Careers in the oil and gas industry

Extracting oil and gas offshore is a complicated process carried out in a harsh environment. There are 200 offshore installations, ranging from large structures standing on the seabed, where up to 200 people may work, to smaller floating production facilities that may employ as few as 30. Some 30,000 people work offshore and another 300,000 work onshore in around 5,000 UK companies. The current average cost of finding and producing a barrel of oil in the North Sea is at least $13. This compares with, for example, $9 a barrel in the Gulf of Mexico and $4 in Malaysia. This article will focus on oil and gas employment in the UK.

The way the industry operates is changing, as a result of new contracting practices and the move towards operating offshore fields with fewer personnel. There is, however, a steady demand for suitably qualified and motivated people for the foreseeable future.

Once ashore, the oil and gas needs to be distributed to the users, storage and delivery systems need to be built and maintained, and appliances require installation and servicing. Oil is pumped to refineries, where it is separated into different grades and then transported by pipeline and tankers to power stations, factories, petrol stations and private houses.

Gas from about 100 fields is delivered to six beach terminals. It is checked for quality and energy content, and then enters a 170,000-mile pipeline system that delivers it to either a commercial or a private customer. Complex arrangements govern the buying and selling of gas and its storage.

The oil and gas industry and the Services
There is no direct relationship between the oil and gas industry and the Armed Forces. Nevertheless, many of the skills required and valued by employers are taught and practised by a number of people in the Services. Generalist skills, such as supervisory management, project management and administration, are wanted as are all manner of specialists like engineers, divers and cooks. There are also fuel specialists in units, and a few people highly trained in fuel technology.

Working in the oil and gas industry

Working offshore
Working offshore involves two or three weeks on a rig or installation, followed by equal time at home. Everyone works shifts, normally of 12 hours’ duration. They work close to others in places where there is little space to get away on their own. Conditions are noisy and dirty; work is outdoors, and involves lifting and carrying heavy weights and working with powerful machinery.

Jobs include the following.

Searching
• Geologists locate possible sites and calculate how much oil is there
• Geophysicists map the substructure

Exploration
• Mud loggers (geologists) analyse mud, fluid and debris from an exploratory drilling
• Reservoir engineers assess oil reserves and drilling sites

Drilling
• Roustabouts are offshore unskilled manual labourers
• Roughnecks/floormen carry out the drilling operation under supervision
• Derrickmen work above the rig, handling the drill pipe sections
• Assistant drillers co-ordinate the activities on the drill floor
• Drillers control the drilling team
• Toolpushers oversee the whole operation
• Rig superintendents are responsible for the operation
• Drilling engineers order the drilling programme

Well services
• Operations supervisors oversee the well crew’s activities
• Wireline operators maintain the well and the tools
• Coiled tubing operators use a tube to pump fluids into the well

Production
• Production engineers monitor wells and check efficiency
• Production operators manage the flow of oil
• Control room operators manage the equipment that reports on production

General operations
• Offshore installation managers are responsible for offshore operations
• Radio operators control movement and communications
• Crane operators load and unload cargo
• Caterers feed and water the crews
• Stewards maintain and clean accommodation
• Divers inspect and maintain subsea structures, often using remote equipment
• Medics deal with minor complaints and major injuries
• Storemen order and hold equipment and supplies

Business support
• This includes accounting, legal, IT and administration

Entry requirements for the industry
• Minimum age of 18, but the preferred range is 21–30
• Minimum height of 1.63 metres (5ft 5in)
• Physical fitness
• Not colour blind (for some jobs)
• Relevant employment experience (if possible) and good Services work record

Competition for jobs offshore is fierce; relevant skills and experience are valued, with ex-Forces people often highly employable.

The industry is one of the largest employers of divers. Diving also requires life support technicians managing and controlling all aspects of a diver’s well-being in a decompression chamber between or after dives. ROV technicians man two types of ROV; work and inspection.

