Rig makers scramble to support energy boom

Shortage forces companies, contractors to look abroad and improvise

STERLING, Colo. – On the prairie of northeast Colorado, Roger Stumpff stands in a muddy lot and looks at the pieces of a giant blue-and-white drilling rig that have become the heart of his business.

Decades ago, Stumpff

Stumpff has nearly doubled his work force to 77 employees, and crews work long hours piling up overtime building mud tanks and other parts for drilling contractor Ensign USA. Still, he says,