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Now ye're talking - to an off-shore oil rig worker

Boards.ie: Niamh

Our next guest works on an off-shore oil rig. His commute takes around 14 hours including two aeroplane flights and a helicopter but at least he only does this once every few weeks!
He spends a number of weeks off-shore followed by a number of weeks on-shore at a time.

If you'd like to ask any questions about working on an oil rig, now is your chance!

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nlrkjos

alchemist33 wrote: »

Have you read any of Paul Carter's books? If so, is it really like that or is he bullsh*tting?

Never heard of him! but probably bull... its a job like any other, only at sea! can be exciting,interesting, boring..excitement and adventure, first time out, maybe ! helicopter is same as Luas, gets you there. When I was asked to answer Q's on my job I honestly thought "who the fck would want to know!!!!!"

alchemist33

nlrkjos wrote: »

Never heard of him! but probably bull... its a job like any other, only at sea! can be exciting,interesting, boring..excitement and adventure, first time out, maybe ! helicopter is same as Luas, gets you there. When I was asked to answer Q's on my job I honestly thought "who the fck would want to know!!!!!"

Thanks. It's such an alien life to most of us; it's just fascinating.

nlrkjos

endacl wrote: »

Two questions.

What’s the shortest time you’d need to retrain to fly a space shuttle and blow up an asteroid?

Do you like Aerosmith?

Not too sure, why don't you ask your shrink when he calls to give you your meds before bed time.

Cushtie

Great thread. Thanks for doing the AMA.

Is it all North Sea or do you go all over the world?

Whereisgalway

Have you ever stood on the edge of the platform and peed into the ocean?

nlrkjos

Cushtie wrote: »

Great thread. Thanks for doing the AMA.

Is it all North Sea or do you go all over the world?

Just North, Norwegian and Barents Sea's, ten years back, all over the world and various other places

[Deleted User]

Interesting AMA

1. What attracts you about this type of work as opposed to working on land at more “sociable” hours.

2. How do you spend all that time off?

3. Do fights occur much between staff? (Cabin fever stuff)

4. Is there much demand for jobs in this sector or do you always find it easy to get the next generation to sign up for such work?

nlrkjos

Deleted User wrote: »

Interesting AMA

1. What attracts you about this type of work as opposed to working on land at more “sociable” hours.

2. How do you spend all that time off?

3. Do fights occur much between staff? (Cabin fever stuff)

4. Is there much demand for jobs in this sector or do you always find it easy to get the next generation to sign up for such work?

€80,000 + for working 18 weeks a year, that's kinda attractive

Chilling out ! few pints...motorbike...dog...garden...wife, not necessarily in that order !

No not really, people just have to get along and most just accept that.

NO, this generation just don't want it, smart phones banned, and it is a fairly tough job, no way to start out a relationship especially in these days of high demands on relationships.

Degag

Great stuff!

How do you spend the little free time you have on board? Read, Watch TV or just fall into bed?

How many meals do you get a day and how much time do you get for them?

You said the food is 4* i think? What would be a typical offering for breakfast, lunch, dinner etc?

Interesting how you said no beer.... is this just a policy of the particular company you work for or is it industry wide?

Apart from bingo on the Saturday night are there any other social events?

Thanks!

cefh17

nlrkjos wrote: »

€80,000 + for working 18 weeks a year, that's kinda attractive

Chilling out ! few pints...motorbike...dog...garden...wife, not necessarily in that order !

No not really, people just have to get along and most just accept that.

NO, this generation just don't want it, smart phones banned, and it is a fairly tough job, no way to start out a relationship especially in these days of high demands on relationships.

Why are they banned? Completely?

[Deleted User]

Great AMA - thanks a lot!

Do the rigs sway at lot - and if so - guess you're used to it or is it negligible?
Do you get agoraphobia on open dry land at all?
Do you surf?

