Oil Rig Employment

[sgunn65]

Can anyone tell me where/duration/cost of courses to gain employment in the Oil industry. My son is leaving the British Army in the Spring and will be coming here to live with me, but wants to work on the rigs.

Any help is appreciated.

[Soutpeel]

Can anyone tell me where/duration/cost of courses to gain employment in the Oil industry. My son is leaving the British Army in the Spring and will be coming here to live with me, but wants to work on the rigs.

Any help is appreciated.

If his plan is to work in the Thai offshore Oil & Gas industry, then I would say forget it, its getting harder by the year for Farangs working offshore here to keep their jobs, as there is a big push for nationalisation, offshore these days, the farangs you find are all senior supervisory/management type personnel.

If his plan is to base here and work somewhere else then possible things he could look at:

Rope Access, with inspection/NDE qualifications - These days all these courses are quite expensive and to get to the point of being possibly employable, you could be looking at springing upto about 5000-10,000 pounds on courses.

ROV pilot/ROV maintenance - Again not cheap courses to do.

Life Support Technican for Saturation diving operations - believe these are quite expensive as well.

On top of this he would need to do his Bosit or TBosit dependent on where he intends working - HUET/Firefighting/First Aid/Sea Survival

if doing these in the UK for the Bosit, he would be springing about 2000 pound on this course.

Even doing any of the above will not guarantee him a job, Generally the route in to the business is more to do with who you know as opposed to what you know or what pieces of paper you have

hope this helps

[sgunn65]

Much appreciated.

I am willing to go to 10,000 pounds on courses for him as, after two tours of Afghanistan (and he is still only 21), I think he deserves a little help up the ladder.

Which do you think are the most important courses to do.

Or does anyone know who he could get in contact with to try to get a foothold?

Edited October 12, 2008 by sgunn65

[Soutpeel]

Much appreciated.

I am willing to go to 10,000 pounds on courses for him as, after two tours of Afghanistan (and he is still only 21), I think he deserves a little help up the ladder.

Which do you think are the most important courses to do.

Or does anyone know who he could get in contact with to try to get a foothold?

Suppose the first thing to do is have him look at the suggestions, I have given and see which he fancies, as it would be a shame to spend 10K and then find out he doesnt want to do the job, so would say research first the options.

Certainly needs to do his Bosit (HUET/Sea Survial/Fire fighting/First Aid) first, irrespective of where he works, the decision he has to make is whether to do the TBosit (Tropical water) or Bosit, the Bosit would be the best and can be done in the UK (but not cheap), also believe there is a place in the Phillipines as well that does the same.

As regards which career, know a lot of Ex squaddies from the UK who have taken up Rope Access and have done well with it, the vast majority live in Pattaya and work all over the world, but as mentioned he would need to NDE tickets as well to make him more marketable, Companies like Oceaneering are always on the look out for Rope Access + NDT, another Co he could look at is CAN

Hope this helps...if he needs any further info about offshore possiblities drop me a PM

[RAZZELL]

Much appreciated.

I am willing to go to 10,000 pounds on courses for him as, after two tours of Afghanistan (and he is still only 21), I think he deserves a little help up the ladder.

Which do you think are the most important courses to do.

Or does anyone know who he could get in contact with to try to get a foothold?

Has he been "in" long enough to qualify for a resettlement course paid for by the government?

A mate who was a Sgt in the Para's went on a "personal protection" course in South Africa. The cost was about £10k, and it took about a month.

The application process was quite complex and he had to have 3 interviews to justify the quality of the course/convince "the powers that be" to pay for it.

He's now "working" in Iraq

RAZZ

Edited October 12, 2008 by RAZZELL

[sgunn65]

His discharge date means he will have been in for 5 years 11 months and 2 weeks. That is 2 weeks short of the 6 years reqd. He has a commendation for bravery but there is no leeway!! Nice!

He was looking at a protection course but thankfully has decided against it

[choppychugger]

ROV is a good route - to excel in that he would need a good understanding of hydraulics and electronics, though not essential. Another option would be on the HSE ( safety) side of things in the O&G industry, I know that in Oz there were a few ex servicemen from the UK in that position.

