Oil and logistics

Fascinating piece from Guernica magazine about how more and more ex-soldiers and military logistics firms are going into the oil business:

This concentration of former service members owes partly to the fact that military training makes many uniquely suited for work in the domestic oil and gas industry. That, at least, has been Dave’s experience. The job center referred him to a fellow military man who runs a local nonprofit for veterans. When this man learned Dave’s skills, he immediately escorted him to B&G Roustabout Services, a growing oilfield service company, which hired Dave on the spot to work as a pipeline mapper.

Meanwhile, DynCorp International, Dave’s former employer, is also attracted by Williston. The military contractor specialized in providing logistical support to the armed forces during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and may soon join the ranks of defense companies that have found ways to segue their expertise into oil and gas.

“They and other defense logistics providers are very attracted by this sense that there’s all of this exploration activity and a lot less infrastructure to make it all possible,” said Kathryn Seitz of Avascent, a Washington, DC-based consulting firm that focuses on the aerospace and defense industries. The press office of DynCorp stated that the company is not currently engaged in any oil and gas projects, and that it doesn’t discuss internal strategic plans.