UNITED STATES NEWS

Ukrainians move to North Dakota for oil field jobs to help families facing war back home

Aug 5, 2023, 9:35 PM

Maksym Bunchukov, Andrii Hryshchuk and Ivan Sakivskyi help themselves to perogies at a lunch hosted...

Maksym Bunchukov, Andrii Hryshchuk and Ivan Sakivskyi help themselves to perogies at a lunch hosted Monday, July 17, 2023, by the Ukrainian Cultural Institute in Dickinson, North Dakota. The three Ukrainians are among the first recruits of the North Dakota Petroleum Council's Bakken Global Recruitment of Oilfield Workers program. (AP Photo/Jack Dura)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS

(AP Photo/Jack Dura)

DICKINSON, N.D. (AP) — Maksym Bunchukov remembers hearing rockets explode in Zaporizhzhia as the war in Ukraine began.

“It was terrible,” he said. He and his wife sent their adult daughter west to Lviv for safety and joined her later with their pets.

Now, about 18 months after the war broke out, Bunchukov is in North Dakota, like thousands of Ukrainians who came over a century ago.

He is one of 16 new arrivals who are part of a trade group’s pilot effort through the Uniting for Ukraine humanitarian program to recruit refugees and migrants during a workforce shortage. Twelve more Ukrainians are scheduled to arrive by Aug. 15 as part of the North Dakota Petroleum Council’s Bakken Global Recruitment of Oilfield Workers program.

Some workers want to bring their families to North Dakota while others hope to return to Ukraine.

“I will try to invite my wife, invite my daughter, invite my cat and invite my dog,” Bunchukov told The Associated Press a week after his arrival.

The Bakken program has humanitarian and workforce missions, said Project Manager Brent Sanford, a former lieutenant governor who watched the Bakken oil rush unfold during his time as mayor of boomtown Watford City from 2010 to 2016.

The oil boom initially was met by an “organic workforce” of western North Dakotans with experience in oil field jobs elsewhere, but as the economy reeled from the Great Recession, thousands of people flocked to the Bakken oil field from other states and even other countries to fill high-wage jobs, Sanford said.

Technological advances for combining horizontal drilling and fracking — injecting high-pressure mixtures of water, sand and chemicals into rocks — made capturing the oil locked deep underground possible.

“People came by planes, trains and automobiles, every way possible from everywhere for the opportunity for work,” Council President Ron Ness said. “They were upside down on their mortgage, their life or whatever, and they could reset in North Dakota.”

But the 2015 downturn, coronavirus pandemic and other recent shocks probably led workers back to their home states, especially if moving meant returning to warmer and bigger cities, Sanford said. Workforce issues have become “very acute” in the last 10 months, Ness said.

Ness estimated there are roughly 2,500 jobs available in an oil field producing about 1.1 million barrels per day. Employers don’t advertise for every individual job opening, but post once or twice for many open positions, he said.

An immigration law firm told Ness that Uniting for Ukraine would fit well for North Dakota given its Ukrainian heritage, similar climate and agrarian people, he said.

The program’s sponsors, including company owners, managers and employees, agree to help Ukrainians find work, health care, schools for their children and safe and affordable housing.

About 160 Ukrainians have arrived in North Dakota, the majority in Bismarck, as part of Uniting for Ukraine, according to State Refugee Coordinator Holly Triska-Dally.

Applications from prospective sponsors from around the state have “gone up considerably” in recent months, likely due to more awareness but also Ukrainians who are “working and beginning to thrive” and filing to support their family, she said.

The two dozen or so Ukrainians might not seem like many arrivals on national or statewide scales, but they will make a significant difference for cities like Minot and Dickinson. The cities haven’t traditionally been major resettlement hubs, but now “there’s a strong likelihood” the workers’ families will join them, adding to the economy and schools, Triska-Dally said.

Bunchukov, who had jobs in mechanics and furniture sales in Ukraine, works for road contractor Baranko Bros. Inc. He and other new arrivals have experience in Alaska’s seafood industry. Others have worked on cruise ships or held different seasonal jobs. Because of those jobs, many workers already hold Social Security numbers and have studied English, Sanford said.

Dmytro Haiman, who said his English skills steered him toward the Bakken program, recalled sheltering with relatives in his grandmother’s cellar as the war began and bombs fell on his hometown, Chernihiv. In the first months of the war he drove people west to safety and brought canned food, medicine and even generators to Chernihiv amid supply shortages.

He told the AP he expected to work in water transportation and hopes to earn enough money to help his family, “to help us to rebuild our country.”

The Bakken program aims to recruit 100 workers by the end of 2023, and 400 after one year. Those 400 may not all be Ukrainians. Some will drive, start in shops or build roads, pads and fences, “everything from there up to well site operations,” Ness said.