Stay away from the websites offering possible jobs/leads @ a subscription/one off charge. As someone mentioned before, it's more who you know to start with that gets you on your way. Although the additional courses will help him get a start.

choppy

Edited October 12, 2008 by choppychugger

[T_Dog]

What about teaching on oil rigs? I had a friend that used to go offshore in China to teach various topics as the oil companies like to have development

opportunities for their employees. Anybody have experience doing this, or have participated in any of the classes?

[Pdaz]

Sorry to be the voice of doom but..

Unless he has a good technical background, either a recognised trade cert or military training in a related field (fluid power, high voltage or electronics) doing all the courses in the World won't help him get a technical job offshore.. If he does have tech training he's be better off just door knocking in S'pore at the relevant companies.. Showing up waving an ROV training course cert or a HSE dive cert won't be a magical key.. Being keen, bright and in the right place is a mch better stratergy.. Most companies will pay for your offshore survival certs once they deem you are worth the investment.. Usually by giving you a trial period in their workshop.. You could do the survival courses off your own back to show you are serious and if you happen to show up on a day when they need someone.. But generally companies like to check you out first.. Working offshore isn't just about certs it's about fitting in and being a team player.. Biggest problem now in Asia is that many companies are hiring locals as trainees to do jobs that used to be exclusively for expats.. So in reality you usually find an experienced expat running a team made of trainee/experienced locals.. The exception is diving where you don't find too many 'local' guys... Other service companies are hiring more and more locals or 'cheaper' expats from Eastern Europe.. He's probably have more chance of getting hired out of Aberdeen as a trainee and joining one of the majors .. Then when he has some experience he could look for work in Asia.. In reality it doesn't really matter where you work offshore as you can spend your off time anywhere.. I live in Pattaya but this year have worked in the middle east, west africa, europe and the gulf of thailand.. but I have 20 years experience.. It was a lot easier to get a start when I began.. and 21 is still pretty young to get offshore out in Asia..

[tattoodrob]

your voice of doom seems to be correct advice.

i too looked into offshore work(for a few years) and was going to pay for the survival course which is a basic necessity but was told by many in the industry that it doesnt help much as not many jobs available and always go to experienced or more technically qualified people,a friend of mine knows 2 people who took courses costing thousands and applied to lots of companies after and neither got employment.

being in pattaya i have met a lot of oil rig workers and most seem to have been in the business a lot of years,even being quite high up and cant help get anyone in.they always asked what was my trade as some sort of engineering or mechanical background would help but just being fit and enthusiastic doesnt help any.

hes still young so maybe its worth him studying at a college for a few years to get related qualifications then applying,im sure some companies will give advice on best qualications to get.goodluck

[rak sa_ngop]

Maybe you should look at seismic exploration crews running onshore seismic surveys. In the old days some companies used to like hiring on ex military for their operations work including even for de-mining. Unfortunately with all the takeovers and mergers in the business I have no idea of who to suggest these days. Training was generally on the job.

[sgunn65]

Thank you all for your measured advice. Its nice to have a thread where all the information is thought through and free of idiots.

I will pass all of this information on to him and let him decide what he does.

Once again many thanks

[thaihome]

If his plan is to work in the Thai offshore Oil & Gas industry, then I would say forget it, its getting harder by the year for Farangs working offshore here to keep their jobs, as there is a big push for nationalisation, offshore these days, the farangs you find are all senior supervisory/management type personnel.

...

Don't think the push to local labor is " nationalisation" driven, it is cost driven, a local can cost a up to fifth less then an expat.

TH

[Soutpeel]

If his plan is to work in the Thai offshore Oil & Gas industry, then I would say forget it, its getting harder by the year for Farangs working offshore here to keep their jobs, as there is a big push for nationalisation, offshore these days, the farangs you find are all senior supervisory/management type personnel.

...

Don't think the push to local labor is " nationalisation" driven, it is cost driven, a local can cost a up to fifth less then an expat.

TH

Of course cost plays a part in this, but at the same time, any service company being taken on by the major operators for any sort of medium to long term contract in the GOT is required to provide a "nationalisation" plan as part of the bid process.

From personal experience of working in the GOT for the last 7 years, I have seen the number of farangs working offshore decrease considerably certainly over the last 2-3 years.