Part One of The Oilfield Employment Series: Oilfield Jobs
The oil and gas industry is in the middle of the biggest boom in it's history
and there are many drilling and service companies actively seeking employees
with job postings in local newspapers and online sites. There are also scam
artists out there who want to take your money. Here is an article I wrote based
on my personal experience of gaining employment in the oilfield.
Here Are Some Tips on How to Get a Job in the Oilfield.
Types of
Jobs
The many types of jobs that facilitate the drilling and eventual production
of an oil or gas well are multi layered and varied. finding a job in the
industry depends on your skills, willingness to travel, etc. If you are
wondering about how to find employment in the oil and gas industry here are some
tips and advice for newcomers.
If you live in an area where oil and gas exploration is taking place then you
already
have an advantage in your oilfield job search. Otherwise, if you are considering working in the
oil and gas industry you
will have to relocate to such an area. Some areas that are booming right now are the
Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi Gulf coasts, the Permian Basin near Midland, Texas,
Casper Wyoming, Oklahoma, Utah, New Mexico, Alaska, even the Appalachian
basin and parts of
New York where the Marcellus shale gas formation has been discovered. There is a lot of work overseas in
all parts of the world but if you are looking for an entry level job you will
need experience first before looking overseas.
One of the first levels, before the well is even a gleam in a geologist's eye,
is seismic exploration. Seismic companies, or "doodlebuggers", lay out sensitive
recording instruments over miles of land, connected by wires, and set off
charges or use large machines that thump the earth to send a seismic wave down
into the earth. As the waves travel deep through the earth and pass through
layers of rock and are reflected back to the surface to the instruments, a
picture of what lies below is drawn.
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New advances in 3D seismic, which show
greater detail mean that large parts of the country are just now being explored with
the new
technology. Companies such as Western Geco (the largest) hire hands to string
out the miles of cable, cut paths through heavy brush for the lines. It's hard
physical labor and you'll spend most of the day on and off and ATV stringing out
heavy cables, connecting them, taping them down when they cross roadways, and
setting up the equipment that create the seismic waves. If you have an
engineering, electronics or technical school degree you can get a job working
with the
instruments that record the seismic waves being reflected from underground. If you only have a basic education
you will start out by stringing lines and cutting right of way, and possibly
work your way up the ladder. Salaries start in the $10 per hour range with lots
of overtime.
First Stages of a Well
The information provided by the seismograph company is interpreted by a
geophysicist working for the oil company. If there is evidence of oil and gas in
sufficient quantity the oil company will pay the land owner (or government if
public lands) for the rights to drill and produce the oil.
A "land man" or oil company agent, will go and meet with the rancher or farmer
and offer them a deal that specifies what percentage of royalty they will
receive from the oil and gas found on their land. A landowner may get as much as
1 barrel out of 8 that is produced or 1/8 of the natural gas revenue. The job of
land man is complex and usually requires a college degree in real estate and
courses in oil and gas leasing.
Roughnecks
The most important
work done on the drilling rig is done by hard working men with strong backs know
as roughnecks. The are responsible for making the connections of drill pipe as
it is drilled down and more needs to be added, tripping (raising or lowering)
the drill pipe all the way in or out of the hole when a bit needs to be changed,
etc. Tripping takes hours or even days and is nonstop hard physical labor.
Roughnecks may do anything from painting to ditch digging on some rigs where
there are no "roustabouts" or unskilled laborers to do these jobs.
Roughnecks set up
the drilling rig at the start of the well, move the heavy equipment and rig it
down at the end of the well. They typically work 12 hour shifts or "tours" which
are pronounced "towers". Although it is manual labor is is highly skilled labor
and it can take months for a person to work his way up from "worm" or
inexperienced employee to "hand". If you have no prior oilfield experience it is
easier to get hired as a roustabout doing odd jobs and try and work your way up
the ladder.
A roughneck may
also perform the job of motorman, keeping the engines and equipment on a smaller
rig running while working on the rig floor as well, or on a larger rig they will
have a separate position of motorman whose main job is to take care of all
equipment. The rig may also have a full time rig electrician who is a licensed
electrician. The rig boss is known as a toolpusher. The types of roughneck
jobs are, from lowest to highest, derrickman, floor hand, and driller. The
derrickman works up high in the derrick, racking the stands of pipe back against
the side of the derrick as it is raised out of the hole or helping lower it down
into the hole. The floor hands make the connections of pipe using the
tongs. It can be dangerous work and requires weeks or months of training to
learn. The driller operates the rig controls and is the supervisor
of the roughneck or drilling crew, his boss is the toolpusher. The driller has
usually worked his way up from the lowest position. The toolpusher may have once
been a driller who worked his way up as well.
Service Companies, There Are Many Kinds.
Once a deal has been made the oil company hires an oilfield services
company to blade roadways to the site where the rig is to drill, lay down a
"pad" or gravel surface a couple hundred yards across where the rig is to set
up. They will often contract the services of a "gate guard" company, which hires
people to check in vehicles coming into the ranch or farm. Gate guard companies
often hire retired couples with their own RV's and pay around $200 a day.
Lease service companies hire people to run dozers, drive gravel trucks, operate
backhoes, etc.
Before the rig sets up a company will come and drill a large hole and cement in
surface casing for the rig to set up over.
