Daily oil & gas and construction news for subcontractors
Labour shortages, crew management, field technology, and workforce trends in the energy services sector.
Construction Dive reports that ABC and AGC firms are ramping up apprenticeship, multiskilling and college partnership programs as skilled labor shortages persist despite a softer construction market.
Facilities Dive details how the Pentagon renovation team used short interval production scheduling and integrated project delivery to finish under budget and ahead of a shortened 10-year timeline. The approach offers lessons for today's fast-tracked heavy-civil rebuilds.
A new Oak Ridge and Idaho National Laboratory study finds existing US dams could generate 15.2 terawatt-hours of additional power through retrofits, pointing to future licensing and construction work at non-powered dams.
US oil and gas extraction employment rose from 114,700 in July to 114,900 in August, a rare month-over-month gain that Rigzone notes has only happened three times in the past decade.
ENR's Top 400 report shows telecommunications and data center revenue up 86% as contractors warn labor shortages and cost volatility are outpacing hiring, forcing subcontractors to weigh chasing AI infrastructure work against existing client commitments.
A new AGC-NCCER workforce survey of 1,830 respondents finds skilled craft shortages persist even as more firms cut headcount than expanded it for the first time since the pandemic, with data center demand and turnover keeping hiring pressure high.
Construction job openings climbed to 326,000 in July, the highest level in nearly two years, as data-center and power-related construction drive contractor hiring, according to Engineering News-Record.
A PG&E crew completed a 200-ft directional bore in just over 50 minutes to win the 2025 HDD Rodeo Showcase, earning a spot at the December 2026 HDD Rodeo nationals, Trenchless Technology reports.
ISHN reports that construction, utility, and landscaping crews face growing respiratory hazards from recurring wildfire smoke, with industry experts urging employers to treat AQI monitoring and N95 fit testing as standard seasonal prep, not emergency response.
GameChange Energy is building a 300,000-sq-ft factory near Mumbai to produce extra-high-voltage transformers, with 75% of output earmarked for U.S. utilities and developers facing multi-year lead times.
SpaceX's proposed 10-pad, $100 billion Starbase Louisiana complex could generate over 34,000 construction jobs on Gulf Coast marshland, but contractor selection, workforce breakdowns and phasing remain undisclosed.
Control Global surveys system integrators and educators on the shrinking pipeline of process engineers and operators, pointing to retirements and rapid digitalization as compounding pressures.
ENR reports crews at the DOE Hanford site pulled 79,000 gallons of radioactive waste from a leak-prone tank and removed a 10-ton obstructing pump, as regulators approve a new grouting method to speed disposal.
The EPA is offering $10.8 million in grants for water workforce training, apprenticeships and regional partnerships, with applications due October 5, 2026, WaterWorld reports.
McCarthy Building Cos. is converting a former hotel and convention site in Tempe, Arizona, into a dedicated training campus for its 8,000 craft and salaried employees, Construction Dive reports.
U.S. oil and gas extraction employment dropped to 114,600 in July 2026, the lowest level since March 2022, according to BLS data reported by Rigzone. The decline signals softer demand for upstream drilling and completions work.
ENR reports construction firms added roughly 22,000 jobs in July even as the overall US economy shed 23,000 positions, with specialty trade contractors driving most of the gains.
T&D World reports that 80 lineworkers from 16 WPPI Energy member utilities helped restore power to Menasha, Wisconsin, after a July 27 EF-3 tornado snapped more than 60 poles.
Prysmian has acquired a North Ayrshire training facility for high-voltage cable jointers, adding more than 20 apprentices as it builds workforce capacity for UK and European transmission projects.
ENR details how crews in Pittsburgh executed one of the heaviest bridge slide-ins in U.S. history, a feat that shows the specialized rigging and skid-system expertise subcontractors can market on future infrastructure mega-projects.
