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If you happen on an "acronym" you don't know what it means, put your mouse arrow on top of it and you get an explanation. The near future offshore employment: The majority of new oil exploration and production happens in very deep water. Therefore floating drilling, production, and storage units will increase in numbers. These do not need many long pipe lines at the sea bottom, which would be expensive and difficult to maintain. So employment on FPSO tankers and SPAR-rigs will increase, which means more ballast operators. A SPAR-rig is like a big floating drum with some ballast to keep it up-right and then the machinery on top. In March 2008 there were 115 FPSO in service worldwide, with more than 50 vessels under construction or being planned. In June 2008 there were a total of 140 MODUs under construction ( including 43 drillships ) and in July 2008 it was reported that in the next 5 years (2008-2012) 123 new floating production units will enter service. During 2008-2012 the majority of deep water development is expected to take place in offshore West Africa and Brazil, later in the period followed by Indonesia, Malaysia, and India. Deepwater is defined as over 1.000 feet, while ultra-deepwater is over 5.000 feet. The majority of new deepwater exploration during this time period is expected in West Africa. About 28 new deepwater rigs were under construction in Aug. 2008. These are expected to enter service before 2010. During 2009-2013 offshore deepwater capital spending ( investments ) is expected to increase from 15 to 20 + % of total offshore spending. Most deepwater locations are more remote from the "civilization", which can mean longer periods on duty on the rigs. Fixed drilling rigs will continue to exist for some time ( with their pipelines ) but getting older and needing more underwater maintenance. Therefore the need for ROV and UUV operators and technicians is increasing. The number of seismic research vessels and ROV support vessels are strongly rising. Between years 2007 and 2010 the offshore oil-gas industry needs worldwide (estimated) new personnel:
Get Overview of Canadian Oil Industry - Exploration and Development ( written 2005 ?). The total number of roustabouts on any one oil field is not great. The number varies depending on the current amount of exploration and production work. Normally the roustabouts are hired locally at different geographic locations depending on where the rig / MODU is. Get on a virtual tour of the Captain Platform in the North Sea north of Aberdeen. You need Flash to see it. Changing Job MarketsThe current ( 2009 ) "economic crisis" is having some effects on open vacancies offshore in the short term. As some producers ( Saudi ) have already cut down on the production also some new exploration and/or production start-ups can be postponed. I would expect mainly older rigs taken out of production and scheduled for overhaul / maintenance. Therefore the demand for new drilling crews should come down while the demand for maintenance crews should increase. This would mean less demand at top of the "skills ladder" and higher demand on lower level manpower. Especially so in the Persian Gulf and possibly rest of Middle East.During first half of 2009 one can expect smaller subsea service contractors experiencing lower demand, which also means less demand for new personnel. Deepwater projects, however, are mostly big projects with long lead times ( running for 15-20 years ) and even a strong downturn in available credits on the financial markets won't have much effect. These projects will proceed according to schedule. Even some new deepwater projects can be expected to start in 2009. These would be high tech projects requiring highly skilled personnel ( see below ). The possible lay-offs of personnel in times of "crisis" are sometimes in reality a re-structuring of the workforce. The employers get rid of some "redundancies", while at the same time hiring more educated and skillful people. If we would know what kinds of people are being sacked, it would probably be clear that these are mostly "non-employable". In other words the "skills ladder" is getting little bit top heavy, also offshore. We should, however be aware, that all the time / every day writing, reading, hearing about the Economic Crisis can create a self-fulfilling prognosis. As long as nobody comes forward with stories about those companies that still are running full speed with no problems the situation of course looks gloomy. But all companies all over the world do not have economical problems. On May 8, 2009, one of the first optimistic reports was published about a possible economic turnaround. Mainly because of rising oil prices. A longer term change in the worldwide "promotion ladder" can be expected. Traditionally this has started from a roustabout via roughneck to driller and occasionally all the way to Offshore Installation Manager ( OIM ) - see diagram to the right. This will in the future be broken after roughneck / floorhand, or may be after Derrickman, as new rigs are equipped with PC-controlled drilling ( The first experimental training courses started in 2007 and focused on drilling / well site foremen / supervisors [ 4 pages ]. Parallel with this there is a tendency to try to automate many processes, which goes well together with computer control. The automation will in the long term further reduce the number of roustabouts and roughnecks. There is, in connection to a patent application, a long detailed technical description of a automated rig drilling control management system. You need some geophysical / drilling technique /computer knowledge to fully understand the text. There is an overview article, written in somewhat more simple language, of automated drilling control from a remote drilling expert centre. Drilling Fluid ( "mud" ) systems have traditionally been manually mixed and controlled. There has been ( in 2008 ) experimental use of automated mixing control [ This requires college / university level graduates to be trained through a "multilayered sandwich" model training scheme. The new training schemes copies in fact the ship cadet training where classroom training alternates with actual work practice, i.e. practical drilling on a working rig and/or simulator training. For this kind of drilling control, manual work as roustabout / roughneck isn't relevant any more. Even many American university graduates need higher proficiency in mathematics and English. There is a tendency developing of possibly reducing offshore personnel by cross-training technicians at those service companies taking part in the digital control process - at an onshore location. This points to a possible goal in the future of unmanned automated offshore rigs remotely controlled from ashore. Lately a "new" job position has been popping up in job adverts and vacancy lists - Tour Pusher ( Tourpusher ). The usage of this term varies slightly from company to company. In the promotion ladder to the right I have adopted the meaning of Tour Pusher to be approximately "Assistant" Trainee Tool Pusher ( Toolpusher ). It means the Tour Pusher is the junior man working during the night shift when the Tool Pusher (senior) is sleeping. In a ship owning / operating company the Toolpusher would be the Operations Manager. |
Offshore
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↓ ↓ Roughneck Floorman / Floorhand ↓ ↓ Derrick Man ↓ ↓ Assistant Driller ↓ ↓ Driller ↓ ↓ Supervisor ↓ ↓ Night Pusher / Tour Pusher / Tool Pusher ↓ ↓ Offshore Installation Manager ( OIM ) Total 20 + years |

Please note 1: Jobs Available are changing all the time. I recommend you come back every one to two weeks and check job listings. Go to the job listings on each website below and check for new opportunities. Positions listed indicate the kind of jobs one usually finds on each website. It's very easy if you add this page to your "Favourites" (IE) or "Bookmarks" (Firefox). The links on this page leads to total over 1.000 open vacancies. Please note 2: When the recruiting agent have an on-line application form, you must use it - if you don't, your application goes straight into the waste basket. Please note 3: None of the listed recruiting agents on this page asks for any placement fee - neither in advance nor later. Please note 4: Every link on this page opens in a new window. If your "Pop-up killer" is too efficient it can also stop new windows. When this happens, please press "Ctrl" and click on the link you want. Advice on Working OffshorePlease note 5: Basic Seafarer course is not valid offshore. For offshore employment everybody must have special Offshore Survival ("BOSIET"), Fire-fighting and Medical Certificates. Usually agent or employer can advice further where to get these in a specific country.
With the increase of floating drilling and production units there is now an increasing grey area where it's not always clear whether to apply STCW-95 or offshore certification rules. As a "rule of thumb" one can say, if a floating unit is classified as a ship ( for instance drilling ship ) STCW AND OFFSHORE certificates are required. If it's not classified as a ship ( for instance "MODU" ) only offshore certificates are mandatory and work contracts are individual, not ITF based (see below). For income tax purposes UK Court of Appeals decided in 2003 two ( self propelled ?) jack-up rigs in the North Sea were ships within the meaning of English ( British ) law. Both rigs were registered as ships with the Panamanian registry. They had tonnage and loadline certificates and they had to comply, for instance, with both GMDSS and MARPOL. Specific training and certification requirements can vary by geographical location according to local requirements and regulations. It's therefore necessary to apply only to suitable vacancies and to clearly specify what certificates you have.