Does the gender imbalance get odd at all (I'm a woman working in an almost entirely male dominated environment, and every now and then I get fed up and tell them so. They're always cool about it and know to humour me and let it pass

) but must be colder male on male? Or is the atmosphere more professional / military like?
Do your colleagues tend to just bunker down and sleep during off hours or are there mess halls/are they all secretly writing novels etc?
Do you have any exercise facilities? (guessing no space for treadmills/weight machines) :pac:

nlrkjos

cefh17 wrote: »

Why are they banned? Completely?

No mobile phones allowed offshore...remember you are working on a bomb,gas comes up at enormous pressures, leaks occur, one spark in the wrong place and lots of folk can be incinerated, some platforms under construction might allow them for duration of construction, but when they become "live", leave them in the heli-port lockers.

should have mentioned...gas we bring up has no mercapton to give it a "smell", so its odourless and flammable.

bfa1509

Looks like there's no wifi connection on the oil rig. All those questions shall remain unanswered forever...

nlrkjos

Degag wrote: »

Great stuff!

How do you spend the little free time you have on board? Read, Watch TV or just fall into bed?

How many meals do you get a day and how much time do you get for them?

You said the food is 4* i think? What would be a typical offering for breakfast, lunch, dinner etc?

Interesting how you said no beer.... is this just a policy of the particular company you work for or is it industry wide?

Apart from bingo on the Saturday night are there any other social events?

Thanks!

socialise in common rooms, smoking or non, cinema (40 seater) but mostly sleep, it can be a long day.

5.30am Breakfast is choice..fry,cereal, fruit.
9am snack 1/2 hr
12 lunch 1 hr..3 choices +salad
3pm 1/2 hr snack
7pm dinner...3 choices +salad
same for night shift.
like a hotel carvery really.

E.G..my last dinner was choice of roast beef, fish n' chips or sweet and sour chicken or salad. Fresh bread always there. good food to keep the troops happy.
all platforms have a no alcohol policy.

apart from bingo, Quiz night we have a cinema, big sport events are shown here and also some of the latest movies and series.

DoctorEdgeWild

What an interesting AMA, thanks for doing it and best of luck to you, enjoy!

nlrkjos

Cali_girl wrote: »

Great AMA - thanks a lot!

Do the rigs sway at lot - and if so - guess you're used to it or is it negligible?
Do you get agoraphobia on open dry land at all?
Do you surf?
Does the gender imbalance get odd at all (I'm a woman working in an almost entirely male dominated environment, and every now and then I get fed up and tell them so. They're always cool about it and know to humour me and let it pass ) but must be colder male on male? Or is the atmosphere more professional / military like?
Do your colleagues tend to just bunker down and sleep during off hours or are there mess halls/are they all secretly writing novels etc?
Do you have any exercise facilities? (guessing no space for treadmills/weight machines) :pac:

you get used to it. it can be a wee bit frustrating when back home for the first day or two...all you've done for 14 days is work and talk about work...so when somebody starts on about local goings on..you're like WTF is this about, and yes open space can be disconcerting for a few hours.
we do have a gym...spinning, rowing, walking, but also there's whats called a hobby room, I do a lot of painting here, a girl holds yoga classes on her shift, some play guitar, but you kinda have to book your time there as it is a popular room. Atmosphere is professional, women offshore do the same jobs as the lads, not being condescending here but no "girly stuff" if I can do it...so can you!!

nlrkjos

Typical day for me...

5.15 am..breakfast, weetabix and an egg. coffee and a smoke.
5.45..handover from night shift supervisor.
6.00..safety brief with OIM and other supers +foremen
6.30..safety brief with working crew,task designation.
7.00 platform "walkabout" all areas, all jobs, meet crane deck crew for lift operations schedule.plan extra tasks.
9.00 snack..usually a few bics,coffee and a smoke.
9.30 office, daily reports,crew change outs, update job status.
11.00 meeting with supervisors,safety reps,OIM to update all info.
12. lunch for me coffee smoke and maybe call home (don't eat lunch)
1pm. walkabout, chat to the lads/lasses listen to their concerns, after all they do the job!!!!
3.00 snack, usually sandwich coffee + smoke
3.30. update tasks and send report to land office.
5.00 walkabout with safety guy and logistics, try to plan for tomorrow.
7.00 dinner, pot luck, but my hope is always pasta dish (twice a week)
8.00 walkabout with night shift foreman.
9.00 clean up days issues and plan tomorrow,(can take an hour!!!)
10.00 chill out in smoking room, maybe have a game of scrabble...monopoly !!!!
11/11.30 bed.

