Staffing and personnel are a major issue in 2024. Do we have enough? Do we NOT have enough. . . On this episode My co-host Keith Stelter and I sit down and visit with Drew Ludlow of NSB Omega to talk about the staffing scenario in America and across the world. This is one episode you don’t want to miss.

Highlights of the Podcast

04:00 – The chief strategy officer of American Safety services
04:52 – The state of Texas now
06:08 – The world has to offer from lassoing icebergs up in Greenland
07:32 – The Hibernia project, a lot of the Cenovus and, Exxon projects
09:48 – The best people in the industry
11:20 – People want to retire
13:29 – The compliance and regulatory
16:05 – The operators down there
17:11 – Chevron getting kicked out of Thailand
18:06 – The second best place in the U.S
18:34 – New Mexico has always been a really good place to drill
20:27 – Most of the pipelines in America
21:46 – Indian reservations are being affected
22:32 – The number one polluter
24:55 – A pipeline company for expansion midstream
25:22 – NSB Omega and and building some of the largest
27:55 – The Israeli people
29:20 – The Mediterranean are difficult
31:12 – The world what the energy industry can do

Please reach out to Drew Ludlow on Linkedin

Check out StatusJet HERE

THE CRUDE TRUTH Ep. 64 Drew Ludlow of NSB Omega with Co-Host Keith Stelter

Video Transcription edited for grammar. We disavow any errors unless they make us look better or smarter.

Rey Treviño [00:00:00] As we go into 2024 for staffing. Do we have enough people in the industry? Do we not have enough? Both sides are saying one way or the other. We talk about that and much more with an expert on this episode of The Crude Truth.

Rey Treviño [00:00:57] Nape is a proud sponsor of the Crude Truth. Be sure to register for the Nape Expo 2024 for February 7th to the ninth at the George R Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas. Hurry and register today. Nape where deals happen.

Rey Treviño [00:01:46] Well good morning. Good evening. Good afternoon. What other? Whatever the time of day today. Thank you, as always, for tuning in to another episode of The Crude Truth. As I mentioned here on an earlier episode this year already, I have, just some great co-hosts this year. As we go into 2024 and today is no exception. We do have another great co-host today. My co-host co-host, excuse me, hails all the way from Odessa. Get it right. He is with American Safety Services. My guest today is the man, the host of tally Booth troubleshooting, Keith Stelter. Keith, how are you?

Keith Stelter [00:02:24] I am doing great. It’s always fun to be here. And, you know, this is my second time doing, the show with you. First time as a co-host. I’m very excited. You mentioned earlier you’re going to have an expert on. I’m talking about staffing. I’m clearly not the expert on staffing by any means, but, as a guy who hangs out in West Texas, I’ve seen, you know, what the industry is going through right now. And it’s definitely got challenges in people, professional people, in particular. Like, it really is, a need for engineers or, you know, superintendents, inspectors. So, I’m very interested in what actually, you know, before I introduce myself, I got to say, it’s your guest is the first guy I ever introduced or interviewed on my show tally book troubleshooting. So I’m the co-host, Tally book troubleshooting. It’s a little LinkedIn show. And, for whatever reason, somebody tunes in every once in a while on LinkedIn and watches what I have to say. And I’ve had some the privilege to, you know, interview some really great people, from Top Gun instructors to survivors of plane crashes, too. Recently, a guy who, is credited with saving over 30,000 people in the military with his, military dog, dingo. I’ve had some really great folks, and, it’s I think it keeps me employed. I think at some point, getting out there, it definitely gets me in the door to talk to a few folks. And, currently the chief safety or the chief strategy officer of American Safety services, we’re the largest, service company or safety service company in the Permian right now with offices in Odessa and, Artesia, New Mexico. And, happy that they gave me the time off. Kevin. Thank you, sir, I will tell you that I showed up here, later. You know, I don’t know if you know I’m here right now, so forgiveness is definitely better sometimes than, permission, but, excited and. Well, thank you for having me.

Rey Treviño [00:04:31] Thank you for. Well, thank you for being on. You’re here at the different studios today, but thank you so much for co-hosting with me.

Keith Stelter [00:04:36] This is a fancy place.

