Mesquite Lodge at Jourdanton is a comfortable and secure housing option for oil and gas companies requiring temporary and long term living quarters for their crew.

Recently there has been a boom in South Texas in the oil and gas industry. Because of location, often it is difficult for companies to provide adequate housing for their crew. Mesquite Lodge at Jourdanton can help your company with your housing needs.

Our fully furnished suites have everything your crew need to stay comfortable, connected and productive while they are far away from home. This lodge is ideal for oil and gas companies with large crews. All your crew will need to do is show up, we will take care of the rest.

Book Mesquite Lodge Now @ 866-645-7055

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San Antonio, TX | May 9-10, 2013

This conference is in response to the challenges and opportunities arising from the sudden growth of the oil & gas “boom towns” throughout North America. These include finding and developing temporary and permanent housing solutions for the growing field force. Connected with this prime issue are the many related ones such as transportation, utilities, security, furnishings, education, healthcare, financing, emergency and social services, etc., as well as integrating the “boom towns” and camps and their impact with existing communities in a sustainable and mutually beneficial way.

These housing challenges and opportunities are being faced throughout the North American oil & gas plays (Bakken, Eagle Ford, Niobrara, Barnett, Tuscaloosa, Utica, Marcellus, etc.).

The Oilfield Housing Solutions Conference is designed to bring together the many interested and invested constituencies–those needing solutions and those providing solutions–to address immediate needs and to plan for the future. Attendees will include housing and hospitality providers, oil and gas companies, drillers, construction companies, well servicers, E&P companies, logistics coordinators, transporters, county and municipal representatives, academic experts, multifamily leaders, and others.

To Register click here: https://www.cvent.com/events/the-2013-oilfield-housing-solutions-conference/registration-1221821a0d62411a9e34fb462c89a0d1.aspx

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Citing a need to “create a high standard of living for temporary and permanent field workers,” Oilfieldlodging.com founder and CEO Rod Williams plans to establish a set of standards for that sector. To that end, he has set a preliminary meeting for May 8 in San Antonio, to include housing manufacturers, food service providers and others in the sector.

As a concierge service for workforce housing — a company that places workers, often in large groups, in third-party housing facilities — Oilfieldlodging.com comes into contact with a variety of facilities of widely varying levels of service and quality of facilities. While Williams stressed that his company only uses facilities of the highest levels, he noted that it would be easier to determine a facility’s quality, especially ongoing, if there were sector-wide standards and an oversight group to verify them. The May 8 meeting’s purpose is to discuss ways to set and oversee such standards.

http://www.mywesttexas.com/business/oil/article_212efd67-9813-5ecf-b600-cfe8b6253384.html

Get involved: info@workforcehousingstandardscouncil.org  or call 1-866-645-7055

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Boom times are bringing rapid growth to the North Dakota towns benefiting from oil shale: tens of thousands of newcomers, thousands of new jobs, new tax revenues—and soaring real-estate prices.

And that last is a challenge for some residents who aren’t working in the energy industry that is remaking the prairie’s economic landscape.

In the 12-county Bakken region—which comprises nine counties in North Dakota and three in Montana—the working population has swollen to 85,000 as of December from 50,000 three years earlier. Most of them are oil-field workers chasing high-paying new jobs, according to the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank.

Along with them, listing prices for the few available homes in the region have gone up too, rising by nearly 27% in the past year to an average of $253,000, according to Realtor.com. Some rentals have gone up even more: A one-bedroom apartment in Williston, N.D., that rented for several hundred dollars a month before the boom now goes for $2,000.

That has left some residents—whose incomes only recently were adequate for their homes—feeling sidelined. Police dispatchers, teachers, municipal workers—and others in traditionally moderate-income jobs earn too little to keep up when it comes to paying for homes and apartments.

As a result, North Dakota towns such as Tioga and Watford City are grappling with challenges commonly faced by economically vibrant areas like San Francisco and New York in determining how to create affordable “workforce housing” for service-sector employees. The city of Williston paid $1.5 million in 2011 for a stake in an apartment complex in town, allowing it to control 77 units there and rent them cheaply to its employees. But it isn’t enough.

North Dakota’s Legislative Assembly is considering legislation to boost the state’s Housing Incentive Fund for financing affordable housing to $50 million from $15 million, with the state Senate Appropriations Committee due to receive a draft of the bill Friday. The bill also would allow the state to raise income limits for residents in subsidized housing.

The state’s Housing Finance Agency predicts the $50 million allotment, if approved, will help finance construction of 2,500 affordable-housing units in the next two years. Still, that falls well short of the agency’s forecast that the state will need 7,300 new affordable units in that time frame.