Engineering News-Record details how Coastal Construction sequenced a continuous 8,400-cubic-yard mat foundation pour beneath a 62-story Sunny Isles Beach tower, offering a field-ops blueprint for groundwater control, batch-plant logistics and curing on complex South Florida sites.
A BuildForce Canada forecast covered by the Daily Commercial News shows construction employment rising through 2035, but retirements and slowing population growth will leave the industry short more than 30,000 nonresidential workers alone.
TIPRO reports Texas upstream oil and gas employment grew by 400 jobs in June 2026, with service sector gains offsetting a drop in extraction jobs.
Associated Builders and Contractors of New Jersey has opened a 106,000-square-foot Mount Laurel facility training 26 Department of Labor-approved trades under one roof, aiming to scale to more than 1,000 apprentices trained annually within five years.
A ruptured 36-inch transmission main on Sunset Boulevard has LADWP crews working around the clock, with officials asking residents and businesses to conserve water during repairs.
Utility Dive opinion piece warns that utilities must treat workforce planning as critical infrastructure or risk losing engineers and technicians to tech companies chasing the same AI-driven talent pool.
Construction Executive reports that training supervisors to support the "whole person" during injury recovery, not just physical healing, improves return-to-work outcomes and reduces comp disputes.
Infrastructure Ontario has prequalified three design-build-finance-maintain teams for a new science facility complex in Oakville, with an RFP expected this fall and a winner named in late 2027.
Energy services employment fell in June across the U.S. and Texas after three straight months of gains, though industry data shows the workforce has remained stable through the first half of 2026.
The ECITB has rolled out a six-week training program letting oil and gas technicians move between offshore hydrocarbons and offshore wind maintenance while retaining their original qualifications.
Public Service Company of Oklahoma sent close to 70 line and service crews to Shreveport to help restore power for sister utility Southwestern Electric Power Company.
Drilling Contractor reports Ensign Energy Services has achieved full accreditation through the IADC Competence Assurance program, becoming the only North American land-based drilling contractor to reach that status across its range of roles.
Nabors Drilling Technologies and Corva have integrated their edge computing and AI platforms into one system, RigCLOUD Powered by Corva, standardizing drilling KPIs and enabling real-time predictive analytics on the rig.
Ontario will require side-impact-rated Type 2 hard hats on construction sites starting July 1, 2027. Daily Commercial News details the new hazard assessment, training, and procurement requirements employers must meet.
Meta and Google are pouring a combined $165 million into skilled-trades training as data center developers face growing community opposition and legal delays on megaprojects nationwide.
Amtrak's East River Tunnel rehabilitation project remains on schedule for a late 2027 completion, though crews pushed the Line 2 reopening back one month to August after discovering ceiling voids during catenary installation.
California's High-Speed Rail Authority has approved an RFQ for the $2.4B Merced-to-Madera civil works package, expanding active construction to 171 miles. Utility, civil, and specialty subs should start tracking this procurement now.
The White House has warned of a $1.4 trillion power infrastructure shortfall driven by AI demand. For utility and electrical subcontractors, the buildout ahead may be the largest in a generation.
A lockout of roughly 1,000 Norwegian oil service workers took effect Saturday, halting drilling on four mobile rigs and five fixed installations, with production losses potentially exceeding 120,000 boe/d if the dispute continues past mid-July.
US oil and gas extraction employment rose slightly from 115,500 in April to 115,600 in May 2026, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The gain is modest, with May's figure ranking as the second lowest for that month in a decade of BLS records.
DPR Construction and Suffolk Technologies have made equity investments in Skillit, an AI-powered platform that matches vetted tradespeople with contractors, signaling a broader industry shift toward tech-driven workforce sourcing.
A new DEWALT study reveals construction professionals are ready to adopt AI tools, but a lack of hands-on, job-specific training is creating a workforce gap that could cost subcontractors bids and productivity gains.
Texas upstream oil and gas employment climbed to approximately 197,500 positions in May, with oilfield services driving the gain, according to TIPRO's latest workforce analysis.