The workers will start in construction and other basic jobs starting at $20 an hour and can rise quickly. They also can leave their jobs or the state while they’re in the Uniting for Ukraine program, which grants “humanitarian parole” lasting two years with a goal of a longer path beyond, but that depends on the federal government, Sanford said.

Four translators help workers with forms, training and community acclimation, Sanford said. One employer has rented eight apartments for workers, while others are in extended-stay hotels until they can find apartments.

Glenn Baranko, president of the contractor building paths to drilling rigs and providing environmental services in the oil field, planned to assign jobs to five initial workers based on their skillsets.

The labor shortage led his company to hire a full-time recruiter, “but there’s still a need,” said Baranko, whose great-grandfather came to the area from Ukraine.

At a recent lunch for several workers hosted by the Ukrainian Cultural Institute in Dickinson, the new arrivals crowded around a map to point out their hometowns. The cooks laid out dishes of rice rolls, beet bread, deviled eggs and filled dumplings called perogies.

The institute preserves the area’s Ukrainian heritage and has raised more than $10,000 for humanitarian aid since the war began in February 2022, institute Executive Director Kate Kessel said.

Mannequins wearing traditional garb, displays of decorated eggs and a Ukrainian library fill the institute’s space. A large banner bearing “Peace to Ukraine” stood over the people eating lunch at tables.

Ivan Sakivskyi, who works for Baranko, said he looks forward to opportunities for promotion, such as driving heavy equipment, and gaining new experience.

Though he doesn’t plan to live long-term in the U.S., Sakivskyi said he would like to return for work after visiting loved ones in his home country.

“My heart and my soul” are in Ukraine. “It’s my friends,” the Odesa native said. “It’s my family.”

United States News

The Iron Gate Dam is seen in Hornbrook, Calif., Sept. 17, 2023. The dam is one of a series of four ...

Associated Press

Things to know about the Klamath River dam removal project, the largest in US history

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The largest dam removal project in United States history is underway along the California-Oregon border. The project will remove four dams on the Klamath River. Work has already begun on removing the smallest of the four dams. The other three will come down next year. The project is part of a […]

36 minutes ago

FILE -Oakland County Judge Kwame Rowe looks towards witness during cross examination, July 27, 2023...

Associated Press

Michigan judge to decide whether Oxford High School shooter gets life in prison or chance at parole

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — A teenager who killed four students at Michigan’s Oxford High School will learn Friday whether he will spend his life in prison or get a chance for parole in the decades ahead. Judge Kwame Rowe will announce his decision over video conference, weeks after hearing from experts who clashed over Ethan […]

3 hours ago

FILE - From left, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., and Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa...

Associated Press

The far right has been feuding with McCarthy for weeks. Here’s how it’s spiraling into a shutdown.

WASHINGTON (AP) — With little time left to prevent a government shutdown, the House is in a familiar position: effectively paralyzed as conservatives feud with Speaker Kevin McCarthy over matters large and small. McCarthy has pushed the Republican conference to embrace a short-term funding plan that would also include a sweeping Republican proposal for the […]

4 hours ago

Associated Press

186.000 migrants and refugees arrived in southern Europe so far this year, most in Italy, UN says

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. refugee agency said Thursday that some 186,000 migrants and refugees arrived in southern Europe so far this year, the vast majority in Italy. Between January and Sept. 24, over 2,500 people seeking to cross the Mediterranean were found dead or are still missing, a significant increase from the 1,680 […]

4 hours ago

Associated Press

Hawaii authorities search for man with handgun he gets into scuffle on Army base and flees

HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii authorities were looking for a man who fled with a handgun after getting into a scuffle while trying to talk to soldiers at an Army base, officials said. No shots were fired but the Army treated it as an “active shooter situation” and two military bases on Oahu went into lockdown […]

5 hours ago

FILE - Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., leaves the chamber at the Capitol in Washingt...

Associated Press

McCarthy rejects Senate spending bill while scrambling for a House plan that averts a shutdown

A government shutdown appeared all but inevitable as House Speaker Kevin McCarthy dug in Thursday.

6 hours ago

Sponsored Articles

...

DAY & NIGHT AIR CONDITIONING, HEATING AND PLUMBING

Importance of AC maintenance after Arizona’s excruciating heat wave

An air conditioning unit in Phoenix is vital to living a comfortable life inside, away from triple-digit heat.

Sanderson Ford...

Sanderson Ford

Sanderson Ford congratulates D-backs’ on drive to great first half of 2023

The Arizona Diamondbacks just completed a red-hot first half of the major league season, and Sanderson Ford wants to send its congratulations to the ballclub.

...

Mayo Clinic

Game on! Expert sports physicals focused on you

With tryouts quickly approaching, now is the time for parents to schedule physicals for their student-athlete. The Arizona Interscholastic Association requires that all student-athletes must have a physical exam completed before participating in team practices or competition.

Ukrainians move to North Dakota for oil field jobs to help families facing war back home