Rey Treviño [00:04:38] It’s fun. We enjoy it. But you were talking about the great people you’ve had on your show. As you know, I’ve had great people on my show. And today again, our guest today is no different. Keith, our guest today is somebody that has probably been known around the state of Texas now for probably over a decade. He is doing things just from a personal level to a political level to a, career level. He is currently in the Houston area, and I think it’s Sweetwater. But our guest today is now with NSB Omega, which is one of the biggest staffing companies. Our guest today is the one, the only, Drew Ludlow. Drew, how are you?

Drew Ludlow [00:05:15] Hey, I’m doing real well. Thanks for having me today.

Rey Treviño [00:05:17] Oh my gosh. Well, thank you for coming into town. I really appreciate that.

Drew Ludlow [00:05:21] Yes, my honor, thank you very much. And, Keith, always a pleasure, buddy.

Keith Stelter [00:05:24] Hey. Yeah, I remember that first episode we did. I think it’s like almost three years ago to the day, and, it’s come a long way. I can’t believe, we’re here sitting in these chairs doing some. Like it again. But, you know, you mentioned that you’re you’re known through Texas. You’re known worldwide, right? You’re you, from hanging out with Netanyahu in Israel to, work in offshore around the world. You’re you’re a guy in the know. So, looking forward to your new, new endeavor. What what do you got going on these days? Well, it’s.

Drew Ludlow [00:05:54] Been a real honor, Keith. And thank you very much, for asking. It’s been, it’s been a lot of countries, a lot of time, a lot of sacrifice, traveling around the world, developing, the most challenging oil and gas projects, the world has to offer from lassoing icebergs up in Greenland to, fighting different Greenpeace organizations and, in and around the world, Falkland Islands, swelling seas. Equatorial Guinea and the malaria, Ivory Coast and the Ebola. I’ve done it. And, there’s some great stories and great memories there. It’s

Keith Stelter [00:06:32] Friendly kidnaping is always one of my favorite.

Drew Ludlow [00:06:39] Well, I didn’t know if. You don’t need to get that. You know. There’s a difference between friendly kidnaping and hostile kidnaping. I prefer the friendly kidnaping.

Keith Stelter [00:06:44] I serve you beer, I heard love. What? When they do it friendly.

Drew Ludlow [00:06:47] As long as the bills get paid. As long as you don’t get paid. Know that. But no, it’s been. It’s been a great career. I’ve been, very, very fortunate, to work for some great oil field, greats. And, this is no different, where I’m at now, I have the ability to serve people, and that’s really what I love to do the most. I love to connect people and, and really help, get into their lives and understand not just what their dog’s names are or their wife’s birthday or kids birthdays, but really how I can assist them on finding a career and landing that dream job, with a major operator that, we have contracts with. So most of your projects, from some of the most difficult projects up in Newfoundland, the Hibernia project, a lot of the Cenovus and, Exxon projects, we’re a part of we’re down in Guyana. We’re over in Norway. We’re over down in Australia. We’ve got a great presence. Our company’s name is NSB Omega. We were founded about 40 years ago on a personnel and software side of things. I think a lot of the operators are probably familiar with the PIM software. Yeah. That’s software that we compete with. And, we have, great software that your majors Phillips 66, Exxon, Cenovus and many others are currently using today. I specialize in the, the staffing, and contingent staffing is really where I specialize. So we have a software side of things. I’m the head of the US, contingent workforce side of things. And it’s been really neat to, work on this side of the business because I’m able to not only help my clients, but I’m able to help the people of this industry as well. And it puts food on the table for families. And that’s what makes me most proud.

Rey Treviño [00:08:43] Well, you know, when you moved to this, I was kind of caught off guard, you know, but it sounds like you just answered my question, which is what made you want to make this change? Because, again, you just literally and you were just riffing everything that you’ve been doing for the last goodness, decades. Yeah. You know, what a change that you just made to go into this side of the industry. And it’s like, you know what? What was it? You know, and I’m sure you probably had a talk with God about it at one point to.

Drew Ludlow [00:09:10] God, my fiancee, Mr. Stelter. Yeah. So dealing and energy and and dealing with the relationships in this industry, it’s a very, relationship based industry. And I had relationships based on the operators side of things, and then also on the personnel side of things. And so, as a representative, a global agent, I was always able to identify, holes in organizations that needed to be filled, whether it’s a drilling manager or a drilling engineer or, you know, a control specialist, I had access to those people. And not just people, some of the best people in the industry, because they worked with me on some of the most challenging projects that this energy industry has to offer. So they became my friends. And, being able to assist them and get them positioned and placed into major operators, major projects, and, and provide money for them and their family. It’s just a true honor.

