The oil and gas industry is booming right now with the price of crude oil going up nearly every day. Due to worldwide demand the need for workers in the oil and gas industry has never been greater. Here is an introduction to the types of jobs that are out there and how you might apply.
On a rig site there are basically two types of workers, those who work directly for the rig and those who work for service companies that provide a multitude of services to the rig and to the oil company. Often the rig has been leased, or is under contract to an oil company. Other times a very large oil company may own its own rigs but it will still employ service companies.
Engineer Job
The workers that do the main job of drilling the well are called roughnecks. Their job is to make the connections as each thirty foot piece of pipe is drilled into the ground and another is added to take it's place and be drilled down as the process is repeated over and over hundreds of times until the well reaches a depth of several thousand feet. The roughnecks also have the job of removing this pipe from the well, piece by piece (called tripping) when the well is done or if the drill bit needs to be changed. It is backbreaking work. Workers on the rig floor can expect a salary of up to ,000 per year even with only a GED or High School Degree. A driller, who is the roughneck's boss, may earn 0,000 or more per year.
A roughneck starts out as a "worm", the name for any inexperienced worker in the oilfield, and has to work his way up the ladder to earn his place on the crew.
Service "hands" or employees perform every kind of function on an offshore or onshore rig you can imagine. From companies that provide the rig's necessities such as potable water and sewer services, to geologists that monitor the drilling mud cuttings for oil and gas, to companies that haul away the drill bit cuttings that have been separated from the drilling fluid.
Wireline Logging companies are service companies that are hired to run instruments down the well bore and analyze the layers of rock that have been cut for traces of oil and gas, creating a illustrated chart of the vertical well that shows geologists what type of rocks have been encountered and if they are productive.
Well Logging companies hire operators and analysts for these jobs for salaries approaching 0,000 per year. Often a degree in petroleum engineering or geology is required.
An oil company will hire a "mud company" to provide the services of formulating the drilling fluid or "mud". A mud engineer will stay on location and check the fluid properties of the drilling mud on a regular basis. It the person has prior chemistry experience, oilfield experience or just plain "knows somebody" the drilling mud company will hire them and send them to a three month "mud school" to learn the trade and then put them in the field as a trainee with a senior employee. Mud engineers can make upwards of 0,000.
Other service company related jobs include casing crews, which are hired to come in after the well has been drilled and install heavy iron pipe down into the wellbore. These are hard manual labor jobs but can start at .00 per hour or more with lots of overtime.
There are also jobs in the production end of the business. After a well has been drilled the oil company will need companies to install tanks, pipelines, pumpjacks and more to get a well into production. These jobs usually pay less than jobs in exploration but the work hours may be more predictable.
If you are considering a career in the oil and gas exploration industry, keep in mind that you may be away from home for weeks or even months at a time. Having a good home life and a secure relationship is a must.
I recommend that anyone without prior oilfield experience read as much about the business as you can before even job hunting so that you may be familiar with an employers questions and what kind of job you may be getting into.
Good Luck.
How to Get a Job in the Oilfield - Jobs Offshore and Onshore in Oil Well Drilling Miguel - Do You... Video Clips. Duration : 3.48 Mins.Rating: 4.910077
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