Farang Salaries In Los

[TheAceFace]

A boyfriend of a friend makes $1200 per day tax free base rate plus $35 per hour tax free. He is health and safety on an oil rig offshore somewhere near LOS, barely ever gets his hands dirty.

Suspect he is telling porkie pies as well...cos the day rates for the HSE guys offshore are not that high in this neck of the woods...

Company men/drilling managers maybe (and higher), but not Safety Officers....

Why would an HSE officer ever get his hands dirty?

Besides, these days most HSE field people tend to be SEA nationals anyway. Managers may be expats, but it has been a long time since I saw an expat field HSE inspector.

TH

100% correct and have never seen a base rate paid + some much per hour, therefore based on the numbers given would be $1200 base + $ 420 (12 X 35/hr)....US$ 1620/day...no way for an offshore safety officer, expat or otherwise....Even for a shore based safety manager seems a little on the high side, but suppose its possible if working directly for a major, not a service company....

Guys working offshore, certainly expats in this area are paid flat dayrate for 12 hours, no OT etc.....

Agree.

Im off-shore in Thailand, no way the HSE gets that, the night company man is pulling in $1000 per day.

Any one know of any on-shore based positions in the Eastern Seaboard?

Ace

[GuestHouse]

Agree.

Im off-shore in Thailand, no way the HSE gets that, the night company man is pulling in $1000 per day.

It depends, if the indiidual is a 'Process Safety Specialist' then I think $1000/per day would be a believable rate.

[TheAceFace]

Agree.

Im off-shore in Thailand, no way the HSE gets that, the night company man is pulling in $1000 per day.

It depends, if the indiidual is a 'Process Safety Specialist' then I think $1000/per day would be a believable rate.

Possibly, good luck to them though if they are getting that.

I have worked with some guy's, who are getting paid crazy amounts for day rate and the worse thing is they don't really know what they are doing, bullshit goes a long way in this game.

Its not all what you know, but tends to be who you know.....it makes me sick.

[colino]

Well i am right down the pay scale and not a high roller

But i am happy (ish)

PS

i would not say no to a help up the ladder ??

PPS

i did meet two guys who are diver's on the rigs over in the gulf $600 a day both have homes here in LOS

Edited May 10, 2008 by colino

[OxfordWill]

A boyfriend of a friend makes $1200 per day tax free base rate plus $35 per hour tax free. He is health and safety on an oil rig offshore somewhere near LOS, barely ever gets his hands dirty.

Suspect he is telling porkie pies as well...cos the day rates for the HSE guys offshore are not that high in this neck of the woods...

Company men/drilling managers maybe (and higher), but not Safety Officers....

I have never spoken to him about it, but I found his contract on his laptop while he was away. The company also paid for him to spend a week relaxing in Bangkok before he went out to work, and the day rate (x 7) he got for that week covered his girlfriend's apartment rental for two months. I also read his CV, he did some sort of course and examination in Singapore, barely passing it, which enabled him to call himself a health and safety expert for this job. The course was about 2 or 3 months if I remember correctly ( I googled it at the time ). Seems all a bit like funny money to me, these companies must be raking it in, which when you consider the profits declared not so long ago by Shell, makes perfect sense. The reason I know he never gets his hands dirty is because his photos of him at work are all him in a reclining office chair watching monitor screens, wearing a nice shirt, in a box overlooking this huge machine down below. I could be wrong since I had to fill in holes but this is what I found on his contract and cv.

Edited May 10, 2008 by OxfordWill

[Tomkagai]

A boyfriend of a friend makes $1200 per day tax free base rate plus $35 per hour tax free. He is health and safety on an oil rig offshore somewhere near LOS, barely ever gets his hands dirty.

Suspect he is telling porkie pies as well...cos the day rates for the HSE guys offshore are not that high in this neck of the woods...

Company men/drilling managers maybe (and higher), but not Safety Officers....