Rey Treviño [00:10:11] I mean, I again, I think it’s just so cool what you’re doing. And, you know, getting my teams are we talked about the staffing side of things, and here you are. You’re not only. And then I know you oversee the United States, but you and your company also helping place people across the world. And how cool is that? And, you know, are y’all having trouble finding people or y’all having trouble fill those positions, right.

Drew Ludlow [00:10:33] Bringing up a really good point. We do staff projects all over the world. Obviously, I run the U.S. operations, but I have visibility of projects. Really? All everywhere. Currently, I’m staffing for four positions, in Romania, for a two and a half year project, on the Black Sea. Deep water. This is something that you’d be interested in. You know, Rey has my contact details, and I’ll. I’m on LinkedIn. You can you can find me out there. Please reach out to me. We have a great, database at NSB omega.com. We have over a million candidates right now in that database, to fill these positions. But we’re always looking for more talented people because as, pensions start to kind of go down and. People want to retire. We’re able to actually capture that retirement and capture that pension. You can come to work for NSB. Omega will employee into the same position that you’re currently in with your operator, and you’re able to continue to work making the same money that you are and also capturing your pension so that you’re not working for free so often. Now, if you’ve worked for 2530 years and you see your pension going down, it’s time to retire. And the reason it’s time to retire is because you’re working for free. And oftentimes through a small calculation, we can show you the sweet spot of when it would be the best time for you to retire, to capture the most money and get you transitioned to an NSB Omega employee and get you full time working at the same job you’re doing currently.

Keith Stelter [00:12:09] You keep you know, networking for customers is obviously important because that’s what pays the bills. But how how much networking are you doing with your own candidates that are in that system waiting to go to make sure that you are supplying quality guys? You know what I mean? It’s one for one thing to someone applies and says, I got 20 years experience doing XYZ. You know, what’s the kind of relationships that you guys, build with your candidates?

Drew Ludlow [00:12:39] Yeah. Really good. So we can network through our candidates into the operator. We can network through the operator to find candidates. We can, work with the operator, and they’ll name candidates, and we can go out and, and find those candidates and bring them in as, employees of ours. I’ll use oxy, for example. I’ll namedrop, oxy, so often times oxy hand handcuffed by, you know, they, they only have certain amount of a budget in their AFE, and, their AFE has been tapped, so they cannot, employ any more people. They have to go out for a contingent or, external workforce. This is where we come in, not only with our people, but, we can also do all of the H.R. and back office, items, benefits, like a food, a suit, and all of the compliance and regulatory, things with each state, being different regarding, you know, HR, regulatory, compliance. So we comply with all of those, bodies and we’ll do all of that reporting for you. So really, it’s a one stop shop. We can network, really any way key, to to skin the cat. We can work it forwards, backwards, backwards, forwards. We can work with the budget and work, within that box, we can tell you a budget so that you can create your a fees. We’re very flexible and, happy to help in in any way that we can.

Rey Treviño [00:14:09] You know, when, when you were talking about that, you guys are worldwide. There’s so many things going on right now. And you mentioned Guyana. You know, right now that’s the newest find. That’s the hottest play as far as world oil goes down there in, in South America. Yeah. Are you having any issues with what’s going on with Venezuela? Do you, you know, or, you know, do you have people that are not wanting to go down there, or do you have more people that are willing to go down there right now with just all the uncertainties that are going on down in that way right now? What are y’all seeing around the world as far as the different conflicts?

Drew Ludlow [00:14:42] Yeah. You know, I always say go where the danger is. That’s where the pay is the most. But you know, the the hazard paying these operators to treat you really well. And coming from a guy who’s been kidnaped a few times, it’s not that bad,It’s not that bad.

[00:15:00] There’s a few times in there.

Keith Stelter [00:15:01] Oh, man.

Drew Ludlow [00:15:02] Yeah, there’s a few stories.

Rey Treviño [00:15:04] Oh, my God.

Keith Stelter [00:15:05] One of you.

Drew Ludlow [00:15:07] Will tell the stories after.

