Working in the Oil Patch

[Jag_Gator]

Well, I've given it all some thought and have decided to lean towards working in the oil rigs as a MWD trainee/specialist if possible. What discourages me about that is I have no oil industry experience and my university degree was not in engineering or electronics (communications).

I do have a computer technical background, manual labour experience (loading and unloading trucks), and I'm not afraid to get dirty or break a sweat though. But the only experience I have with oil and gas is trading crude oil and natural gas futures .

It would be really cool to play a role in getting the stuff out of the ground. What do you guys think? I've e-mailed my resume to a few places (Phoenix and Baker Hughes), but feel I'm going to have to put some time aside and get my butt out to Alberta to meet with folks face-to-face.

[cody c]

There are so many pros and cons involved it could take a trilogy just to summarize.

Get an engineering degree, design or tech.

Otherwise your working out of town all the time with higher costs of living, and wondering why your working more for less quality of lifestyle.

Or the grass is greener till youve lived here long enough. There's a fella down the street from regina who's working 12 hour days to live the equivalent of what he had in Sk working 6 hour days.

Pros and cons, depends what your looking for.

[MartyM]

Jag your gonna need your First Aid and H2S tickets for starters and a clean driver's abstract in order to operate a company truck. Must also be able to pass a drug & alcohol test and basic physical. At Weatherford as a MWD trainee you'll be on probation for 3 months before given a company truck which means you would travel to and from location with the lead MWD hand. With how busy this summer has been and winter just around the corner it's gonna be busy and most of if not all the oil field company's whether it be a drilling contractor, service rig company or specialized service provider are looking to hire. Other than Phoenix and Baker there is also Weatherford, Haliburton, Enseco, Directional Plus, Precision Drilling(back in the directional game again) and Scientific to mention a few.

Good luck.

[Sushi]

You have a degree in communications? well, if you are a good communicator then you could leverage some of your oilfield experiance (should you get some) in a communications/PR role at an oil company. We have such a department. One consideration though is that the longer you stay out of your communications field, the degree becomes less relevant and difficult sell to a potential employer. If that is an idea that has crossed your mind, you will need to keep the flicker of hope alive by doing something communications related while you are out swamping around in the bush.

[Jag_Gator]

Originally Posted by cody c

There are so many pros and cons involved it could take a trilogy just to summarize.

Get an engineering degree, design or tech.

Otherwise your working out of town all the time with higher costs of living, and wondering why your working more for less quality of lifestyle.

Or the grass is greener till youve lived here long enough. There's a fella down the street from regina who's working 12 hour days to live the equivalent of what he had in Sk working 6 hour days.

Pros and cons, depends what your looking for.

No doubt Cody. Drowning in pros and cons. Tired of Saskatchewan though. Really bored here. The adventurer in me is anxious to be free.

[Jag_Gator]

Originally Posted by MartyM

Jag your gonna need your First Aid and H2S tickets for starters and a clean driver's abstract in order to operate a company truck. Must also be able to pass a drug & alcohol test and basic physical. At Weatherford as a MWD trainee you'll be on probation for 3 months before given a company truck which means you would travel to and from location with the lead MWD hand. With how busy this summer has been and winter just around the corner it's gonna be busy and most of if not all the oil field company's whether it be a drilling contractor, service rig company or specialized service provider are looking to hire. Other than Phoenix and Baker there is also Weatherford, Haliburton, Enseco, Directional Plus, Precision Drilling(back in the directional game again) and Scientific to mention a few.

Good luck.

Thanks Marty. Trying to get info on H2S and First Aid courses here in Regina. Thanks again.

[Jag_Gator]

Originally Posted by Sushi

You have a degree in communications? well, if you are a good communicator then you could leverage some of your oilfield experiance (should you get some) in a communications/PR role at an oil company. We have such a department. One consideration though is that the longer you stay out of your communications field, the degree becomes less relevant and difficult sell to a potential employer. If that is an idea that has crossed your mind, you will need to keep the flicker of hope alive by doing something communications related while you are out swamping around in the bush.

Yep, my communications degree is in advertising/public relations.

[Sushi]

Great. If you like my idea, try to get some oil spill cleanup experience if the opportunity comes your way.

[MartyM]

Here's a link to a training center who specializes in the tickets that you will need for entry level into the patch. Once hired on with a company they will provide you with training in regards to whimis, tdg, defensive driving, lithium battery safety, etc. H2S certificates from an online course are not accepted in Alberta, has to be from a certified instructor led course.

http://www.haztechsafety.com/training

[hl649]

As a member of the directional field; I would suggest you get a job on a rig for a while before you try being an MWD. It will make your job much easier and you will do a lot better than someone without rig experience.

[Jag_Gator]

Originally Posted by MartyM

Here's a link to a training center who specializes in the tickets that you will need for entry level into the patch. Once hired on with a company they will provide you with training in regards to whimis, tdg, defensive driving, lithium battery safety, etc. H2S certificates from an online course are not accepted in Alberta, has to be from a certified instructor led course.

http://www.haztechsafety.com/training

Thanks again Marty.

[Jag_Gator]

Originally Posted by hl649

As a member of the directional field; I would suggest you get a job on a rig for a while before you try being an MWD. It will make your job much easier and you will do a lot better than someone without rig experience.

Makes sense. Appreciate the insight.

[The Fisherman Guy]

Originally Posted by hl649

As a member of the directional field; I would suggest you get a job on a rig for a while before you try being an MWD. It will make your job much easier and you will do a lot better than someone without rig experience.