I have never spoken to him about it, but I found his contract on his laptop while he was away. The company also paid for him to spend a week relaxing in Bangkok before he went out to work, and the day rate (x 7) he got for that week covered his girlfriend's apartment rental for two months. I also read his CV, he did some sort of course and examination in Singapore, barely passing it, which enabled him to call himself a health and safety expert for this job. The course was about 2 or 3 months if I remember correctly ( I googled it at the time ). Seems all a bit like funny money to me, these companies must be raking it in, which when you consider the profits declared not so long ago by Shell, makes perfect sense. The reason I know he never gets his hands dirty is because his photos of him at work are all him in a reclining office chair watching monitor screens, wearing a nice shirt, in a box overlooking this huge machine down below. I could be wrong since I had to fill in holes but this is what I found on his contract and cv.

Personally think you are misreading something, I work offshore in SEA still don't believe this for offshore SEA for a safety officer....you may have looked at the the service companies contract with the client....ie this is the rate he is being charged out to the client (the numbers given are believeable), but this is not the amount he is being paid...this is what the company is being paid....

This make a lot of sense considering there is mention of base rate + some much per hour....this is a standard MO is most service constracts.....Personnel working for the company are paid a flat dayrate....

Also nowhere in SEA is "tax-free", with the possible exception of Burnei....

PS...I work offshore in SEA and don't get dirty either and recline in an office chair all the time and watch screens and also have Satellite TV in the office.....

[Tomkagai]

Agree.

Im off-shore in Thailand, no way the HSE gets that, the night company man is pulling in $1000 per day.

It depends, if the indiidual is a 'Process Safety Specialist' then I think $1000/per day would be a believable rate.

For offshore in the GOT, there is not really a position of "'Process Safety Specialist" its usually Safety Specialist or Senior Safety Specicalist" and 99.9% of them are Thai nationals, and they are certainly not being paid $1000/day....stand to be corrected but believe they are on around THB 80,000 to 100,000/month, this is dependent who they are working for

[OxfordWill]

Personally think you are misreading something,

That's possible, though I know my way around contracts and legal papers.

PS...I work offshore in SEA and don't get dirty either and recline in an office chair all the time and watch screens and also have Satellite TV in the office.....

Many congratulations.

[Sir Burr]

I also work offshore in the O & G biz.

I have to agree with the others. No way is an HSE guy making that money. The give-away is the hourly rate. You don't get a daily rate AND an hourly rate. In fact, the only people I know in the O & G biz that get paid hourly, are US citizens in the GoM, and then, they are usually not far up the ladder.

Guys working in Iraq are only on $1500 a day and these people are in production.

Also, most of the HSE guys in SEA are locals, not expats.

[Tomkagai]

Personally think you are misreading something,

That's possible, though I know my way around contracts and legal papers.

PS...I work offshore in SEA and don't get dirty either and recline in an office chair all the time and watch screens and also have Satellite TV in the office.....

Many congratulations.

If you know this....you should also know not to snoop around on peoples laptops looking at peoples personal documents....

[skullyman2727]

Can one of you that has been in the O&G field for more tha 30 years explain what the mood was like during the last oil boom and bust, and if there are any similatities or differences this time? Aside from the Peak Oil rhetoric that is.

Same question applies to all you "civilian contractors" out there, who involve yourself in the business of war for profit. You see that "industry" holding up for the forseeable future?

lannarebirth,

I am affraid that the business of war for profit is alive and well. And it is getting more business than you know. It is all over the world and not just in the middle east and Africa. You can make a good living contracting, but there are some harsh things that come your way.

[lannarebirth]

Can one of you that has been in the O&G field for more tha 30 years explain what the mood was like during the last oil boom and bust, and if there are any similatities or differences this time? Aside from the Peak Oil rhetoric that is.