Rey Treviño [00:15:09] You go after the. Yeah, but yeah,

Drew Ludlow [00:15:12] From a. From a, a safety standpoint. You know, I’ve been able to navigate, 50 countries and drill wells in those 50 countries. There’s always been a little bit of dicey situations how this is going to play out. I personally believe it’s it’s a publicity stunt. Nobody’s going to go in and, tell ExxonMobil, what they can and can’t do after they found oil. That’s, that’s against all international law. Unfortunately, what it does is it destabilizes, a great, great program that has a lot of, a lot of teeth and a lot of growth marching up through 2028, dealing with A-lister and and the team down, in Guyana. It’s a it’s a long growth play and we believe strongly in the market. We have great leadership down in Guyana and we have contracts with all the operators down there. So if Guyana is somewhere that you want to work or if you, find yourself being called to that, that oil field project, it’ll definitely be something that’s going to be on the radar for the next 10 to 15 years. It’ll definitely be interesting as well to to watch Chevron’s integration. You know, they integrated well with Noble Energy in the East Med and taking over the Leviathan and Marib projects. So it’ll be very, interesting to see how they, integrate with the acquisition of Amerada Hess.

Rey Treviño [00:16:38] Yo, do you think, you know, on my side of things? You know, I think that’s probably going to be a pretty smooth transition that Chevron is going to make, down there. I mean, did you see there being any issues with that, or do you think it should be, a pretty decent one.

Drew Ludlow [00:16:52] I think it’s I think it’s a great acquisition. I think it’ll be a very smooth transition. These tier one operators are great at integrating, other tier one operators or tier two? Tier three? They’re pros at it. That’s how they grow. They grow.

Keith Stelter [00:17:06] It’s not their first rodeo.

Drew Ludlow [00:17:07] Yeah, it definitely not. Not their first country their. And look what happened. You know Chevron getting kicked out of Thailand. You know they they drilled in Thailand for 40 years. And you know the Thai government had to re tender and, and awarded the work to the local operator kicking Chevron out. So Chevron knows the score of how to navigate these countries. And they’ll do very, very well in Guyana. Another interesting, market down in that area to watch is Argentina. Argentina has just been, desecrated by, poor policy, over the past 100 years. Yeah. And as we see, new leadership come in. It’ll be interesting to watch how they develop as a, a juggernaut in that, that region, because they’ve got a great gas supply and they can they got great shipping routes up, up into Europe. So.

Keith Stelter [00:17:55] Well, with all this focus, you know, we’re talking internationally. You are the US manager. We all know about the Permian and the power it plays. Where do you see is like the second best place in the U.S for focusing on 2024 projects. Where do you think is, you know, besides the Permian? Where where do you think is? Tier. Tier two. I guess if if Permian tier one wears tier two.

Drew Ludlow [00:18:23] Yeah, I, I could probably zone end on. On a couple different things here to really make, make this decision but just to kind of fly over it. You know, New Mexico has always been a really good place to drill. Unfortunately, they have the most aggressive regulatory body, you know, charging $1,500. I think it’s per BTU that’s, that’s admitted or or some figure like that coming up here in 2024. So it’d be interesting to watch kind of how that oil field, adheres to these new, regulatory, bodies. To answer your question directly, Keith, I think that, the Marcellus area, is going to be hot. I think Wyoming always has consistent drilling, and the North Dakota area has always shown to be, very resilient. ukti. And what they’re doing up in the Marcellus Shale area, could really, really have some strong implications for Europe if we’re able to get some type of LNG facility, or some type of transportation facility. I think really, though, if we focus as in, as an industry on taking our waste energy or just our waste products, and we do something with those, I think we could do a lot, just with that alone, in our own backyard.

Keith Stelter [00:19:42] Recently, you know, the administration, you know, even though they might be a little. Not try to get too political here. Anti oil and gas has approved a few pipelines in the you know the northeast here. Do you think that’s enough to get that area going again. Or do you think it’s just too little to too late kind of kind of deal.

Drew Ludlow [00:20:02] You know any pipelines a good pipeline? People don’t realize that when people when pipelines get installed, trucks get off the road. And that means that your children, your grandmothers. That means that people that you love come home every day. And I’m not saying that truck drivers are the ones that cause accidents, that, you know, we all can cause accidents. Less, less cars on the road is safer for us all. And

Keith Stelter [00:20:25] Congestion, it’s a big deal.

Drew Ludlow [00:20:26] Not just that. Most of the pipelines in America, were built in the 60s and 70s, and most of them were built with what’s called Youngstown’s steel

Keith Stelter [00:20:35] I mean.

