Family Values: Murray Casing Crews Weathers Five Decades in the Oil Business

Not many business owners can look back to their beginnings and give credit to a big ol’ elm tree in the back yard for getting things off the ground – literally.

But Steve and Tom Murray realize that the tree at their family’s home on Holland Street was at the root of Murray Casing Crews, located at 2910 Railroad Avenue since 1985. Steve and Tom are co-owners of the oilfield service company that celebrated its 50th anniversary in January; their parents, John and Ruth Murray, started the company that is perhaps the only business of its kind in the area to survive five decades.

Murray Legacy – Tom (sitting) and Steve Murray pose for a photo with one of their power tong trucks and tongs used in Murray Casing Crews business. The brothers carry forward a business that began in 1958 by their father, John, who died in 1970.

“The elm tree was strong enough to use as a hoist,” Steve said. “They could change out different pieces of equipment for different types of jobs that were called for. This was used before our company was established enough to have a shop to work from.”

From those beginnings, Murray Casing has been on call for more than 437,000 hours, responding to oil drillers who need its expertise. John Murray died in 1970 but Ruth is still active in the Desk & Derrick Club and keeps up on the business.

The Murrays realize that oilfield lingo can be confusing to the layperson so they defined “casing” as a string of pipe.

 “We are called only if there is a successful well,” Steve said. “We lay down the drill string that they drill the hole with and then run the production pipe into the well. Other companies cement that string into place after we leave.

Murray Fleet – Shown is Murray’s main truck line. The two trucks in the foreground run pipe from 7 inches to 13 3/8 inches in diameter.  The three trucks in the background run pipe from 1 inch to 7 inches in diameter. Murray rounds out its fleet with two more field trucks and two trucks used by Tom and Steve. The business has grown from John and Ruth, who used an elm tree as a hoist to a business today that employs 12 people full-time, along with some part-time help as needed.

 “We pick up the pipe, one at a time and screw them together to make one solid pipe,” Steve added. “This is done with power tongs that bite onto the pipe that goes into the hole being drilled.”

When a well is drilled, two different strings of pipe are set. One is surface pipe that is 8 5/8 inches in diameter. It is set to protect the fresh water zone and to prevent contaminated water from breaking into the well bore.

 “If enough oil is found, we also will run a 4.5- or 5.5-inch casing,” Steve continued. “It will be put in place and set on the bottom of the well.”

Ninety-five percent of Murray’s business is in central and northwest Kansas. But it still responds to drilling rigs in Oklahoma, Colorado and Nebraska. At one time, the business had branches in Liberal, Kingman and Hays, along with two in Ohio.

Murray currently employs 12 full-timers, with four to a crew. It uses part-time help when necessary, and the Murray brothers go out on jobs occasionally.

Murray Crew – A power tong operator and two floor hands for Murray Casing Crews prepares to release the pipe elevator and use it to pick up the next joint of 10 3/4" pipe to be made.

“We have a list of people to call,” Steve said. “And people walk in every day looking for work. We always take their names and numbers but finding qualified people can be a challenge. We want experienced people but the right person can learn on the job.

“It is dangerous work with not a lot of formal training available,” he added. “And we are on 24-hour call, seven days a week. Sometimes we are needed immediately because drilling companies are spending $300 to $400 an hour at a site. They have to keep it going. This winter when it was zero degrees and the wind was blowing 30 miles an hour, we were out there in it.”

Oilfield economy winds are also blowing strong and providing good paychecks for those willing and able.

Steve mentioned that President Ronald Reagan had his trickle-down theory that provided the more well-to-do people with certain financial incentives to build businesses and create more jobs for the less well-to-do. But Murray has its “trickle-up” theory.

Tools for a Big Job – A set of 5 1/2" casing elevators and slips are used to handle and hold the pipe in place while it is being run into the well.

“We are paying wages that enable our employees to buy things they haven’t been able to buy in the past,” Steve said. “Because of the good times in the oilfield, there are excellent salaries. Christmases are a lot whiter in the oilfield now. Guys on the rigs are now driving nicer vehicles to and from the drilling locations.

“However, there is no guaranteed salary,” Steve added. “They are paid by the job.”

These good times are similar to the oil-patch economy of the 1970s, Tom Murray recalled.

“People got a good start in the oil business and started families,” he said. “Guys that were here then went on to bigger jobs such as drilling superintendent after starting out at entry-level jobs.”

In the early 1980s, a lot of investors from outside the oil business lost a lot of money. But the worst time, according to the Murrays, was the mid- to late 1980s, when the oilfield went bust and central Kansas lost businesses and population. But Murray Casing Crews held on tight and lived to tell about it.

Snap-on thread protectors are placed on the threaded end of the pipe to protect the threads while the pipe is being picked up and put in place to screw together.

 “We survived the highs and lows,” Tom said. “While times were bad, costs were low to moderate because our payroll and fuel costs were down. People were going out of business but the rumor was that if the industry ever came back, the survivors will be on the front line of starting up new.”

Today’s oil boom actually started in 2000, Tom said, noting the gradual increase in oil prices in recent years. Investors are again showing interest in Kansas’s small, independent oil companies, which sell to the majors for what the majors are willing to pay.

 “There are many unpredictable factors,” Tom said. “We are at the mercy of people picking good spots to drill. People are setting pipe now in wells they wouldn’t have bothered with 15 to 20 years ago. The smaller producing wells of Kansas are now considered successful because the new price of oil will cover the expenses occurred in the exploration. Many of the older wells whose production had dropped to only two or three barrels a day were shut down for many years but are now being pumped again. Ninety-five percent of the marginal, or stripper, wells are now pumping. They can afford to fix them now.

 “The ‘80s and ‘90s hurt the industry,” he added. “People left because they couldn’t depend on it to make a living. It was a long-term bust but a lot have come back.”

For example, a former Murray employee has returned after 27 years and is now a key man in Murray’s operation. Tom also noted that in the past, there were 200 rigs in Kansas from Salina on west. That dropped to 20 at one point but is now back to about 80.

Ruth Murray, Tom and Steve’s mother, looked back on the early years and knows the reasons for the venture’s longevity.

 “We kept everything paid up,” Ruth said. “There was no debt. We paid our bills before we paid ourselves. And we succeeded because it is family.”