Emerging AI data centers are approaching 1 GW of electricity demand, rivaling small cities. A new industry framework from NEMA, ASHRAE, and PNNL is reshaping how contractors plan, staff, and execute these massive projects.
Salary increases for construction staff are trending back toward pre-pandemic norms, with average increases forecast to fall below 4% for the first time since 2020, according to ENR's Q2 2026 Cost Report.
Ontario crews have started rehabilitating a key stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Echo Bay, including bridge replacements and culvert work across two separate contracts.
Construction workers report anxiety and depression at record rates, and field supervisors are increasingly the first line of response. Here's what the data shows and what subcontractors can do about it.
Black & Veatch's 2026 Water Report, drawing on more than 600 industry stakeholders, confirms aging infrastructure and workforce shortages as the defining pressures on U.S. water utilities, pointing to a long-term construction and maintenance backlog.
The tech industry's data center ambitions are running headlong into a shortage of electricians, welders, and pipefitters. For field service companies, that's a market signal worth paying attention to.
U.S. energy services employment reached 633,115 positions in May, marking three consecutive months of job growth and adding more than 8,000 jobs since January, according to the Energy Workforce & Technology Council.
AI-powered machines and remote operation technology are reshaping how construction crews work. Here's what early-adopter field service companies are deploying and what it means for your workforce.
A bipartisan House proposal released June 4 would create a federal AI governance framework with new workforce forecasting programs and infrastructure reviews, with direct implications for contractors building data centers and managing labor pipelines.
Collège Boréal's new two-year Construction Engineering Technician program in Timmins targets more than 3,700 mining-related job openings projected for the region by 2029.
Canada's Building Trades Unions has released a new Indigenous Reconciliation Action Plan with 41 commitments targeting workforce participation, training, and economic partnership across the trades.
Construction Executive argues the industry faces a "knowledge cliff" as veteran workers retire, and AI-powered tools embedded in equipment and training systems could be the practical solution field service companies need.
Houston added more construction jobs than any other US metro area in the past year, and total construction starts are forecast to climb 6% in 2026. Here's what subcontractors operating in the region need to watch.
Executives at the Pit & Quarry Roundtable flagged tariff-driven cost spikes, labor shifts, and capital project delays as the top pressures facing the aggregate industry heading into 2026.
ProScore Technologies and United Rentals have teamed up to integrate structured equipment operator training into the ProScore platform, offering portable credentials across up to 12 equipment types for construction and energy sector workers.
Crews from 53 utility companies across 24 states worked more than 3,700 combined hours to bring electricity to 13 remote Navajo Nation families through the Light Up Navajo VII initiative.
Virginia Transformer announced plans to build its seventh North American manufacturing facility in Colbert County, Alabama, creating 1,100 jobs and expanding power transformer production capacity.
Canada is committing more than $35 billion to Arctic military and infrastructure projects, but a severe skilled trades shortage in the North means workforce planning is the critical variable. Subcontractors who move early could capture significant opportunity.
New state-level labor data shows construction unemployment climbing across most of the country, yet contractors are keeping workers on payroll. Here's what that tension means for subcontractors planning summer capacity.
BLS data shows oil and gas extraction employment fell to 115,200 in April 2026, the lowest level since August 2022 and the second consecutive April decline. Subcontractors should factor the trend into crew planning.
A surge in AI infrastructure spending is driving one of the strongest construction hiring cycles in decades, creating major opportunities for electrical, mechanical, and HVAC subcontractors who can find the workers.
A Plant Services columnist argues that most plant managers are undermining their own maintenance planning functions, leaving significant labor capacity on the table.
Nonresidential specialty contractors led construction hiring in April, adding an estimated 12,600 positions as data center construction spending surged 34% over the past year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Construction job openings fell 19% year-over-year in March while hiring remained subdued, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Economists say the stagnation signals soft demand and a cautious industry holding pattern.