Drew Ludlow [00:20:35] This this steel has a bead on it, and it’s it’s eroding. It’s eroding water tables. It’s eroding. You know, what’s your crop? It’s really doing some damage. And so these pipelines need to be approved. You know, Warren Buffett and the people that that run the, the trucks and the trains, you know, there’s always going to be a displacement. You’re always going to displace somebody’s market by installing this pipeline. And so you have strong lobbyists that are lobbying against these pipelines. Flat out. There’s no better way to transport oil in oil and energy other than pipeline. There’s no safer way.

Rey Treviño [00:21:15] You know, I’m glad. You know, I’m glad you brought that up. It’s like, you know, here it is. Warren Buffett, who’s, you know, the Oracle of Omaha. Very smart guy. And you see him always talking about anti oil and it really it’s really about anti pipelines. Why. Because Berkshire Hathaway has a majority of BNSF railroad. And guess what. They’re the ones that are sending that oil from North Dakota down to Cushing and all the other refineries. And no he doesn’t want the pipelines just from a business standpoint. He could care less about the safety or the, what Indian reservations are being affected by it. It’s that’s taking money out of his pocket. But, you know, I felt like a minute ago, I wanted to say that’s the crude truth about when he said, hey, adding more pipelines creates more safety on the highways. It does make it less congested. And it does.

Keith Stelter [00:22:03] It lowers energy.

Rey Treviño [00:22:04] Yeah. And it lowers your energy.

Keith Stelter [00:22:06] Jobs. It creates more certainty and access to other places of the United States. A really good.

Rey Treviño [00:22:12] You know what else it does? It also lures our emissions in a carbon monoxide footprint. Is that correct Keith?

Keith Stelter [00:22:17] I hate this topic because CO2 is 0.04% of the atmosphere inside the top three. Know like it’s. I get why like I just I but if we really should know if we.

Drew Ludlow [00:22:31] Really talk about like what what is the number one polluter in in all of this. And the number one polluter is your air conditioning unit. And unfortunately, your air conditioning unit here is either running off natural gas or running off the power that supplied the air conditioning unit in Iraq is being run off of diesel, and they only have six hours of power in Erbil. And so the diesel generators are popping up and powering all of Erbil, Iraq. So you go in and try to supply them a pipeline or supply them a train route to get them. And then you have a diesel mafia that blocks you from doing all of that because you’re displacing their market. So we go back to the Warren Buffett and the BNSF. I don’t know if you guys have tried to do business with BNSF, but it’s very difficult to even get them to return your phone call. So there’s a monopoly here and there’s blocking that’s going on. But at the end of the day, I want to make sure that people go home to their families with what they came to work with. And in order to do that, we’ve got to reduce trucks off road. In order to do that, we need to install more pipelines.

Keith Stelter [00:23:38] I’m over almost to the thinking that there’s such a population growth, there’s such a demand growth in energy. You know, we’ve brought the lower class up to spend. And like I remember being as a poor farm kid, we didn’t have half the things we have now. We’re just it seems everyone’s got a few TV like we had one tiny TV, right? Everybody has at least a couple TVs in the house. It doesn’t matter what class it is. So I’m almost of the thought, like there’s enough room for BNSF to keep hauling their oil and the pipeline because there’s such a growth demand of energy. And I think we all start to have to start playing in the sandbox a little bit better. And I think that communication, because the only people that are really getting hurt now with the inflation is just regular people trying to make make their way. Right. And if you lower energy costs, that ultimately is going to fix a lot of these issues were have it and I am a true believer of that that there’s at this point enough to go around. I maybe that’s naive, maybe that’s silly, but I think there’s enough demand for oil and gas. For a staffing company such as oven, and that should be a great outlook because both need step the railway company, for maintaining their lines, a pipeline company for expansion midstream. And that’s, I think, worldwide, right, is that the population’s growing and their energy demands is growing. We need more energy not cutting one off. Not saying we’re going to replace one with the other. We need need both. That’s why I’m not really against any of the green energy initiatives. If it produces energy, bring it on because we we definitely need more of.