To be sure, the boom brought by the Bakken shale hasn’t been a bad thing. Unemployment in the area is 1.7%, compared with the national average of 7.7%.

Bank deposits grew by 15% in the past year, compared with 11.2% for the rest of North Dakota. Only 0.56% of mortgages in the Bakken region were 90 days delinquent or more as of January, versus 1.78% for the rest of the state.

In Williston, the economic upside is readily apparent. The airport in the city now receives regular jet service rather than just propeller planes, and the Williston Parks and Recreation Department is building a $70 million recreation center.

Amid the boom, much attention has been paid in North Dakota and other oil-shale regions to the housing shortage for oil-field workers, whose salaries average nearly $98,000 a year, according to Fed data. Many of the oil-field workers are looked after by their employers, which pay for some of their rent in apartments, hotels and “man camps” of trailers on the outskirts of small towns.

But the housing crunch for workers of low and moderate incomes is even trickier to handle because they tend to stay put longer. This has prompted governments in the Bakken region to step up their subsidies for longer-term affordable housing. School districts in the Bakken region, for example, in recent years have put modular homes on their campuses for teachers.

“We did not want to get into [providing] housing,” said Steve Holen, superintendent of the 870-student McKenzie County School District in Watford City, which houses nine teachers in eight trailer homes on part of a practice field and playground at one of its elementary schools. “But we needed it to get these nine teachers here. I do not believe they’d be here without that housing.”

In Tioga, the school district houses teachers in nine trailers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency behind its high school. Many other service employees rent basements, live with relatives or commute more than an hour from cheaper markets.

Tioga kindergarten teacher Lori Richards, 28 years old, pays $500 a month to rent one of her district’s FEMA trailers. The availability of the 10-foot-by-40-foot trailer was a clincher when she accepted the $43,000-a-year job last summer. “My main room is my living room, dining room, laundry room and kitchen all in one,” she said. “It’s very cramped, but it is doable for one person.”

The trouble for North Dakota housing-policy makers and home seekers is that income limits now set for housing subsidized by the state and federal programs lag behind the market by at least three years. Meanwhile, average weekly wages in the 12 Bakken counties rose by nearly 49% from 2010 to 2012 as lofty pay for oil-field workers has forced other employers to boost compensation to keep pace, according to Fed data.

The latest federal figures are based on average incomes from 2005 to 2010. Thus, in Williams County, which encompasses Williston, the 50% ceiling to qualify for very-low-income housing now is set at $22,600 for a one-bedroom residence. The 80% ceiling for low-income housing is $36,150.

At those rates, workers at Williston’s McDonald’s, which raised its starting pay last year by 33% to $12 an hour, or $25,000 a year, earn too much to qualify for very-low-income housing. Williston’s police dispatchers earning $37,700 a year and patrolmen at $49,500 a year, up 26% since 2009, don’t qualify for low-income housing. Teachers in nearby McKenzie County, with starting pay at $38,600, can’t qualify for low-income housing there. The pending bill would allow North Dakota to boost the 50% ceiling to 100% or greater.

Maggie Hilbers, who took a teaching job in Watford City last August, said she would have struggled to pay market rent on her annual salary of $38,800. The 27-year-old single mother of two small children said the district’s trailers, at a rent of $700 a month, proved the deciding factor in accepting the position.

“The school is doing everything they can at this point to get the decent teachers that they need and to provide housing,” she said. “I know they’re strapped to do the best they can, just like I am coming into this situation.”

By Kris Hudson, Wall Street Journal 04/05/2013

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The Workforce Housing Standards Council, whose mission is to create a high standard of living for temporary and permanent field workers ensuring cleanliness, comfort, safety and good health, is being formed in response to the inconsistent living conditions often provided to oil and gas field workers, as no industry-wide set of standards for worker housing currently exists. As oil and gas companies scramble to meet the shale and gas boom, demand for staffing and housing has usurped local supply. The result is competition for qualified workforce resources is fierce and both cost and quality control are challenging. Though drillers must often pay “demand-based” rates for temporary worker and staff housing, quality varies dramatically and the health and safety of workers may be compromised.

The Workforce Housing Standards initiative is spearheaded by Rod Williams, Founder and CEO of Oilfieldlodging.com, in an effort to shift the housing paradigm that currently exists in the industry from short-term, “man camps” with no health and safety standards, to the provision of open lodging with minimum standards of cleanliness, security and safety.  ”We are committed to providing top-quality lodging that meets the top HSE standards – where oilfield workers of all types can live like they’re at home; comfortable, private lodging with kitchens, living space, laundry, recreation space and healthy food to keep them safe and well nourished,” he states.  ”What we’ve seen out there is poor living conditions, putting the health and safety of workers at risk,” he continues.  ”We’ve set out to change that, and to help ensure workers’ living conditions are at the same standard you or I would expect when traveling, at affordable rates for companies who are footing the bill.”