Only real difference is Saturday and Sunday... Sat is finish at 8pm and go to bingo or quiz.
Sunday, finish at 8, then we have an evacuation/fire drill for an hour, sometimes internal muster, sometimes outside lifeboats, I can also be sent in to living quarters with a rescue team to find a "missing person", not very nice wearing a survival suit, air bottle and carrying a stretcher (only happens once or twice a year)..

So it's pretty mundane really, routine is everything offshore, so we stick to that, it works. Don't rush, don't stress, after all the oil/gas has been down there for a 100 million years, it's not going to go anywhere in a hurry!

jochenstacker

Absolutely fascinating stuff!
Just one more question on phone/internet, you said there is broadband, so I presume you are allowed a laptop or similar? Or do they have internet cafés on board?

Gangu

Curious that they won’t allow mobiles because of the fire hazard but you can smoke.

What’s the strangest thing that you have seen in terms of natural phenomena?

eurokev

One of the best AMA's yet.

I qualified in E&I last year. I work for a large chemical company who kept me on. I was made up to an engineer on finishing my apprenticeship, because I'm older over 30 and have a cert and degree in the instrument area too.
TBH I miss the tools and have always been interested in off shore.
I think the working enviorment would really suit me.

How would I go about getting a job on a rig??
It's it unionised?
How demanding is the actual work, is there much work actually going on or is it fairly relaxed?
Is there perks, bonuses, shares, health insurance etc??
Are you actually aware you are on a rig? Or is it like being on a cruise ship, where it only hits you that you are on a ship when you go up on deck?

[Deleted User]

You certainly work for your money- that’s a very long day.

As your day is so structured over a long period do you apply the same approach to time off or are you more relaxed about what you do and when you do it?

You mentioned pension at 60. Is there an opportunity for you to do related work onshore at that point such as getting involved in training or consultancy or education to pass on your wealth of knowledge and experience?

Do you live in Norway? If so what’s it like to live there?

What would you say is the worst job to do and best job to do on an oil rig?

Do the cooks and other staff get paid quite generously also? And what would their shifts be like, similar to yours?

What’s the difference between oil rig working and gas rig work? Are they essentially very similar?

What’s the average age of workers on the rig? I’m imagining here that people who joined years ago are mostly still there now and that staff turnover is low?

beertons

Do the single men & women get much action? Hook ups like.

Myleftpeg

Do you smoke like a trooper ?
Does the job stress you out or is just routine now ?
Ever sustained a nasty injury ?

only new

Do you get to see any wildlife living onboard whales maybe?

6541

Just wondering any opportunities for people in Information technology ?

nutjobb

Do you speak Norwegian? I've read before you need to speak it to work on the north sea.

Is there tax benefits spending so much time out of the country, or must one spend >6 months out of Ireland to get this?

Have you found a significant difference between Norwegian rigs and others? In conditions, food etc. are the Norwegian the only ones that offer 2 on 4 off rotation?

Has there been a big difference in conditions since you first began working offshore?

are most people working there long timers, does it "break" a lot of people and they quit?

Do you know any saturation divers? I watched a documentary on this recently, fascinating stuff.

I'm a toolmaker by trade now working as an engineer. Would it be better to apply to services companies rather than the oil companies themselves?

StabiloBoss

You say no mobile phones because of potential spark and fire, but smoking is OK? Special room/area?

lasalle

If your offshore shift is 14days, how long is the rest off before the next 14 day shift?

Purple Mountain

How come cigarettes are allowed but not mobile phones?

Could you give those of us who know nothing about rigs a flavour of what the work actually involves?
The mechanics of what is done out there?

Tenshot

Hi, and thanks for the AMA!

What's the most dicey situation you've encountered during your work?

Do you follow AvE on YouTube? If so, does he strike you as someone with a background on the rigs?