Jobs in the North Sea?

whatsgoinon

Hi, I was wondering if anybody knows of anybody or anything about, working on the North Sea Oil Rigs? All I know is that is savage hard work, but the money is good.

Could anyone elaborate, is it hard to get a job there?

cheers

WhiteWashMan

yes. Your best bet is to look at either Aberdeen or Stavanger (Norway) as these are the 2 main base areas for operations in the north sea.
There are plenty of rig workers in these areas,and plenty of service companies.

However, you need to be qualified to get on a rig, not just to do the job, but for H&S reasons.

Id suggest you google these jobs up and around aberdeen.

Ginger

As wwm said, Stavanger is also one of the bases. I am fairly sure before you do anything on a rig there is a fairly intensive safety course, involving survival skills and a drop in a life boat from one of the training rigs.

You can try www.finn.no (http://www.finn.no/finn/job/fulltime/result?JOB_CATEGORY/CATEGORY=5414&areaId=20196) which should give you an idea of who is hiring and who to go to. You can use www.tritrans.net to do translations for you

Alun

There are also a reasonable number of gas rigs off the coast of Norfolk in England. I've noticed plenty of helicopter flights going out to the rigs while waiting around in Norwich airport recently.

whatsgoinon

that's brilliant people, thanks for the info, i had tried googling it, but wasn't really sure what i was googling if you get my drift.

the_syco

From one of the lads who did it, IIRC you'll be working 12 hour shifts, 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off. Pay is meant to be very good, though.

WhiteWashMan

Alun wrote: »

There are also a reasonable number of gas rigs off the coast of Norfolk in England. I've noticed plenty of helicopter flights going out to the rigs while waiting around in Norwich airport recently.

BP as far as I know. They would probably be mining gas from that area.

cee_jay

As someone else said, Aberdeen and Stavanger are the main bases for the North Sea.
Health and Safety is a major part of it and you have to complete Offshore Survival course before you go anywhere - among other things.
As well as looking at Oil & Gas companies, you should also look at Oil Service Companies.
Its not always 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off - sometimes you can be stuck out on a rig for weeks on end - I have a friend who is an Engineer and has been offshore for the past 38 days - however the bonus he is gonna get from this job alone will no doubt be worth it.
If you have done Engineering in college, and get hired by a big company, you will be rolling in the dosh, operators get paid pittance in comparison to them

whatsgoinon

Is it possible to get work there without an engineering degree, office work, maintenance or the like?

cee_jay

Yup of course
However, I know one company who do like people with mechanical/electrical knowledge if they are being hired as operators.
If you are hired for office work, the chances of being sent offshore on the rigs is very low.

steifanc

rigs are very hard to get onto. you will need your north sea ticket before they even look at you try rgit montrose in aberdeen thats where i done mine,, alberta in canada is mad looking for people at the min

cee_jay

Have recently heard of Irish guys going working on rigs off Stavanger - they are looking for carpenters and electricians mainly - or so I have been told anyway.
if you really want to persue this, it might be worth getting yourself trained up - e.g. offshore survival etc.
Two companies that I know of in Aberdeen that do these are Falck Nutec and Petrofac Training. There are probably more, but there are the ones I have heard on the radio, seen signs for, and dealt with personally over here

whatsgoinon

the reason i posted this (without specifying) is because my bro just lost his job, and is wondering what to do. He had an office job which he hated, the pressure of it made him so miserable, so I said why not try the rigs cos I have a few friends working out of norway and they enjoy it. My mam reckons people working on the rigs are too 'rough' for my bro to be hangin out with, which I think is bull cos the lads I know are hard workers but also very decent. If I was a fella I would do it.
My bro is not very motivated at all, not in a bad way , but would be well suited to a deckhand job or maintenance. i've mentioned this to him and he's well up for it, but due to lack of motivation wouldn't think of searching for anything himself.
I'm not being a bossy sister, I obviously do want him to be workin as he has a kid to think about, I just want the info first so that he can see what he has to do and what is going to be involved in a job like this
cheers for all the responses

M

ps, if there is a chance a female could get into this kind of business doining anything, washing the dishes, scraping rust off the hull... I'd be down for it

pete4130

I'm just about to switch from my civil service off/site work job to offshore work. A friend of mine made the change 2 years ago and loves it. They are always looking for qualified people (technically qualified, surveyors, engineers etc...). The company I'm applying to will match my current salary (about €45k) and for every day offshore I work I'll be entitled to an offshore allowance of £120 (€170) per day, with you working effectively 6 months of the year, resulting in about an extra €31k for working offshore.
Like its been said before, its 12 hours on, 12 hours off for anything up to 6 weeks at a time. Generally its more likely 2-3 weeks at a time. It works out 6 months off per year. When offshore the company I'm going with takes care of your meals etc.....so it's almost impossible to spend money while away working so it's a great way to save as well.
It seems like it can be tough work in tough conditions but worth it. 6 months off a year with a salary of about €75k, who wouldn't want a job like that!