For all of you who are in the oil industry 1

[anu2004]

Asher,

just because i'm here complaining doesn't mean that im' not doing everything i can with the other 23 hours and 59 min of the day to get what i want.

and i'm moving to calgary, lol

 

[Ashereng]

NewfieEng,

The article is from the point of view of the author, and his/her interests. When you promote something, you usually only tell the good parts. And that's okay.

A while back, (remember the dot com boom?), it was IT that was offering $60K to college interns to go work in Silicon Valley. Now, 5 years later, I guess not so much. All those IT grads, I wonder what they are doing now - some I'm sure are still making mounds of cash in IT, the rest?


anu2004,

Congrats, and good luck with your move to Calgary.

Most of the work though, and job, are probably not in Calgary, but up in Ft. McMurray, maybe Grande Prairie, and other less popluated areas.

"Do not worry about your problems with mathematics, I assure you mine are far greater."
Albert Einstein
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[anu2004]

Asher,

haha, i was afraid you'd say that. i really like calgary.

 

[DaveVikingPE]

O&G is a really volitile industry (pun intended)...

Early 1990's, I wanted to get into structural design/analysis of rigs, anything offshore... I managed to collect quite an extensive rejection letter collection.

I've been cynical in previous posts, but never felt as cynical as I do now... I'd love to be a stress engineer working in the offshore field, but, despite the lip service about the "shortage" of technical expertise, my suspicion is that the real shortage is in cheap techical experts that can be fired on a moment's notice. The 1980's experience in offshore still burns in a lot of the folks only 10 years older than I. I would think that, like so much engineering work these days, it's the PMs that the companies want and not the tech folks.

 

[Ashereng]

Sorry you feel that way Dave.

Yes, O&G is cyclical. So are many other industries. In that regard, it is not too unconventional.

Many of the skills we use in this industry should be transferable to other industries. If you are a stress engineer, working on pipeline, beam, rigs, etc. it should be independent of the industry. If O&G slows down, maybe aerospace, ship building, transportation, containers, etc?

"Do not worry about your problems with mathematics, I assure you mine are far greater."
Albert Einstein
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[DaveVikingPE]

You'd THINK that a stress engineer would be picked up by them seemingly unrelated industries, eh?...

 

[zdas04]

Maybe it wasn't the field, maybe it was you? I don't know how many people I interviewed as the boom started that acted like they were "settling" for O&G and would only be there until their "real" field cycled back upward. I didn't care how much I needed an electrical engineer or a rotating-equipment guy, I wasn't taking someone with the goal of getting the hell out of my field.

David

 

[anu2004]

zdas, that's somewhat of a catch 22. what's a person to do if they need work? i understand from your perspective as well; you don't want to keep going through the hassle of interviewing, hiring, training, etc. only to have them quit..but...people need work.

 

[zdas04]

You misunderstand me. I'm not saying that people shouldn't change jobs, industries, careers. I'm saying that as a prospective employeer I want to see someone who is enthusiastic about my company and industry. When someone comes from another industry and doesn't bother to learn that the world's petroleum reserves are not stored in underground caverns then I wonder about their committment to the change.

"What's a person to do"? It is amazingly easy, buy a book on the industry you want to enter. Learn some of the culture, some of the buzz words, some of the work concepts. Subscribe to a couple of magazines (that are often available free) to see what the issues are that people are dealing with. Join a technical society (SPE in our case). SHOW ME THAT YOU ARE CHANGING CAREERS, NOT MARKING TIME FOR AN UPTICK IN YOUR PREFERRED INDUSTRY.

David

 

[ROMM]

Hi All,

Does anyone know who does recruiting for Oil/Gas from Australia?

Thanks in Advance

 

[opsops]

I remember as a recent graduate in the very early 1990 try to get in the industry, without much success. I had to settle on someother industry with less pay but regular hours. The reason was " no industry experience" kinda of lam excuse as far as I am concern.

 

[lewtam]

ROMM - My two cents on the Australian O&G Industry:

The Big Oil end of town has their own recruiting arm and only gets the head-hunters in for senior positions.

Each of their websites will have a careers section.

Google Woodside, Santos, ConoccoPhilips, BHP Petroleum to start (there are plenty more).

A great foot in the door is with the support contractors - drilling & completions, wireline, pipeline, maintenance, integrity inspection. All have a shortage of GOOD engineers (specialisation isn't as important at this end of the industry).

Expect to relocate and/or spend a lot of time in the field. Western Australia and Northern Territory offshore is hot right now, but keep an eye out for Coal Bed Methane in Queensland.




LewTam Inc.
Petrophysicist, Leading Hand, Natural Horseman, Prickle Farmer, Crack Shot, Venerable Yogi.

 

[WCFoiles]

Is it really so awful when the law of supply and and demand starts to work in a labor market?

Regards,

Bill

 

[DrillerNic]

So come on guys, do you think the Oil Industry wil manage to f**k it up again and cause another price crash? Look at all those big projects coming on line in 2007 & 2008: Buzzard, Ormen Lange, Sakhalin 2...could we be heading for oversupply and $10/bbl again?

I just remember the advice I got when I joined Schlumberger: make sure you've go 4 months salary saved and somewhere to live, as it's a cyclical industry and evenutally, SLB will crap on you...and never piss anyone off, as you may be asking them for a job at sometime!

 

[sms]

I don't think so, unless the automakers start producing hummbers that get 150 miles to the gallon.... There is a lot of room for growth in China and that is where the oil will be going for a while....

$40 a barrel, yeah, $10 a barrel, no I don't think so..

-The future's so bright I gotta wear shades!

 

[johnsmith2]

The oil price is dropping over the past few weeks. And the recent discovery of the oil field near Gulf of Mexicon. If the economy of US is getting bad, house's price is already decreasing in some areas, such as CA and NY. Unemployment later, and US people don't have money to buy stuff. Then, the chinese factory can't receive any orders from US. The demand of oil will drop quickly, but I don't think $10, at least $50

 

[Ashereng]

The recent discovery in the Gulf is at a really deep part of the waters. It will take a while to figure out how to bring it up. Until then, it is just potential.

Crude prices at $70 a barrel is really inflated (for the current times). Crude prices at $50 a barrel is still above the $30 per barrel from just a couple of years ago. The boom can't be sustained - hopefully, we have learned to control the bust, just like the feds are doing to control inflation.

In the mean time, who can name the most recent new refinery built in the USA (and I don't mean "expansions" to existing)?

Even if oil drops to $50 a barrel, I am guessing that gasoline (petro to you UK based guys) will still be expensive.

"Do not worry about your problems with mathematics, I assure you mine are far greater."
Albert Einstein
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[sms]

There are a bunch of projects out there right now to expand refinery capacity, just about all the majors have something on the boards, and while they are technically expansions to existing plants, for the most part they are doubling plant throughput which is the same as building a new one.

-The future's so bright I gotta wear shades!

 

[Ashereng]

sms, I agree with your statement. Expansion is the same as buidling a new one.

Still, when was the last "new" refinery built in the USA?

"Do not worry about your problems with mathematics, I assure you mine are far greater."
Albert Einstein
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[COEngineeer]

You make a lot more than that if you are only a High School grad working at the oil field in Canada