Same question applies to all you "civilian contractors" out there, who involve yourself in the business of war for profit. You see that "industry" holding up for the forseeable future?

lannarebirth,

I am affraid that the business of war for profit is alive and well. And it is getting more business than you know. It is all over the world and not just in the middle east and Africa. You can make a good living contracting, but there are some harsh things that come your way.

Karma not being the least of these things, I'm sure.

[pliny]

Suspect he is telling porkie pies as well...

Hardly surprising is it? Chaps discussing the size of their packages are inevitably prone to exaggeration.

Mine of course is absolutely huge.

[gwynt]

Are all you O&G workers in upstream? I work in Downstream as a management consultant for one of the super majors right now on a graduate program. Would love to relocate to LOS in future but not sure if possible.

Downstream is booming in Thailand right now, but graduates are not usually given international assignments. Also most downstream in being done by PTT, only one major is building anything in Thailand right now, so most assignments are with E&C companies.

Work hard and put on your annual review each time that you want to work on international assignment, Do not say Thailand specifically, at worst you will end up in the Middle East or Africa with a R&R every 3/4 months that you can take in Thailand. Getting a Thailand assignment is a matter of luck and timing.

TH

Good advice, But the project I am currently on has three post grad's, ok it's Saudi but the R+R is 75+16 plus local Hol'sx8days which can be added to periodic leaves or taken at the time of the holliday,

Any young guy with any sort of engineering degree will be writing their own salary check in the next couple of years, when us decrepids finally bow out.

Possibly the next assignment will be far east, Thailand ,Malaysia or Singapore which are booming for up-stream

Gwynt

[Prakanong]

"Singapore which are booming for up-stream"

Mohan the owner of Harry's will vouch for that - his bar takings are booming in the Orchard Road branch

[OxfordWill]

If you know this....you should also know not to snoop around on peoples laptops looking at peoples personal documents....

Well that's a whole other discussion! He makes his $$ in oil, I make it in snooping on laptops. I have a convincing argument that this makes him a worse person than me. Just joking of course.

[Tomkagai]

Hello chaps,

hope you don't mind me asking some questions.

I live and work in London for a big tax firm doing IT work. Previously a developer,

now a software tester.

I'm coming to Thailand in a week for 1 month.

I really want to try and secure a job there so I can up sticks and leave England.

I know I'll have to come back to the UK for a visas and a work permit.

The thing is how can I best go about finding a job?

I've been told to look for work with recruitment firms and in the local papers. I'll be flying to Bangkok.

Now my salary would be around 130k bhat a month but will I get a lot less in Thailand?

I would appreciate absolutely any help

Thanks

-Jack

Jack, if you do manage pick up something...you would not have to go back to the UK for the visa - this could be done from Singapore or similar...you work permit is done in country...its a different gov departments....

Not in the IT game..so wouldnt like to comment on your prospects, but a lot of the time in situations similar to yours...picking the jobs up is word of mouth....but looking in the Nation and Bangkok Post wouldnt hurt either or passing the CV out with agencies......Would have thought THB K130/month not out the realms of possiblity in BKK, but living in BKK is not cheap if trying to live the "expat" life style

[thaihome]

Good advice, But the project I am currently on has three post grad's, ok it's Saudi but the R+R is 75+16 plus local Hol'sx8days which can be added to periodic leaves or taken at the time of the holliday,

Any young guy with any sort of engineering degree will be writing their own salary check in the next couple of years, when us decrepids finally bow out.

Possibly the next assignment will be far east, Thailand ,Malaysia or Singapore which are booming for up-stream

Gwynt

Certainly agree that the engineering side, both upstream and down, will have a real problem in the next 10 years due to lack of younger people coming in and us old guys dying off. I say dying off, because I know many people that will keep working until they drop (not me ).

TH

[dingdongrb]

Why is everyone talking about the O&G industry? Is this because the majority of expats are in this business? What about high tech mfg industry? Surely there are some out there in my line of business that have good expat packages. I would be more interested in hearing about them as I like working with my head and keeping my hands clean rather than being surrounded by water 24/7 and worrying about getting maimed or killed.....