Energy companies often pay these “demand-based” temporary housing rates for their employees due to the industry’s necessarily rapid relocations from region to region. Attrition rates are high because of poor living conditions, causing costly delays in production, and the general physical and mental health of the workers can be affected.  ”We can change that by providing affordable solutions with high standards and ask that housing providers adopt these standards to support this industry.  The Workforce Housing Standards Council is the first step to help solve this prevalent problem collaboratively, for the benefit of all.”

Major players such as Weatherford and Marathon Oil have been invited to share their HSE standards to help build the initial template for the Council at this initial meeting to be held at the Westin La Cantera in San Antonio May 8th. Participation is voluntary and is open to all interested and qualified industry professionals. Please contact info@workforcehousingstandardscouncil.org for additional information and space availability.

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Oil Field Housing Standards: Your thoughts?

OilfieldLodging.com has numerous types of properties in our reservations database. We have oil field housing, oil field lodging or lodges, man camps both closed and open. In the effort to supply workers with quality housing we had to come up with our own standards in order to have some kind of consistency. If you have been on as many oil field housing locations as we have, you would understand the lack of standards and the need for continuity. Although we are seeing an emergence of developers in the U.S market that has changed the oil field housing market from the “offshore living, brought onshore” style to a more oil field living type situation, there are still companies that believe oil field workers just need a place to sleep. Its not that simple, and nor are the workforces we are referencing.

What is the oil field workforce? What do they want ?

When you study an oil field workforce there are many types of workers. Most of them are a skilled workforce. Companies like Halliburton,Weatherford,Marathon Oil,Key Energy spend millions of dollars a year training their workforces. There are many tiers of a workforce so lets just assume most are trained or skilled that are lodging with us. If you are a skilled worker with thousands of dollars invested in your education then you demand a certain standard of living. We know they get paid well. Dont take that for granted because if a company does not keep their employees living at a standard they expect, they will go to work for companies that will and take that high dollar education and experience with them to a competitor. Hence, attrition and a lot of head hunters doing very well.

Time to Create Oil Field Housing Standards

With this article we would like to create a discussion of ideas and experiences for the public to help us form the new standards. The discussion will help formulate ideas for the Workforce Housing Standards Council meeting in May 2013. Please contribute whether you are an oil field worker, oilfield housing manufacturer or a oil field housing developer, we want your input.

We will start the topic discussion called Clean and Comfortable Oil Field Housing Communities:

What do you feel is imperative for you or your workers to feel clean and comfortable ?

If you have any questions email us at info@oilfieldlodging.com

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Expectations are building for America to become the world leader in oil production by 2017 due in part to what some are supposing could be the largest oil play in American history, taking place on Texan soil.

In the heart of Texas’s Permian Basin lies the Cline Shale, an oil shale field running 140 miles long and 70 miles wide. Devon Energy and Chesapeake Energy, two oil companies, are reporting impressive figures based on the short amount of time they have had to explore. Devon Energy’s test wells show the shale contains 3.6 million barrels of recoverable oil per square mile. With about 9,800 square miles of Cline Shale, this would amount to more than 30 billion barrels of recoverable oil, exceeding both the Bakken fields in North Dakota and the Eagle Ford in Texas by nearly 50 percent.

Taking into account the projected 200 to 550 foot depth of the shale, this would be equivalent to having 10 Eagle Ford shales stacked on top of each other. The oil to dry gas ratio of the shale is also garnering attention, with the shale containing 85 percent oil and liquid-rich gas. When you combine that with the low operating costs it takes to produce the oil in the basin, about 50 percent less than the Bakken, it is shaping up to be one of the greatest oil and gas booms America has ever seen.

There are two primary deficiencies that the Cline Shale region will need to overcome to be able to make history: lack of housing due to exponential population growth coupled with small town infrastructures and lack of global distribution for the large amounts of liquid gas being produced. If the deficiencies are adequately addressed, the boom stands a better chance of maintaining momentum.

LubbockInvest, a real estate investing firm, is addressing the housing lack through Stone Bridge Estates, a 50-acre, 265-lot manufactured home development in the heart of the Permian Basin, aimed at providing high-end, affordable housing for the employees brought to the area due to the boom. This type of housing is in high demand since many of the individuals brought to the area lack creditworthiness, preventing them from obtaining traditional housing. According to Midland city manager Courtney Sharp, “Oil and gas company leaders also say that cumulatively, they still could use as many as 10,000 more employees in the coming years.” As it stands, housing will continue to be a deficit that could hinder the boom, but is being addressed at a satisfactory pace.