This is very good advice.

Not only will it get your foot in the door, but it will allow you to be more knowledgeable in your field if you do decide to stick with the oil patch as a career.

Jumping in with both feet into an MWD job isn't easy. Even if you do land a gig, think of the rungs on the ladder that are below you - that you know nothing about. You will be ahead for a bit, but when people figure out that you know nothing (*the sooner you realize that, the better) your life will become that much harder.

It's an uphill climb, not for the faint of heart. MWD Managers don't like taking chances with guys who, just want to give it a shot, because when it backfires, not only does the manager look foolish but the entire team suffers.

Everyone who hears about Directional drilling, thinks it's easy money and a monkey could do it. It's not.

If your serious about it, do what others have before you. Get a job on the rig, start at the bottom and work your way up. That way when you are in a position which requires you to make decisions that will affect other people, you make the right decision and not waste anyone's time.

[archer king]

hey jag try pacesetter directional drilling there always looking for mwd hands they will train

[PGH]

Just did my H2S and First Aid (Standard, 2 day course) so that I can go play oil and gas. Like you, I have a degree in an unrelated field and minimal oil and gas experience. I found the H2S course to be really valuable and learned a lot. Putting on the SCBA equipment was also useful. Take the course seriously even though some people will be yawning through it. I felt bad for a lot of the guys in the class cause it was their 4, 5 or 6th time taking it - whereas it was all new to me. I'm sure it also comes down to having good instructors too. As for first aid - its useful as well, but a lot more common sense than anything.

[spot and stock]

Originally Posted by PGH

Just did my H2S and First Aid (Standard, 2 day course) so that I can go play oil and gas. Like you, I have a degree in an unrelated field and minimal oil and gas experience. I found the H2S course to be really valuable and learned a lot. Putting on the SCBA equipment was also useful. Take the course seriously even though some people will be yawning through it. I felt bad for a lot of the guys in the class cause it was their 4, 5 or 6th time taking it - whereas it was all new to me. I'm sure it also comes down to having good instructors too. As for first aid - its useful as well, but a lot more common sense than anything.

Tell me about it! Hear the same questions 15 times and they still don't understand anything. Go get some experience on a rig, learn the lingo and process of drilling a well first. It will do nothing but help you down the road. Tough out here if your starting off where you should be five years down the road.

[BallCoeff.435]

Huge differences exist in lifestyle, mentality, and approach to work between a 'soft' university-based job vs a technical rig job.

MWD requires both a drilling (rig) and instrumentation knowledge base (background), an ability to deal with field conditions (driving through snowstorms & mud bogs, 12-hour night shifts or longer in blizzards and/or rainstorms, bad-weather landings on foreign oil platforms etc), and a very good mechanical and electronic aptitude. Lots of very strong, direct and crude personalities there. Little tolerance for what is construed as bullshyte. You can't let any of that affect you at all, and even have to enjoy it to a point. Farm kids used to have some of those basics so a lot of them went into that industry. Not too many farm kids left these days, so I don't know how the industry is dealing with the skateboarding, texting, baggy-ass pant snivellers now.

Anyway, you have to know the culture, workstyle, and technologies before you are safe and useful enough to do MWD. A Pete Engg degree with lots of service rig time and a hobby in electronics might be a way in.

[Roughneck12]

Originally Posted by The Fisherman Guy

This is very good advice.

Not only will it get your foot in the door, but it will allow you to be more knowledgeable in your field if you do decide to stick with the oil patch as a career.

Jumping in with both feet into an MWD job isn't easy. Even if you do land a gig, think of the rungs on the ladder that are below you - that you know nothing about. You will be ahead for a bit, but when people figure out that you know nothing (*the sooner you realize that, the better) your life will become that much harder.

It's an uphill climb, not for the faint of heart. MWD Managers don't like taking chances with guys who, just want to give it a shot, because when it backfires, not only does the manager look foolish but the entire team suffers.

Everyone who hears about Directional drilling, thinks it's easy money and a monkey could do it. It's not.

If your serious about it, do what others have before you. Get a job on the rig, start at the bottom and work your way up. That way when you are in a position which requires you to make decisions that will affect other people, you make the right decision and not waste anyone's time.

What he said. I just decided to get out of Directional Drilling. Its not for everyone and its a steep steep learning curve.

[Jag_Gator]

Just wanted to thank everyone for the advice. Definitely think I'm going to take the entry level route and start off slow. Not trying to be a hero or a know it all that is for sure. Might be best to try and get on with one of the drill rigs here in Saskatchewan, gain some experience, and then high tail it to Alberta. Thanks again everyone.

[Dale S]

Southern Sask. is booming right now.My son is down there on a rig he said there always short handed.A buddy of mine just scored a good oilfield related job in Estavan.Lots going on in that area.

[Jag_Gator]

Originally Posted by Dago

Southern Sask. is booming right now.My son is down there on a rig he said there always short handed.A buddy of mine just scored a good oilfield related job in Estavan.Lots going on in that area.

Yeah and I assume things are starting to ramp up here in Saskatchewan because of the weather setbacks back in early spring and mid summer.

There are a lot more opportunities in Alberta, so I'll be keeping my options open. May even make a little road trip out to Nisku to apply in person, because from what I have read, resumes by fax or e-mail seem to get lost in the shuffle.

I can't thank you guys enough for all of your insights. It's been a great discussion.