A roughneck ( Floorhand ) is the entry level position at an oil rig's drilling section, a drill deck worker with some experience, may be as roustabout. To find and get a job on oil rig as roustabout or rough neck it's easiest - if it's possible for you - to appear personally at the agent's / employer's office and apply directly. Entry level jobs are seldom advertised on the Internet - there are so many applicants. From among applicants without previous offshore experience the preferred candidates are individuals with a technical work background, i.e. several years experience as fitters, certified welders, navigators, engineers, electricians, and/or mechanics. A rigger [ US legal definition ] is: "anyone who attaches or detaches lifting equipment to loads or lifting devices" on fixed offshore platforms. |
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Offshore Salary ExamplesGet ITF's Standard Offshore Agreement ( for seafarers ) with minimum salary scale - 01.01.2008.Offshore salaries ( wages ) are calculated and based on a 84 hrs work week, i.e. 12 hrs per day 7 days per week. When the job listings give a day rate you won't get paid when you relax at home. If the day rate is USD 300 and rotation two weeks on / two weeks off, you get about 15 x 300 = USD 4.500 per month. Because the offshore salaries / day rates are calculated on a 84 hour work week overtime isn't paid offshore - it's of course done but no extra compensation. From a salary viewpoint there's no difference in working on a Sunday or Holiday afternoon or, for instance, on a Thursday afternoon. Many employees offshore are being turned into sub-contractors. This means mostly short time contracts with a day rate pay. Each sub-contractor is then individually and personally responsible for his own taxes, social security, pension fund, insurance etc. Note that the actual salary paid a certain person depends very much on number of years offshore, his/her actual work experience, and the geographical location of the job site. One UK £ ( GBP ) equals about 1.2 € ( Euro ) or about 1.5 USD ( December 2008 ). A driller in the North Sea can expect to earn UK £ 37.000-47.000 per year. Roustabouts can start at about UK £ 18.000 per year and with a few years experience come up to about UK £ 22.000 per year. A roughneck, who already have previous experience as roustabout can on his promotion expect about UK £ 25.000 per year. In April / May 2008 a lobby group carried out a salary survey among engineers working in the UK North Sea sector. They found: - Engineers £ 29.000-36.000 per year - Project Engineers £ 33.700-45.200 per year - Senior Project Engineers £ 37.000-52.900 per year, and - Technical Managers up to £ 74.000 per year More examples from vacancy lists: - Electrician - North Sea, £ 30.000 + per year - Electronic Technician - North Sea, £ 36.000 + per year - Piping Engineer - North Sea, £ 40-60 per hour |
In July 2008 a Toolpusher was offered a dayrate of USD 592 per day on a Jack Up in the Middle East and in October an Electronics Technician was offered the same (28/28 rotation). September 2008 banksman / slinger was offered € (Euro) 100 per day in the North Sea. Also Sept. 2008 Control Room Operator on Semi-Submersible vessel offshore in the Mediterranean was offered € 150 per day [ transport and insurance provided ]. Get UK national average salary rates in UK £ per year for different positions in the Offshore Oil Gas Industry sector. In December 2008 a Rigger was offered UK £ 20 per hour in the North Sea - $ 65 - 100 per day in Latin America, all travel included. On Australian oil rigs a roustabout's salary ranges between Australian $ 55-70.000 per year ( about US $ 3.500-4.500 per month ). Offshore Employment OpportunitiesPlease note: All links on this page opens in a new window. If your "Pop-up killer" is too efficient it can also stop new windows. When this happens, please press "Ctrl" and click on the link you want.
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Guidelines for the safe management of offshore supply and anchor handling operations ( North Sea ) [ Deck and engine crew should look also on Cruise Liner Job Links and Cargo Ship Job Links. Land based jobs are on Marine-Maritime Job Links page, including marine engineering jobs. On the same page you find also employment links to the major oil companies: Aramco, Chevron, BP, Shell, etc. For marine personnel there are occasional opportunities on emergency response and rescue vessels. Are you a senior marine engineer ? Read Marine Engineers and Cancer. Are you still searching for your "dream job" ? If you try my job search engine, type as specific job description as possible. Example: trainee offshore directional driller job west africa. Include the word "job" or "employment", otherwise the search engine doesn't "know" you are looking for a job. When you click on "Search" the search engine will check over 200 vacancy lists at all companies listed here. If you don't find what you look for today, come back next week or the week after. There is a new vacancy every day somewhere in the world. If you hesitate on how to write your CV ( résumé ) go to "How to Write a Maritime Job Application". Everything is not as such directly applicable to offshore work applications, but you can still get some usable advice and tips. The worst and longest running employment scam in the offshore oil sector has been active since year 2000. They have been known to offer offshore oil rig jobs to available workers also in Asia. There are also other money scams, targeting not only seamen but also offshore professionals. These have been running with increased activity since 2007. May be because there are so many hopeful candidates who do not know enough about offshore employment requirements and recruiting procedures. See Don Pedro's Nigerian and Other Employment-Money Scam Examples. There's another list of company names used in scams targeting especially offshore oil employees and jobseekers. Languages available: |
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