Posted on 11/10/2008 1:35:45 PM PST by thackney
Industries world-wide are slashing costs and laying off workers. But one sector continues to recruit employees aggressively, dangling before them six-figure salaries, signing bonuses and job-training programs.
Multinational oil companies are grappling with a shortage of specialized labor for offshore rigs that promises to get worse. Drillers plan to erect 180 new offshore rigs over the next three years -- adding to the current total of 640 -- spanning the globe from the Vietnamese coast and the Caspian Sea to the Gulf of Mexico and Brazil. Every new offshore drilling operation requires an average of 200 workers, some offshore and some onshore.
It will take more than the recent drop in oil prices to $65 or $75 a barrel to derail these rig projects, companies say, even if the price downturn since the summer has led to postponements elsewhere, such as in oil sands and refineries. Oil development projects "take an average of 10 years to complete and operate for more than 30 years," said Susan Houghton, a human-resources official at Chevron Corp. "In 2008, we hired approximately 6,000 new employees and will continue that rate in 2009," she said.
Salaries for the most sought-after categories of oil workers have risen about a third over the past four years, according to Stephen Whittaker of Schlumberger Ltd., the world's biggest oil-services company by revenue. An experienced "roughneck," the nickname for rig workers, can make $100,000 a year, and top white-collar engineers can make as much as $500,000 a year, industry analysts and officials said.
...
... "Kids are getting summer internships that pay $5,000 to $7,000 a month, and signing bonuses of $10,000 and $20,000," said David S. Schechter, a professor of petroleum engineering at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas.
(Excerpt) Read more at rigzone.com ...
One of my buddies from High School is doing this. He works six months on/six months off, and owns a 200 acre farm in Tennessee. He makes more money than he can spend, and so he has it piled up in the bank.
Pretty sweet deal.
where do I sign up
No woman tagging along, i presume.
It isn’t for everyone, that’s for sure. Think of the dirtiest, most dangerous job you’ve heard of, and add pretty serious isolation the the really long days. There’s a reason the pay is what it is.
Well, he has plenty of women, to hear him tell it. Just none of them tagging along...
“If it flies, f%$#s or floats, it’s cheaper to rent”. Smart man.
A question for all: Are these oil rig jobs unionized?
I did it for 17 years and loved it. I would go back except my wife would raise hell with me. It is a life that is real tough on marriages.
Like onshore oil fields, some are unionized, some are not.
This article was in reference to jobs all over the world.
Thanks!
Your comment reminded me of a cute bush pilot who flies in N/E Ontario.
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