[2008bangkok]

So, what sort of a job do you have to be doing here to earn 500K+ a month??? I thought I was doing well being in the 100K-200K bracket!

What sort of job do you have to do to earn 100-200k i thought i was doing okay in the 50k-100k bracket!

[Prakanong]

Hello chaps,

hope you don't mind me asking some questions.

I live and work in London for a big tax firm doing IT work. Previously a developer,

now a software tester.

I'm coming to Thailand in a week for 1 month.

I really want to try and secure a job there so I can up sticks and leave England.

I know I'll have to come back to the UK for a visas and a work permit.

The thing is how can I best go about finding a job?

I've been told to look for work with recruitment firms and in the local papers. I'll be flying to Bangkok.

Now my salary would be around 130k bhat a month but will I get a lot less in Thailand?

I would appreciate absolutely any help

Thanks

-Jack

Its a while since I talked to Recruitment Firms in Bangkok about IT work but ast that time it was only SAP guys they were interested in.

I am in IT as a regional manager but work in Singapore - a lot more positions down here but a lot of Indian are here now - they are cheaper than westerners.

Our IT guy's in Thailand are all Thai - I doubt we would use anybody else unless they were fluent and would work for a Thai salary - maybe 50k (I am just guessing there based on what our researchers get) but I doubt we would go through the hassle of WP anyway.

[Prakanong]

Why is everyone talking about the O&G industry? Is this because the majority of expats are in this business? What about high tech mfg industry? Surely there are some out there in my line of business that have good expat packages. I would be more interested in hearing about them as I like working with my head and keeping my hands clean rather than being surrounded by water 24/7 and worrying about getting maimed or killed.....

My Thai colleagues Thai hubby is a general manager of a hi tech mfg factory, engineer by trade and speaks 4 languages including Japanese and Mandarin - I can have an educated guess based on her salary of over 100K that he is on at least half as much again and maybe a little more

[Tomkagai]

Why is everyone talking about the O&G industry? Is this because the majority of expats are in this business? What about high tech mfg industry? Surely there are some out there in my line of business that have good expat packages. I would be more interested in hearing about them as I like working with my head and keeping my hands clean rather than being surrounded by water 24/7 and worrying about getting maimed or killed.....

It appears there are quite a few people posting here who do work in the O&G industry, hence the discussions....also completely off base with your last sentence, with the exception of being surrounded by water 24/7 if working offshore O&G....but the beauty of being surrounded by water 24/7 is after 28 days....you go home for 28 days with a big wad of cash in your pocket, far better than a 9 to 5 - Monday to Friday any day.....

[dingdongrb]

Why is everyone talking about the O&G industry? Is this because the majority of expats are in this business? What about high tech mfg industry? Surely there are some out there in my line of business that have good expat packages. I would be more interested in hearing about them as I like working with my head and keeping my hands clean rather than being surrounded by water 24/7 and worrying about getting maimed or killed.....

It appears there are quite a few people posting here who do work in the O&G industry, hence the discussions....also completely off base with your last sentence, with the exception of being surrounded by water 24/7 if working offshore O&G....but the beauty of being surrounded by water 24/7 is after 28 days....you go home for 28 days with a big wad of cash in your pocket, far better than a 9 to 5 - Monday to Friday any day.....

But I thought the topic of discussion was about paycheck $$$$ and not the O&G industry or did I get lost somewhere?

Actually for my 9-5 job I get one week off paid every month (paid) along with my normal sick time, holidays, and 4 weeks a year vacation...

.....and yet the funny thing is I get to go home every night...ALIVE!!!!

[tb86]

right im interested in what expats are doing for a living here, just a broad spectrum, im suprised to see such a large percentage of people earning fairly large salaries, because most of the farang i see here dont look like their making that kind of money, not to be a rude but well.... is everyone being honest ???

[bendix]

Why would anonymous people lie to other anonymous people?