The rig may hire a trucking company to help transport the rig, tanks and other
equipment and set it up.
Once the rig has been moved onto the location and set up the rig (which usually
has been hired by the oil company) will have to hire a water and septic company
to deliver tanks of potable water and portable sewer systems. These companies
may also rent mobile homes for the company men and other workers to live in,
satellite internet and tv systems, intercoms and more. The workers who do
these oilfield jobs do not live or stay on the rig and are among the lowest paid
oilfield workers but on the other hand only a few skills are needed, (CDL or commercial drivers license
is a must) as well as a clean drug test.
The rig will also hire a vacuum truck company to deliver loads of water used in
the drilling process, companies to dispose of the drill bit cuttings, companies
to provide and deliver drilling mud, mud engineers to formulate and monitor the
mud, mud loggers to set up equipment to analyze the rock cutting for productive
zones and more.
Companies such as Newpark Drilling Fluids hire mud engineers who formulate the
drilling fluid used to drill the well. Usually prior oilfield experience is a must, as is math and science skills
and having attended a "mud school". Applicants with enough education or prior
oilfield experience may be sent to "mud school" after they are hired as a
trainee. The training phase may last six months or more before the mud engineer
can work unsupervised.
Mud loggers,
whose job it is to monitor the rock cuttings and gas and oil that come up hole
from the drill bit may be hired by small "mom and pop" companies with only basic
computer skills and trained over the course of a few months to do the job. They
may start out as a "sample catcher" working for the lead logger to collect and
clean samples of drill bit cuttings for him to analyze. Larger mud logging
companies will only hire college graduates with geology degrees.
Automation
The rig , which itself has often been hired by the oil company drilling the
well, will often hire a company that provides rig monitoring equipment, such
as Pason Systems, to come and hook up equipment that monitors all aspects of the
rig's performance, weight on bit, drill rate, etc, and displays this information
on screens in the oil company offices around the world so they can track the
well's progress.
These companies
that provide these automation services hire persons with electronics skills to wire up
the sensors and systems and hook the to a satellite uplink. Salaries start at
around $10 per
hour and up with lots of overtime. Technicians are often on call at all
hours of the day and night.
The oil company will also hire a wireline company such as Scientific Drilling
Controls to come and run a "gyro" down the hole at certain points to keep it
drilling straight, or orient devices called whipstocks that are used to "kick off" the well in a
certain compass heading if it is a directional well.
These employees are often hired with only some college or prior technical and
oilfield experience.
Other companies
provide safety services. Indian Fire and Safety in the Permian Basin provides
H2S or hydrogen sulfide detectors that are placed around the rig location to
warn of poison gas as well as providing SCBA air breathing packs and fire
extinguishers. Employees need a background in electrical wiring and a number of
safety courses.
Companies like
Stallion rent mobile homes, satellite dishes and communication equipment. Other
companies provide septic and trash hauling services. These service employees are
at the lower end of the oilfield pay scale.
Companies like
Light Tower Rentals provide generators that they hook up to the mobile homes on
location. An employee would be on call at all times and be responsible for
repairing and keeping vital generators running and for delivering them to far
flung rigs around the country, changing the oil and air filters, etc.
Companies like
"Rain for Rent" rent large water storage tanks and spools of water pipe and
pumps. A rig may require a large amount of water for drilling fluid, etc and
companies like these lay miles of pipe to a nearby reservoir or river and pipe
it across country to the oil rig. These companies hire manual laborers and also
mechanics and mechanically inclined people to keep the pumping equipment
running. A commercial drivers license is a must.
The oil company will also hire "casing crews" that come out at certain points in
the well's progress and set heavy pipe or "liners" as the hole is drilled deeper
to protect the walls of the drilled hole. For persons with a strong back and
muscles, a casing company is a good entry level job to get a foot into the door.
Workers typically start out in the $10 dollar per hour range and there is lots
of overtime but the work is hard.
As the well is drilled through layers of rock suspected of holding oil and gas,
the oil company will hire a logging truck to come out and run and instrument
down the hole which checks the rock layers for conductivity, resistivity, gamma
rays, etc. Geologists use this information to tell if the layers hold oil or gas
or it is a dry hole. Logging companies such as Schlumberger (pronounced slum-ber-jay)
hire mostly college graduates with petroleum or geology related degrees but
there are occasional exceptions depending on the persons work history and
resume.
This is a brief description of service company jobs and is by all means not all
inclusive of the jobs that are out there. My apologies for anyone I might
have left out.
Getting Started
in Your Search
Try the local
papers from areas where there is oil and gas drilling and production activity.
Often you can find the classified section available online by doing a search
like "Tulsa newspaper classifieds". Write down the numbers of all the oilfield
related companies including service companies, oilfield rental companies, site
preparation and lease service companies, etc. Before calling, find out
what the company does. Do an internet search of it's name and learn what kind of
employees they hire and if you may qualify for an entry level job. Then start
calling and ask the secretary if they are hiring. Be sure and get her name since
the secretary is often your best ally in getting a foot in the door. Ask her if
there is anyone that you may talk to about a position and tell her how
interested you are in working for them and get the address to send your resume
to as well as the name of the main boss to put on a cover letter describing why
you would be the perfect employee for them. On your resume be sure and highlight
any mechanical and blue collar labor experience you have. Military service is a
big plus with many companies.
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