Pump Jacks, Roustabouts and Roughnecks

Petroleum News

“Pump Jacks, Roustabouts and Roughnecks: The Myths. Legends and Stories of Life in the Oil Field,” by John Schuelke is the latest book of short stories about the personal experiences of people who work in the oil and gas industry; many in Alaska.

Currently residing in Katy, Texas, John first came to Alaska with the military in 1980 when his father was transferred to Fort Greeley.

John attended high school in nearby Delta Junction for two and a half years before his father was re-assigned to Fort Hood, Texas.

The family returned to Fort Greely right after John graduated from high school.

John attended the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, for a couple of years and then transferred to Anchorage where he continued to pursue a degree in civil engineering from the University of Alaska, Anchorage.

After completing the degree, he went to work on the North Slope as a construction supervisor.

John continued a career in oil and gas construction management, primarily in Alaska, for the next 25 years.

In March 2020, he was released from ConocoPhillips and decided to pursue his dream of writing.

“Pump Jacks, Roustabouts, and Roughnecks” is based on John’s and others’ experiences working in the oil and gas industry. The stories, John said, “range in nature from heartwarming, funny, to heartbreaking.”

Currently gathering stories for a potential volume two, John is in the process of writing a fiction series about a serial killer in the oil patch.

- Petroleum News