Drew Ludlow [00:25:20] Well, we’ve been very successful. NSB Omega and and building some of the largest, you know, mono platforms, tops, you name it, whether it’s out of Singapore, down in Sealy, up in Borger, Texas, over in rodeo, California, we’ve got people everywhere that can execute these these projects that are very, very difficult. I know the Willow project is coming up in Alaska that just got approved, that will be manufactured down in Sealy as well, will be involved with that. So any of these projects that are these major juggernaut projects that you see that you want to go to work for, we probably have a contract with the operator and could get you in, to that position. So please go to our website. NSB omega.com. Look at the jobs that are posted there. There’s jobs posted all over Newfoundland. I just got back from Saint John’s. It was the coldest trip I’ve ever taken in my life. The people that the people that live in Saint John’s are amazing, hardy people. I’ve been to Scotland. I’ve been through some really cold places, but nowhere, competes with the wind, coming off of the Atlantic sea and Saint John’s.

Rey Treviño [00:26:34] Yeah. No, I’m about. Wow, I yeah, I remember talking to you about that. We were scheduled this, and I just felt the cold.

Drew Ludlow [00:26:40] I’m cold sitting here and about it.

Rey Treviño [00:26:42] Hey, I want to switch gears for a minute, and, because I had commented on your awesome lapel, you know, if anybody watches my show, I always have to do my best. I have a different lapel on are one of the several. That one’s awesome. It’s, the star David. The Jewish star with the Texas flag in there. Obviously, Greg Abbott came across a couple of big last months in Texas, stays with Israel. Let’s talk about that. Just for a minute. That’s all right. I say what it stands for in the group, if that, because we met at a political deal, down in Houston for Lauren Boebert. So I know, you know. Well, we were joking off air about, you know, you know, being pro-American, not trying to go too much into that, but there ain’t nothing wrong with it. But back to the star in your lapel. Can we talk about that just real quick?

Drew Ludlow [00:27:23] Yeah, absolutely. So. Right. I had met at a low it Lauren Boebert, fundraiser down in the Houston area. But if I get back to my lapel pin, you know, I’ve been deteccao I’ve been to Auschwitz, I’ve been to these, places. I’ve sat in these cold rooms. I was also, fortunate enough to develop the Leviathan and Mary B, fields off the coast of, Israel and actually live in Israel for two years. And Syria. Israel. So I’m very partial to, the Israeli people. I stand with Israel and, and the star David. And this lapel pin, represents Texas, standing with, the Israeli people. And what’s going on? We can never forget what happened on October 7th and what’s been happening over the past 40 years. And we must stand with, with the people that, stand for righteousness and, and and marked down terrorism.

Rey Treviño [00:28:27] You know, on a on a business note there, you mentioned the fields off Israel. And there’s a lot of natural gas there that know that this does not get any talk about. And it’s funny how people want to continue to take Israel when they have some of the largest natural gas reserves in the world. And yet that’s probably the main reason, no different than why Ukraine was invaded in Russia because of their natural gas or their oil fields that they have there, and Guyana as well. With Venezuela right now that we talked about a little while ago. So I’m glad you brought up those fields in Israel, because nobody talks about those because those are offshore, if I’m correct. Right. Yeah. And the rumor I keep hearing and you might be able to do as I hear there’s a ton of oil are natural gas under their feet all around Israel, but they just won’t drill on land have.

Drew Ludlow [00:29:18] So the poor pressures down, in the Mediterranean are difficult. So the Lavon Basin runs from Eni’s discovery in Egypt all the way up to Cyprus. You know, total and, and, Exxon have made discoveries up and dial Cyprus next will be Turkey, once they can get their political situation underway. So to actually talk about the volumes of gas, we’ve, we found, I think, 3.1 TCF, which is, which is enough. That’s trillion cubic feet. So that’s enough gas and just the leviathan, discovery in Israel for about 30 years. So we made them energy independent for. 30 years. And I’m actually happy to promote or state that ex pro actually still has that work. And my backing unit is still in the high for, for it, turning out, connections even as this war rages on

Rey Treviño [00:30:12] you know, Drew, again, you know, kind of like what we talked about. It’s like God knows what conversations I with him with Mr. Seltzer here. I was very impressed with that. And, and and your, fiancé about what you wanted to do, but to be in the staffing industry now, to be putting people in jobs, literally in places that you have been, what a better person to talk to the new going. You want to know what’s going on out there? I’ll give you the Crude Truth that as obviously my show is called. So I think it’s so cool of a new position that you’re in and you’ve only been they’ve been there that the most amount of time yet, but you’re already doing things and just thriving out there. So I think this was just such a lack of better words. Match made in heaven for you to be where you’re at now just because you’re oh darn, it’s very true.

