovery then what? To be sure it's wise to be in a position where you are a "have" but that didnt help the French nobility.

There needs to be much thought applied starting yesterday about how we want our society to evolve.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

I only brought up maintenance and service, but it's not like that's the only work that we create through automation. Someone has to build the machines. Someone has to design the machines. Someone has to write the software for the machines. The idea is that jobs can adapt to the changing market, but if the people are unwilling to adapt, then there's not much that you can do. Am I suggesting a perfect 1:1 equality between jobs? Nah.

Now, if you want to discuss impact, you could note how removing low-end jobs affects the social pyramid. Some of the aforementioned tasks won't be high-end, but some of them are definitely an increase in skill, which would imply a raise in overall worth. Theoretically, we could see a bit of a shift of people closer toward the middle class.

History suggests that 1:1 isn't close which is the goal of technology which evolves faster than we can deal with. Training a thousand people to take on ten jobs or a hundred is not a solution. There is no good fix with any paradigms in use today.

This may well be the greatest problem to face humanity since we left the caves tens of thousands of years ago.

 

[Homerboy]

For the record, Wall Street LOVES automation.

Automation = increased profits
Increased profits = increased stock price
Increased stock price = increased hookers and blow.

 

[K1052]

Sure there are for now. In a decade if unemployment reaches double digits and climbing with no hope of recovery then what? To be sure it's wise to be in a position where you are a "have" but that didnt help the French nobility.

There needs to be much thought applied starting yesterday about how we want our society to evolve.

I've seen little evidence that we're ready to give that eventuality much thought yet. Mostly people are still just focused on making things like they used to be. We're largely governed by backwards looking people and I don't see that changing soon.

 

[alcoholbob]

I only brought up maintenance and service, but it's not like that's the only work that we create through automation. Someone has to build the machines. Someone has to design the machines. Someone has to write the software for the machines. The idea is that jobs can adapt to the changing market, but if the people are unwilling to adapt, then there's not much that you can do. Am I suggesting a perfect 1:1 equality between jobs? Nah.

Now, if you want to discuss impact, you could note how removing low-end jobs affects the social pyramid. Some of the aforementioned tasks won't be high-end, but some of them are definitely an increase in skill, which would imply a raise in overall worth. Theoretically, we could see a bit of a shift of people closer toward the middle class.

The entire purpose of Deep Learning and general ai research is to automate software writing and maintenance, so machines can make new iterations of themselves and automate more physical work If you think someone should look forward to a lifetime career as a code monkey or maintainer of machines that boat will sail long before someone who enters that field today can expect to retire.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

I've seen little evidence that we're ready to give that eventuality much thought yet. Mostly people are still just focused on making things like they used to be. We're largely governed by backwards looking people and I don't see that changing soon.

Lack of forethought is one of our species greatest deficiencies.

 

[Homerboy]

Lack of forethought is one of our species greatest deficiencies.

We have forethought -- we just routinely choose to ignore it.

 

[Ns1]

heh, I was at a TV studio yesterday and even the cameras are robots now.