Working onshore
Work onshore encompasses a wide range of activities. Scientists and technicians work to produce improved fuels and more efficient energy; while engineers and construction workers build and maintain the plant and pipelines.

Energy supply is governed by complex and sophisticated ICT systems so technicians, programmers, designers and trouble-shooters are involved. Transporting bulk fuels by road demands specialist transport, licences and safety qualifications. Liquid fuels are commonly sold to the consumer at petrol stations, which are increasingly becoming shops as well. Jobs in gas include laying mains supplies, plumbing, and appliance installation, inspection and maintenance.

Training and development
Cogent – the Sector Skills Council for the oil and gas extraction, petroleum and chemicals manufacturing industries – is developing standards, qualifications and training. National occupational standards reflect working practices and technological changes. Industry representatives, functional analysts, outside experts and others agree them, and they are then approved by the appropriate government bodies. Qualifications and training are developed, in turn, to deliver to individuals working in the field.

Offshore
Offshore oil is no exception to a general skills shortage. However, there is now more emphasis on the generalist than on specialists, and careers are broadly based in the industry rather than with individual companies. All workers must complete fire, emergency and survival training. A basic rig crew course, covering drilling operations and roustabout/roughneck skills is highly recommended.

People with degrees in geology, engineering and logistics, and experience in project management, are highly prized. AS-levels or the equivalent are required to enter as a technician, while GCSEs or equivalent will give people a start at craft level.

All installations and rigs require people with materials handling skills, particularly heavy equipment, including riggers and slingers and crane operators. NVQs/SVQs at Levels 1–3 can be gained in an increasing number of offshore activities, and the Vantage personal passport provides a record of every offshore worker, including survival training, medical examinations and employment history, and, eventually, skills and competencies held.

Onshore
NVQs/SVQs focus on various health & safety issues including such subjects as:
• bulk liquid warehousing
• forecourt operations
• lubricants plant operation
• meter proving
• refinery field operations
• refinery control room operations
• transporting goods by road.

A Forecourt Contractor Safety Passport has also been introduced, to improve the awareness of health & safety rules for working on forecourts and generally at service stations. It requires a two-day course covering seven key areas of forecourt operations.

Energy & Utility Skills (the new sector skills council for electricity, gas, waste management and water) is developing a set of occupational standards and qualifications for people involved in main laying and service laying. It is hoped that the qualifications that result will be as common as possible across the industries concerned to enable workers freedom of employment in the entire sector.

Anyone working on gas appliances or fittings as a business must be competent and registered with the Council of Registered Gas Installers (CORGI). Competency can be proved under the Accredited Certification Scheme (ACS). CORGI provides a route to ACS through a distance learning programme. ACS has a two-day core domestic gas safety assessment and a number of appliance assessments that take half a day each; both are available at 150 centres in the UK. A competent student should take five days to pass the full domestic suite of qualifications.

Been there, done that …

Craig Loftus
After 22 years in the Royal Army Medical Corps, where he gained a practice management qualification, and three months as a locum, ex-Combat Medical Technician Staff Sergeant Craig Loftus (41) is now an offshore medic. Service in Germany, Brunei and England left him with ‘new challenges on the horizon’ where he could use his medical and management skills as well as an ability ‘to work alone and make decisions’.

His Career Transition Workshop taught him to ‘formalise your CV, look at yourself from within and bring out the best of yourself’. He followed this with an Offshore Medic course with Aon (now Capita) Health Solutions and a Survival Course with Fleetwood Nautical School – both mandatory for his future. He arranged his own work experience with an A&E department and a GP through contacts in a TA Field Hospital.

Now working in Aon’s Offshore Department, Loftus provides all the immediate medical services to the platform workforce. This includes medical equipment maintenance and ordering, training first aiders and fire crews, delivering healthcare to the workforce, helicopter administration, allocating accommodation, running budgets, health and safety, noise assessments, hygiene, and overseeing catering. He believes that preparation and research are key to a successful transition and finds less pressure placed upon him in a job that is not as secure as the Services but that offers a significantly higher salary.