Drew Ludlow [00:30:57] I appreciate that. And yeah, I’m coming on about 90 days, but I feel like I’ve been in, recruiting, staffing industry my whole life. I really enjoy helping people, and getting them placed so that they can go to work and show their skills and, and really, show the world what the energy industry can do and what we could do with, you know, I’m just a, farm guy from from Oregon. I raised Christmas trees. And to think that I had made a difference all over the world is, is shocking and quite humbling, to me. And, man, I couldn’t have done it without, some great support of, friends like Mr. Stelter here, and.

Keith Stelter [00:31:35] I don’t, I did not pay them to keep saying that, but.

Drew Ludlow [00:31:38] Yes, miss checks in the mail.

Keith Stelter [00:31:39] It’s it is a great,

Drew Ludlow [00:31:41] I paid monthly.

Keith Stelter [00:31:42] Helping somebody find a job like I did. There’s a lot of thought that hate forward Friday and and I had some great stories from that and I I’ve had people come out, man, you helped me get a job. And sometimes it was so long ago where I was like, hey, who are you again? Sorry, who the hell did I so it’s

Rey Treviño [00:31:58] well, you know, the new thing is it’s it’s there’s to say, good to see you. That’s a new thing to say, because whether or not you’ve seen them before, you never seen them before. I’m gonna have. Good to see you. It’s like, you know, because, like, when we talked on the phone a couple of weeks back and it was like we met like, oh my God, yes, we did. And, you know, it changed the whole conversation that quick. But it’s like, that’s what I told about new people a couple weeks ago. It’s like, good to see you. And I’m like, never met you. But I get it. So it’s like to see.

Keith Stelter [00:32:26] Or recognize you from LinkedIn. It’s big. You are pretty. I like going for a company Christmas party. And we had a dude salesman and he’s like, guy’s name’s Barney. Hey, Barney, how’s it going? He’s like, he. I want to thank you. You helped me get this job. And I was like, what? And he’s like, you commented who to talk to when, I was looking for a job, and that guy hired me, and I was like, oh, okay. Right on. Sounds great.

Rey Treviño [00:32:49] Well, you know, Keith, again, I want to say thank you to you for coming on and co-host.

Keith Stelter [00:32:54] Thank you For having him.

Rey Treviño [00:32:54] Obviously, you too are. You know, y’all been friends for a long time. And when I had, when drew said, hey, you know, when I asked you to come on. And he actually said yes, I was like, Keith, come on. Not so for everybody out there that doesn’t know you, you know, how can they find you? How can they find American safety? Services?

Keith Stelter [00:33:12] Yes, sir. American safety services. Great place in the Permian. You can find me on LinkedIn. I I’m sure I’ve come up in your feed. I am knowing that way. I tried not to be, but, it sure has happened. You can get Ahold of me, Keith Stelter. Search it on LinkedIn. I will come up. Somebody we’re we’re connected probably by a second connection.

Drew Ludlow [00:33:35] His dance videos.

Keith Stelter [00:33:36] You know, so I. Eastbound, yes. Dance videos those ones are great. Yes. I look like the guy doing the great dance and everyone tags me.

Rey Treviño [00:33:44] I do like the cowboy hat, too. Good for our listeners. Keith came in with a nice black velvet. You can tell it’s it’s it’s wintertime. And, I like Sugar Chesney. But no, I mean, so the book’s very nice. And speaking of your kicks, drew, drew. And I know nobody can see these, but but I took it up. North Carolina blue. Nike’s today, and it’s there looking very.

Drew Ludlow [00:34:06] I’d like to give a quick shout out to, Rogers Fashion and, Bangkok, Thailand. Off. Sorry. Six. Man, I tell you, Rogers fashion, Dan and Bobby, they keep you looking fresh. You know, it’s got to be it’s got to be the wide lapel. You know, there’s there’s certain things that just have to be. So

Rey Treviño [00:34:25] No. You look,

Drew Ludlow [00:34:27] They don’t make cowboy hats yet, Keith. But. Hey, Dan. Bobby, if you’re listening, check it out.

