Working Offshore

[BAY KINGFISHER]

the degree may help, but its usually who you know or blow, hehehe....offshore that is...I saw many folks in the gulf that never finished high school making a whole lot more money than most BAs will bring....In the Gulf, timiing is everything, if your around buy outs, and/or you are willing to jump ship( change jobs often), have a little sense, and a hard work ethic... Id say realistically you could bring in 60-70 grand in a matter of 2-3years, no education required, all on the job training, the tuff part is to get hired straight into production..and thats where your 2yr degree could help....letme know when you get close to finishing...you want to work production, Im sure I could help you get in...also keep in mind when you start job hunting in the gulf, how the payment works...you make all your money with over time, so $12 an hr Offshore is not the same money as $12 on the beach...most production contracts pay 44 straight hrs and everything else OT...so if you get on a place with lots of OT, you can make good money pretty quick.....so if your a worker beg for the contracts with plenty OT....and enjoy them 100 plus hr checks..

[MudHog]

excellent point on the OT.

There is ALOT of work out in the gulf and as mentioned above, if you have a strong work drive and good ethics, then you can move quickly. Another big thing is pulling extra shifts. The hardest part will be being away from your family. If your working 7 and 7 and pull and extra shift, you'll be off-shore for 21 days straight. You have to work until your next scheduled crew change. So you'd work your 7 out there, 7 that your supposed to be in and the 7 for your normal schedule for 21 total.

Another thing to, off-shore usually doesn't get vacation days, you have to plan your vacation and such on the days your off. No big deal, but sometime it happens when friends want to go to the beach and you will be off-shore and can't take "vacation".

[H20fowlkiller]

i know the whole vacation thing but working offshore wouldnt you work 2 weeks on 2 off

[BAY KINGFISHER]

there are all kind of offshore schedules...7/7, 14/14, 14/ 7, 21/14, 21/7, 28/7, and of course the contract hands go when they call you and leave when the job is done( well testers, contstruction, etc... most production ops work 7/7 or 14/14.. depending what contract your on, usually get one vacation week a yr so you will be off 21 days straight. other than that the only time off will be sickness or death in the family...they dont want people who are late or sick all the time....flights offshore costs a lot of money....1200- 7000 depending on bird size and distance..I will tell you offshore is not for everyone, also plan on operating cranes as well, swinging off boats in the dark in rough seas, taking the personnel basket a 100 plus feet down landing on workboats....etc etc...the job surely aint for the faint of heart. Also platforms arent run like the plants on land...with a maintenance contractor. you will be the deck scrubber, mechanic, electrician, I&E, cook, firefigther, medic, all in one...you will do it all on the smaller p/fs without the luxury of a lot of help, and if you cant keep the oil and gas flowing, they will find someone that can, usually before your hitch is over...

[Deltamud77]

Off topic but...for you guys that have worked off shore, tell us some good stories on a Friday afternoon. One my best friends put himself through college and law school by working off-shore and saving his money. He has some great stories from on the rig, from fights, to personalities, to horrible weather and massive seas.

I have another buddy (an engineer) who worked out of Lafayette when he graduated from State. His first trip ever to a rig was by boat and he was the only person they were dropping off (mostly supplies went out on this boat). The basket or whatever it is called was dropped by crane to the boat to pick him up. Not knowing any better, he climbed inside, as opposed to hanging on the ropes in the outside. You never get a second chance to make a first impression. He caught it for that.

He also had a guy freak out and fall out the basket from about 50 feet, hit the steel deck and die. They were the only two riding the bell at the time.

[MudHog]

Chopper rides can be fun, some pilots "rig hop". They will ride low to the water, jump up over a platform then dive back down to near water level. No it's not safe, but there's alot of things that happen off-shore that aren't safe and legal.

Personell Baskets are fun, but the best ones are the rope swings. 240' crew boat rocking in the seas and you have to tarzan swing from boat to rig or vice versa.

If travelling by boat, there's time you may get stuck on a supply boat and have to ride his route before ever getting to your platform. The one thing about off-shore is time schedule. He will not drive straight to your rig and drop you off. He will start with his #1 stop and if your #14, then you have to wait until then to get dropped off. Same as choppers too. You'll get picked up and then depending how many rig drops the choper has depends how soon you get off.

As I had mentioned before to, you riding a chopper or boat depends how far off-shore your rig is that your working on.

There's alot of money to be made in the oil-field. But the oil-field has his tolls on families. Your gone depending on your work schedule, may miss your childs first birthday, have to postpone birthdays of special occasions due to work schedule, so on and so forth. If you can stick with it, you can make alot of money though.

You have some of your best cooks and your best meals off-shore too. Manned platforms have your best rig side fishing available too. You can't cook what you catch on the rig while your out, but you can clean it, freeze it and bring back to the beach with you. If caught cooking fresh catch, you and the cook in the galley stand a good chance of being fired.

[Deltamud77]

If caught cooking fresh catch, you and the cook in the galley stand a good chance of being fired.

Why?

[MudHog]

liability reasons concerning health.

Doing that would be just like owning a rest., going out killing a deer in your back yard and cooking it for your customers.

[Winchester]

I work for chevron offshore I am a electrician. I got hired with chevron about five years ago I work a 7/7 schedule. If you are wanting some more info offline pm me and send me a number and I can tell you about some job positions that are posted. Also I have a associates degree in Instrumentation technology that was the requirement for getting hired with chevron. Yes the money is good and being a production operator is easy money for the job that you do, the only bad thing is how we get paid we work 80hrs straight time and 4 hours overtime for a week, we work 12hr days anything after the 12 is overtime, if you do not get 5 full hours of rest a night due to overtime you get automatically 12hrs over time, for holidays worked you get double time and half, holidays not worked you get 12 hours regular time. Oh yeah and the fishing is great!!!!!!!!!!!

[Johnny Hall]

There is no way I would work 7/7
too much traveling time. 14/14 is ok 21/21 I have never worked
but right now I am working 28/28 and believe it or not sometime I am actually ready to go back to work.

The worst thing about being offshore is not being able to get home real quick. The good thing is well, with me I am home more now than I was when I was working at home, hours wise I mean, I know that probably doesn't make sense but by the time you drive to work, work 10-12 hours and drive back home you're really not there a whole lot even if you are there every night. My brother in law is kinda envious of my schedule, but hey, different strokes for different folks. It has its good and bad points, whatever it takes to make you happy and if anybody ever finds the perfect job, let me know

[BAY KINGFISHER]

thats why I mentioned how the pay was different everywhere,, Winchester, it must suck getting taken for all that OT. I always got payed a straight 42 and everything else was OT....anyway I have lots of stories of helicopter wrecks to p/f fires, to people getting inside personnel baskets, and to catching huge fish, etc etc just keep in mind that every p/f is different and every company has different rules, some are strict, and some arent, I suggest a company with a good safety record, that doesnt pay on a split week...

[mudsucker]

I work 2 weeks on and 2 off on the ship I am on. Any thing over 12 hrs. is OT and any addtional time is OT as it is this week. I am back a week early! We do dredging but when folks in MS hear the schedual they say,"You work offshore?" to which it is easier to say YEAH! But boats on the river work a varity of scheds. as well.

[PCI]

H20fowlkiller, have you thought about clerk/dispatcher. Not a bad job. I have been doing that for 11 yrs. 14/14, normally for are on 1st flight going home, you work inside most of the time, you get plenty of OT. Let me know if want some clerk companys links & contacts.


http://www.rigzone.com/jobs/