Sarens – The Oil & Gas sector in Texas continues to show signs of recovery after the pandemic and the various ongoing geopolitical conflicts, which have led to significant growth in the price of oil and gas products. Despite this, hiring in the sector continues to grow, increasing by 2,142 new positions in June, according to data from the Energy Workforce and Technology Council of Houston. According to the Texas Independent and Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO), more than 190,000 new hires have been made so far this year compared to 2021.
A large proportion of these new jobs will go to the new wells currently under development. Across the US, there are now more than 752 fully operational wells, of which approximately half (361) are located in Texas, a 60% increase over the number of operational facilities last year. The development of these new wells requires the participation of international companies such as Sarens, which play an important role not only in their installation, but also in their preventive maintenance. Thanks to the agility of the lifting manoeuvres and the proven experience of the company’s team, downtime is reduced, which maximises crude extraction and processing capacity.
The creation of new gas and oil wells is well justified by the sustained growth in demand, despite the price increase in crude oil and gas derivatives. Thus, the July Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) presented by the US Energy Information Administration points to an increase of 2.2 million barrels per day of fossil fuels in 2022, and 2 million per day in 2023.
This increase will also be maintained in gas processing. In the case of liquefied natural gas (LNG), exports of the North American product have exceeded 11.2 billion cubic feet per day during the first half of the year, an increase of 1.7 billion cubic feet per day compared to the same period last year.
In this context, where both the demand and supply of process products continues to grow, while at the same time the availability of labour is increasing, more and more companies are deciding to invest in the development of new projects and wells for oil and gas extraction. Across the USA, more than 752 extraction wells are now operational, of which approximately half (361) are in the state of Texas. This is a 60% increase over the number of facilities that were operational last year.
In order to operate these new wells, both the local construction companies and the major oil companies that will be responsible for refining and making the processed products available to the public require the collaboration of international companies such as Sarens, which specialises in transporting the machinery necessary for the construction of the wells, as well as in the lifting and installation of the drilling heads and drilling rigs. Versatile cranes such as the Terex Demag CC8800-1, with load capacities of more than 400 tonnes, are needed for this purpose.
For years, Sarens has led various projects aimed at strengthening the oil sector in the USA. An example of this is the construction and improvement work carried out at the Corpus Christi refinery (Texas), carried out together with Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR). In this project Sarens used a variety of its largest capacity cranes, like Liebherr LR1350S 385 tons crawler cranes transported from Australia, to lift and position the two hydrocracker reactors from the plant and 58 modules, essential to the operation of the plant.
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