Teekay LNG Partners, a Liquid Natural Gas Carrier, is addressing the deficiency that such large liquid gas depositories will cause. Although gas is extremely inexpensive in the United States, it remains pricey in nearly every other country in the world. Teekay has been ramping up its ability to export liquid natural gas around the world by adding six additional vessels to its inventory in October, 2011. With the presence of an international market, the profit produced from the Cline Shale will increase quite dramatically as most of the gas extracted is already liquid-rich gas.

Although it is too early to call this the largest play in American history, it is clear that international companies are anticipating that this is precisely what it could be.

James Shannon can be reached at (409) 832-1400, ext. 249, or by e-mail at james@beaumontbusinessjournal.com.

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Oilfield Housing Property On the Move West?

We are seeing oilfield housing companies moving west into cities like Snyder Texas. Snyder, once a small town in West Texas, is now expecting to double in growth in one year. The Cline Shale is expected to be larger in production than the eagleford shale and the North Dakota Bakken shale. If you are an oil company looking for lodging call us now to reserve a place. We are taking reservations 6 months in advance in order to fulfill the demand. If you own property, especially with city services anywhere in the Cline Shale Region, call us now and let our Real Estate division help you with your opportunities. 1-866-645-7055

If you need education on this hot topic, keep reading below!

Check out this article below or click here

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Oilfield Housing is typically defined as manufactured housing specifically for an oilfield workforce. When you search google you will find several manufactured housing companies advertising their abilities to build “oilfield homes” for a workforce. However you will also find companies touting their ability to build oilfield housing camps also known as “man camps”. A man camp is a closed camp, meaning it is built and/or leased to one customer entirely. for example Halliburton may contract a company to build, manage and cater to their workforce housing camp in West Texas, lets say Odessa Texas for the permian basin oilfield workers. So when you are searching for Oilfield housing you now know their are two types of answers. Oilfield housing as a type of manufacturing and also oilfield housing as a type of enclosed camp for workers, a compound with security and amenities to keep the workers entertained and also out of the nearby town lounges and bars.

Oilfield Lodging is specifically about lodging only, not manufacturing. Lodging definitively is ::: a place where a person (such as a traveler) can stay for usually a short period of time : a place to sleep.

Oilfield lodging is a place where oilfield workers of all types can live. Yet, Lodges try and make it like home for the workforce. Typically oilfield lodges have kitchens and living rooms, like condos or homes. They are not closed camps or “man camps” they are open for responsible adults to live. Years ago workforce housing was similar to offshore living. Today however, developers in North Dakota and Texas have created a new paradigm in Oilfield Lodging. Lodges like Frontier Oasis in Kenedy Texas are the new look and feel of home. Each room has its own space. A luxurious private room with a double bed, wifi, TV,  desk and of course a private bathroom and shower.

Many locations also offer top notch catering with companies like The RK Group of San Antonio Texas. This is not momma’s cooking, its more like a Chef prepared meal. Think the Four Seasons. If your family is reading this article its likely they wont feel bad for you leaving home “off to work” in luxury. However, they more than likely understand that working in a Fire Resistant work suit in the summer can be 130F degrees and a cool room with healthy food will keep you rested, well nourished and safe.

So now you know the difference between oilfield housing and oilfield lodging. So, when you’re looking for a place to live for your workforce or yourself, look no further than oilfieldlodging.com . We certify every property to our standard of living. More on that in the next blog!

Book now in West Texas,South Texas,North Dakota and Alaska. 1-866-645-7055

Book Now by clicking here

OFLNews.com

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Below is an article about the emerging Cline Shale region of Texas. If you are looking for property or any oilfield lodging in Snyder Texas or anywhere close it is time to contact us now. Oilfield Lodging is filled up but there are new properties coming online later this year. If you need something immediate, call 1-866-645-7055. If we dont have it, We’ll Build it.

Cline Shale Impact on Abilene article click here or copy and paste http://www.reporternews.com/news/2013/jan/17/cline-shale-oil-field-gives-abilene-hope-to-by/

Excerpt from the article

“The Cline Shale, a vast oil reservoir east of the Permian Basin, runs roughly 140 miles north-south and 70 miles wide through portions of Glasscock, Howard, Reagan, Sterling, Scurry, Fisher, Nolan, Coke, Irion, and Mitchell counties to the west of Abilene. Initial estimates indicated the Cline holds more than 30 billion barrels of recoverable oil.”

All of these counties above we are currently seeking oilfield housing or oilfield lodging facilities. Again, If an oil company calls and we dont have it, we’ll build it. OilfieldLodging.com affiliate company Abydos LLC develops and builds oilfield housing communities along with some of the largest oilfield lodging companies in the world. Bring your problem to us and we will be the solution. Contact Ron Healy @ 972-489-1287

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