Working 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 300 people may work, to smaller floating production facilities, which may employ as few as 30. Some 20,000 people work offshore and another 360,000 onshore in 6,000 UK companies. 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 160,000-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
o Geologists locate possible sites and calculate how much oil is there
o Geophysicists map the substructure
Exploration
o Mud loggers (geologists) analyse mud, fluid and debris from an exploratory drilling
o Reservoir engineers assess oil reserves and drilling sites
Drilling
o Roustabouts are offshore unskilled manual labourers
o Roughnecks/floormen carry out the drilling operation under supervision
o Derrickmen work above the rig, handling the drill pipe sections
o Assistant drillers co-ordinate the activities on the drill floor
o Drillers control the drilling team
o Toolpushers oversee the whole operation
o Rig superintendents are responsible for the operation
o Drilling engineers order the drilling programme
Well services
o Operations supervisors oversee the well crew's activities
o Wireline operators maintain the well and the tools
o Coiled tubing operators use a tube to pump fluids into the well
Production
o Production engineers monitor wells and check efficiency
o Production operators manage the flow of oil
o Control room operators manage the equipment that reports on production
General operations
o Offshore installation managers are responsible for offshore operations
o Radio operators control movement and communications
o Crane operators load and unload cargo
o Caterers feed and water the crews
o Stewards maintain and clean accommodation
o Divers inspect and maintain subsea structures, often using remote equipment
o Medics deal with minor complaints and major injuries
o Storemen order and hold equipment and supplies
Business support
o This includes accounting, legal, IT and administration
Entry requirements for the industry
o Minimum age of 18, but the preferred range is 21-30
o Minimum height of 1.63 metres (5ft 5in)
o Physical fitness
o Not colour blind (for some jobs)
o 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:
o bulk liquid warehousing
o forecourt operations
o lubricants plant operation
o meter proving
o refinery field operations
o refinery control room operations
o 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.
The Gas and Water Industry National Training Organisation is developing a set of occupational standards and qualifications for people involved in main laying and service laying, including the new Gas Services Installation, Gas Services Maintenance and Gas Service Engineering NVQs. It is hoped that the resulting qualifications 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.

Section: Case history: oil and gas - Been there, done that
Alistair Milne
After 19 years as a Leading Weapons Engineer on nuclear submarines, Alistair Milne left the Royal Navy last year. A back injury in 1985 had caused him years of pain, and the discovery of two more slipped discs led to a medical discharge.
He had 'dealt with everything pretty much; being on submarines - electrical and mechanical engineering, hydraulics, high-pressure air systems and pumping systems. A member of many teams and a radiation monitor in the dockyard.'
His Career Transition Workshop was 'excellent - very helpful', but he knew that he wanted to work in either air conditioning or gas, and went for the latter. Working with a local company, he qualified as a CORGI service engineer after 15 weeks' training and evening study. He found the job through local advertising because the company 'was looking for Service leavers with electro-mechanical skills to retrain in the gas industry. I was the guinea pig.'
Now a service engineer with Rock Property Solutions plc, Milne services, maintains and repairs domestic central heating systems in private houses. He is given a schedule of appointments and is 'fully employed stripping, cleaning and ensuring the safety of gas boilers and fires, and other appliances, and dealing with plumbing'.
He loves the job: 'variety and being out and about. I never know what I am going to do the next day.' The money is good and the industry 'desperately needs people with the necessary background skills'.