Jobs on oil rigs North Sea

If you work offshore in the oil or gas industry, commuting to work in a helicopter is exactly what you could be doing.

If your current sector is facing cuts then targeting the Oil & Gas market is a great route because you can use your transferable skills easily in this sector. Highly skilled workers and engineers are very much in demand while other sectors face skills shortages.

Oil & Gas Sector

Oil and gas are the world’s most valuable energy resources. They provide power for our homes, enable us to run our cars, aeroplanes, trains and shops and provide us with plastics and other synthetic materials. The oil and gas industry is experiencing rapid market, competitive and market change and the UK is recognised as a leader in subsea engineering.

Demand is increasing for gas and oil globally, so it is important to leverage these national resources to the full before they run out. Cooperation and sharing best practice and experience between governments, key industry players and regulators will ensure innovation, safety and enhanced productivity.

In the UK, we rely on oil and gas for 70% of our needs and 40% of the UK’s oil and gas reserves remain to be extracted.

Health and safety and the environment are primary concerns of the oil and gas industry. The potential risk to the environment is catastrophic should there be a disaster, so working in this area carries responsibilities ethically.

Trends

Export is an opportunity for sales growth in markets such as Brazil, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Australia.

Technological advancements are enabling ways to improve better efficiency, enhance production, understand complex reservoirs and reduce drilling costs.

Fracking, a new and unconventional oil and gas production method, is in the news. It is the process of drilling down into the earth before a high-pressure water mixture is directed at the rock to release the gas inside. It is controversial as it is perceived to have a high environmental cost because it can cause earth tremors and requires a lot of water to be transported on to the site.

Production trends include integrated services for the operation and maintenance of fields, late life operation of mature fields and light weight slim line structures.

Government

The government has three energy strategies; oil and gas, nuclear and offshore wind and there is a business and government action plan for oil and gas. The government is taking measures to tackle the engineering skills gap and has invested £7M in a new research facility; the Neptune National Centre for Subsea and Offshore Engineering. This centre will act as a place for industry and academia to interact and to develop highly skilled graduates to address skill shortages.

Gas and oil is crucial for the UK’s economy; it accounts for nearly 20% of corporation tax and £11.5B of revenue to the Exchequer in 2012. Oil and gas chain supplies were £27B in 2011.

Working environment

You can work on shore or off shore. In the UK, the oil and gas industry is mainly located in the East of Scotland. 18000 people work on a regular basis on fixed production platforms and mobile drilling rigs, floating production storage and offloading units. Offshore, working hours are typically 12 hours on and 12 hours off continuously for two weeks, followed by a two/three week rest period rest.

The long working day, remoteness of the location, challenging weather conditions, lack of privacy, separation from friends and family, confined work and reliance on helicopter transport are not everyone’s cup of tea. However, a long break of two or three weeks not working compared with the two-day weekend that many employees have is very appealing to some.

Employees

The average age of the workforce is 41 and the trend is growing for workers under 30. 84.8% are British with the rest made up of over 130 different nationalities. Skilled and experienced workers are in high demand with an international career a possibility and employees liable to be poached by the renewables sector.

Employers

The oil and gas industry provides employment for over 400, 000 people in the UK. It is Britain’s largest industrial sector and also the biggest industrial investor.