For myself, I relocated myself here nearly four years ago. I work in a senior management role for a large intenational company, covering all of Asia. I was previously doing the job in Sydney, but transferred myself here for a variety of reasons - lifestyle, the fact that my western salary goes a lot further here, ease of access to the offices i cover (compared to Sydney) etc.

[Tomkagai]

Why is everyone talking about the O&G industry? Is this because the majority of expats are in this business? What about high tech mfg industry? Surely there are some out there in my line of business that have good expat packages. I would be more interested in hearing about them as I like working with my head and keeping my hands clean rather than being surrounded by water 24/7 and worrying about getting maimed or killed.....

It appears there are quite a few people posting here who do work in the O&G industry, hence the discussions....also completely off base with your last sentence, with the exception of being surrounded by water 24/7 if working offshore O&G....but the beauty of being surrounded by water 24/7 is after 28 days....you go home for 28 days with a big wad of cash in your pocket, far better than a 9 to 5 - Monday to Friday any day.....

But I thought the topic of discussion was about paycheck $$$$ and not the O&G industry or did I get lost somewhere?

Actually for my 9-5 job I get one week off paid every month (paid) along with my normal sick time, holidays, and 4 weeks a year vacation...

.....and yet the funny thing is I get to go home every night...ALIVE!!!!

Mate... Everyone to their own.....your happy with what you get.....I am happy having 6 months a year off....

The discussion is about paycheck $$$..but it seems a lot of contributers went silent... when guys started talking about the money in the O&G game....of course all contributions are welcome.....I am sure the O&G guys on this forum would love to hear what some of the farang peasants living/working in Thailand are earning.... (Only joking)

...ALIVE!!!!...Strange comment to make for someone living in Thailand...considering the standard of driving on the roads and apparent Pattaya "Suicides" etc....yeah feel a lot safer on the beach...!!! ...rather take my chances offshore at least have a chance of controlling my own demise....

[thaihome]

Why is everyone talking about the O&G industry? Is this because the majority of expats are in this business? What about high tech mfg industry? Surely there are some out there in my line of business that have good expat packages. I would be more interested in hearing about them as I like working with my head and keeping my hands clean rather than being surrounded by water 24/7 and worrying about getting maimed or killed.....

It appears there are quite a few people posting here who do work in the O&G industry, hence the discussions....also completely off base with your last sentence, with the exception of being surrounded by water 24/7 if working offshore O&G....but the beauty of being surrounded by water 24/7 is after 28 days....you go home for 28 days with a big wad of cash in your pocket, far better than a 9 to 5 - Monday to Friday any day.....

Well, I kinda like my [supposdly] 9 to 5 job, and once or twice a year take a chopper out to one of the rigs for the afternoon, walk around and say "keep up the good work" then go back for my night on the town in Had Yai.

I am too old to stay offshore for long, I like going home every night. Pay is about the same, I know because I sign the checks for you all.

Actually, we are pretty much getting out of the upstream offshore work, too much downstream going on.

TH

[ProfessorNiceGuy]

We have indexed your earnings v.s. your logged in IP address and will be sending you a summons to explain the difference between your tax submission and claimed earnings.

Rgds.

IRS

(can let a sigh of relief now, nah, just kidding ). Not sure why one would want to boast or anti-boast (made that one up) about their earnings....... but that's probably personal

[dingdongrb]

We have indexed your earnings v.s. your logged in IP address and will be sending you a summons to explain the difference between your tax submission and claimed earnings.

Rgds.

IRS

Couldn't have happened, I just hung up from the IRS (no chit). I just received my 2007 return from them in the Thai mail. I guess they didn't like my scanned signature and now wants me to sign it in real blood. Twenty minutes on hold and I was finally able to talk to a real person that barely spoke English!

(can let a sigh of relief now, nah, just kidding ). Not sure why one would want to boast or anti-boast (made that one up) about their earnings....... but that's probably personal