Rey Treviño [00:34:32] Well, Drew, again, I cannot thank you enough for coming on. Talk about NSB Omega, if you can. You know, for individuals out there that, you know, haven’t heard of you. And again, you know, I did you a disservice by saying, you know, people across the state, people across the world do know you and your face and your name, but how can people get Ahold of you, especially individuals that are looking to get place and new careers?

Drew Ludlow [00:34:56] Yeah, absolutely. And thank you so much for. Having me on today is better. Just an honor to come up here and, into the Dallas Fort Worth market. I have been up here in a while, so, great to see some of the, faces, here and the Dallas area. To answer your question directly. I’m on LinkedIn. I don’t do social media other than LinkedIn. So you can’t find me on Facebook or TikTok or any of those things, but, LinkedIn, you can find me at, NSB Omega dot com, where our software is, you can upload and make yourself a portal there. And the best way to do it is just to ping me that you’ve uploaded your resume and the type of work that you’re, looking, looking for. And, I’ll have a conversation with you, and we’ll we’ll start to go to work for you.

Rey Treviño [00:35:41] Oh, man. Well, God, I so thank you all so much for coming in. And yes.

Keith Stelter [00:35:45] I know we’re gone long, but I got to ask you, are you still working with that great group that you were helping? Some folks who may have been in trouble before and, you helped get them off the. I think it’d be doing a disservice if you are still working with that group to not mention it a little bit. If your time with them is past that. I’m sure they could edit this last bit out, but I always liked, the little work you did with that group. If if you can talk.

Drew Ludlow [00:36:12] Yeah, absolutely. So, I like to do, philanthropy work. I don’t really talk about it much, publicly, but, since you brought it up, Keith, I’ll, I.

Keith Stelter [00:36:21] I want to demonstrate what a good human being this guy is.

Drew Ludlow [00:36:24] I am, I have a strong pull to, helping convicts, and helping them, once they come out of, incarceration. And so I work, as a volunteer for an organization out of Las Vegas called Hope for prisoners. And we have an 18 month program. Once the prisoner is selected for the program and he’s coming out of incarceration for 20 plus years, I think it is, he gets put into an 18 month program, and, that 18 month program helps him get, driver’s license, helps him find a job. Really just kind of helps him integrate back into society. Take, for example, this gentleman doesn’t even know what an iPhone is because he’s been incarcerated so long. So it’s just helping him with what would be a simple question for you and I. But it’s very difficult for him. It’s hard for him to get his driver’s license, find reasonable housing as a felon. So it’s in my heart to come alongside of these gentlemen. I work with, usually 1 or 2 individuals every 18 months, and, we graduate them, into a wonderful life. I just graduated my second, prisoner, he’s, welder for, the F1 racetrack up in Las Vegas, and, is the top rated union welder. And,

Keith Stelter [00:37:43] Well, he was definitely not the guy that welded that manhole cover down.

Drew Ludlow [00:37:45] No, no, he’s the railing. The railing only. Let’s clarify. There was not the manhole cover, but, yeah, that’s, a little bit about, my philanthropy work. And if you’d like to get involved, there’s lots of, write ups. We just did 101, Days of Christmas where we pulled all of the prisoners out and allowed them, time with their families, in a in a safe environment. So we do all kinds of different programs. I hope to bring this, program down to Texas as well, as it’s currently just based in, and Las Vegas under John Ponder. So, yeah, if you’re interested in getting involved, with Hope, you can become a mentor by going to their website. Hope for prisoners.com. And you can, apply to be a mentor there and, and give back to your community.

Rey Treviño [00:38:41] That’s awesome. I didn’t know you did that. That’s really cool.

Keith Stelter [00:38:44] I figured it was. It was worth noting. Thanks, buddy.

Rey Treviño [00:38:48] Guys, I cannot thank you all enough for coming on again. And, Drew, a, you are just in so many different things from Israel to helping out, you know, individuals here in America from that have been incarcerated to people finding the jobs and, like you said, putting food on the table. Keith, thank you for co-hosting with me today.

Keith Stelter [00:39:05] Hopefully I did it right and, didn’t embarrass myself and edit some added you a clicker to it at the same time. Is that what it’s about?

Rey Treviño [00:39:14] It is it is. Well, to all my listeners and to all the people that got to watch this episode, thank you, as always, for tuning in to another episode. And we will see you again on another episode of The Crude Truth.

Keith Stelter [00:39:26] Because that is The Crude Truth.