Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Offshore Oil Rig Jobs - A Great Opportunity For The Chosen Ones

These are some of the characteristics you can expect from a job in the offshore oilfield. This job requires you to travel often and be away from home and your family for long periods of time. You will find that many times it will be a hard job that has to be accomplished in harsh weather conditions. But before you run away you should also know that despite all this, growth opportunities are tremendous. Starting salary for a person with no previous experience is anything between $40,000 to $60,000 annually and that too for working only for six months in a year. This can only sound great. Additionally once the workers have made a good job at the lower positions in the rig, they are usually promoted to higher posts depending on their performance.

There are many types of jobs available while working offshore in an oil rig. For instance, people are recruited in the control room, at the deck, for drilling, rig management, mechanical and electrical department, catering. Others are hired as rig welders, scaffolders, radio operators, medic, rig safety and training coordinator, mud engineer, painters.

Control room personnel include barge engineers who are in charge of the control room; control room operators and assistant CROs control the stability of the rigs and make liquid transfers. On the deck, people are recruited as maintenance roustabout and foreman who looks after the deck area. Crane operators whose main duties includes crane operations.

Drill crew includes positions such as roughnecks, pumpman, dereckman and drillers. Roughnecks and pumpman takes mud weights and looks after the machinery required by the particular operation. The Dereckman's main duty is the maintenance of the machinery in the mud pump room. Drillers occupy one of the most important positions on the rig. He is responsible for the drilling in the seabed.

There are many types of jobs you can perform in an offshore rig. Tool pushers and offshore installation managers are part of what is considered the rig management crew. Tool pushers work in the rig offices and rig floors. Offshore installation managers are responsible for the entire rig.

There is also the mechanical department that hires motorman, mechanics and maintenance supervisors who are responsible for all mechanical operations in the rig. In the electrical department you will find positions like electricians, electronics technician and maintenance supervisors who will take care of all repairs needed for the electrical equipment in the oil rig. And of course there is also the catering team that is made up of the stewardess, cook and the camp boss who are in charge of the catering, laundry and cleaning for the entire crew.

There are certain points that you should consider while you are thinking about joining an oil rig crew and start a career in this industry. For example; one needs to keep in mind things like health, age, experience, education and interests. The job in the rig requires you to be in a good physical condition, and you need to pass a number of medical examinations. The average age is 27 for offshore jobs in oilrigs, but there are also jobs for people less than 18 years old. Experience in a particular field will help you to gain a better position and wage, but by and large, no previous experience or skill is required to be hired in the offshore oil rig crews.


Oilfield Jobs - A Booming Field Even In This Bad Economy.

Considering the state of our economies around the world, if you want to find a job that pays you good money then you should seriously consider the oil fields and offshore rigs in your serach. The oil industry is booming, if you have watched the news lately the big oil companies are the only ones really making a profit (and a big one) this year. Oil rig jobs are needed to crew the new drilling rigs being opened by these big companies around the world. Top economists project the oil boom to last the next 14 to 20 years, which will likely lead to oil jobs outstripping financial and IT jobs. While many people are puzzled about how to get started, the truth is that if you are young, fit, hardworking and willing to get your hands dirty, you should have no trouble getting started.

Many people think that you should have lots of experience inthis field to get started, but that's not true. The best way to get started is to get a job on a land-based oil rig. You can get hired as a roustabout, basically a general laborer, work hard for 6 months and climb up the ladder to the position of roughneck. Once you have reached this post, you will still do a lot of manual labor, but you may also have a chance to supervise a few roustabouts and help out the more specialized positions like the derrickhands and drillers. Show the right attitude, work hard and you may find yourself promoted all the way up to driller (2nd highest rank on the oil rig) in a few years.

A university degree is good but not much useful in an oil rig. On the other hand, a useful technical certificate or diploma, for example as an electrician or mechanic, could land you a job in the motor room or electrical department. But these are not the only useful trade skills on board an offshore oil rig. The rig crew need to eat (and eat well), so a good cook is always welcome on board. A medic also plays a valuable part on the rig. An oil rig job is still a pretty hazardous place to work in. Accidents happen, and a medic will always be necessary.

One thing you should keep in mind is that an offshore oil rig is covered under maritime law. Hence, it is good if you take the trouble to get a basic working knowledge of how it will affect you. Besides this, there are vaccinations and skills certifications specific to where the oil rig is located. For example, in the UK you need to take an offshore survival and firefighting course. Different Canadian provinces have their own First Aid certifications. And different US states have their own requirements.

There is little secret on getting started in offshore oil rig jobs. In short, there are many entry-level positions available. No formal education is required at the lower positions. Higher education is required only at the higher levels. Oil industry is continuing to grow rapidly and hence a career in this industry is very prosperous and bright. It gives you an opportunity to work anywhere in the world in a work environment which has very high standards of safety. Besides, enjoying very high salaries, the other benefit that workers enjoy is working only for 14 days in a month. Major oil companies also provide medical and life insurance. It is a very rewarding and exciting career.


Check this link to find all the offshore oil rig jobs available and much more information: Jobs Oilfield