Construction job openings climbed 23,000 in March but remain well below year-ago levels, with an ABC economist warning that industry hiring is still at historically soft levels heading into summer.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data reveals oil and gas extraction employment dropped from 187,300 in January 2016 to 115,500 in January 2026, with the decline continuing into early 2026. Here's what the shrinking labor pool means for field service companies.
Ontario Power Generation and Yukon Energy have agreed to collaborate on small modular reactor deployment, including potential applications at remote mines and off-grid communities.
The U.S. Department of Labor has proposed a new rule to create a single nationwide standard for joint employer status under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and other federal laws. The move aims to simplify compliance for businesses that rely on layered workforce arrangements.
A Noble Corp advisor's presentation at the IADC Annual General Meeting highlights the business case for prioritizing mental and physical health among rig crews, backed by alarming industry statistics on depression and suicide rates.
Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer resigned April 20 amid an inspector general investigation, putting Deputy Secretary Keith Sonderling in charge of OSHA enforcement, Davis-Bacon oversight, and apprenticeship policy.
Republic Drill Co offers drilling tools, supplies, and field support built on decades of surface mining and quarry experience. Here's what it signals for subcontractors working in aggregates and mining.
Workers at construction companies with 10 or fewer employees made up 42.4% of industry fatalities in 2022, according to new CPWR research highlighting the outsized safety risks facing small firms and independent contractors.
Permian Basin Oil and Gas Magazine identifies the top five safety challenges facing oil and gas operators, from complacency in hiring to documentation pitfalls and shortcuts on the job.
With 92% of North American businesses citing material costs as a top concern and workforce shortages persisting, Construction Executive breaks down the insurance strategies subcontractors should be evaluating before 2026 renewals.
Falls remain the leading cause of fatalities in construction, yet most are preventable. Here's a breakdown of the prevention framework subcontractors need before the next OSHA walkthrough.
Economist Anirban Basu outlines the key pressures on construction in early 2026, including a persistent labor shortage, tariff uncertainty, and interest rates that remain stubbornly high.
U.S. oilfield services employment climbed to 627,018 jobs in March, up 1,877 positions from February, according to new Energy Workforce & Technology Council data. Here's what the hiring uptick means for subcontractors competing for crews and contracts.
Austin-Round Rock construction starts reached $20.4 billion in 2025 and are projected to climb to $21.8 billion in 2026, but a tightening skilled labor pool is forcing contractors to rethink how they staff and sequence work.
A role-based breakdown of PPE requirements for high-risk construction tasks, covering demolition, cleanup, and more, with guidance on selection, fit, and replacement for field teams.
XIT Communications, covering 20 counties in the Texas Panhandle, replaced aging HDD equipment with Vermeer's D24x40 S3 and a parts consignment program to reduce jobsite downtime and improve crew productivity.
Senators McCormick and Cortez Masto introduced the Safe Roads for Those Who Serve Act, which would tie infrastructure grant funding to roadside worker safety protections and require state highway worker safety plans.
A Nabors Industries executive outlined a framework for balancing competitive interests with digital collaboration at the 2026 IADC/SPE Drilling Conference in Galveston.
Natural gas prices in Texas have turned negative in some areas, forcing producers to flare excess supply while other markets face shortages. Here's what that pricing disconnect means for field service subcontractors.
U.S. energy services employment dropped to 624,149 in February, with Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma posting the steepest declines. Field service companies are being warned to plan for continued workforce contraction.
Hensel Phelps reports saving $342,000 and 3,000 labor hours using Track3D's AI platform, now expanding across entire project portfolio to reduce jobsite information management time.
Caliber 1 Construction CEO Chris Elliott discusses upstream workforce investment strategies as construction firms face persistent labor shortages and aging leadership.
Columbus AEC industry sees sustained growth across data centers, healthcare, and infrastructure projects, but skilled labor shortages threaten project schedules.
An underground utility contractor shares their playbook for transitioning 200 field workers from paper to digital ticketing. The key insight: technology wasn't the hard part.
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