Oil rig workers - What do they do?

[james_tigerwoods]

I've just been chatting with my OH about the Helicopter accident out to the Oil Rig and she asked what workers on oil rigs actually do. (Mainly because there's a pretty good chance she flew some of them up to Aberdeen today)

Can anyone shed any light on this?

[FarleyRusk]

james_tigerwoods said:

Oil rig workers - What do they do?

Work on oil rigs, I expect

[thinfourth2]

Fill in pointless paperwork mostly and complain

[King Herald]

james_tigerwoods said:

I've just been chatting with my OH about the Helicopter accident out to the Oil Rig and she asked what workers on oil rigs actually do. (Mainly because there's a pretty good chance she flew some of them up to Aberdeen today)

Can anyone shed any light on this?

Well, there is a big device on an oil rig that drill holes in the seabed, where the oil comes up. I believe that at some stage somebody has to amble over and change the drill bit, on occasion. That's about all really.

Oh, and there's about 50 HSE office bods to report it all and write out procedures and safety guidelines for the drill bit swap.

[Dupont666]

roughnecks
boss
multilateral drillers
directional drillers
mud loggers
mud engineers
computer bods
chief
cleaners

want more?

[mybrainhurts]

They rig oils...

[MK4 Slowride]

Bruce Willis, Ben Aflek & that tasty woman.

[Komier]

To give a serious answer, there are lots of different jobs, lots of types of facilities, and "oil rig worker" doesn't really exist as a description of a job. As someone posted above there are job on rigs from Chef to OEM and they are all very different.

Some rigs are drilling rigs, others offshore production platforms.

Then there are contractors brought in temporarily for special operations, oceanographers to valve maintenance techs and such.

Tis a pretty wide ranging are and a simple answer not easily given

[trooperiziz]

King Herald said:

james_tigerwoods said:

I've just been chatting with my OH about the Helicopter accident out to the Oil Rig and she asked what workers on oil rigs actually do. (Mainly because there's a pretty good chance she flew some of them up to Aberdeen today)

Can anyone shed any light on this?

Well, there is a big device on an oil rig that drill holes in the seabed, where the oil comes up. I believe that at some stage somebody has to amble over and change the drill bit, on occasion. That's about all really.

Oh, and there's about 50 HSE office bods to report it all and write out procedures and safety guidelines for the drill bit swap.

There is probably somebody who's job it is to call the Ambiwlans...

[Muze ST]

Komier said:

To give a serious answer, there are lots of different jobs, lots of types of facilities, and "oil rig worker" doesn't really exist as a description of a job. As someone posted above there are job on rigs from Chef to OEM and they are all very different.

Some rigs are drilling rigs, others offshore production platforms.

Then there are contractors brought in temporarily for special operations, oceanographers to valve maintenance techs and such.

Tis a pretty wide ranging are and a simple answer not easily given

Valve Maintenace, You mean,

Instrumentation and Measurement tech.(called tiffy's). Im on a rig and i've never seen Valve maintenace tech.

• edit*

and i am a tiffy

Edited by Muze ST on Wednesday 18th February 22:31

[Heathwood]

Not entirely sure, despite knowing atleast two people that have worked on rigs. I do know that neither of those two people have as many fingers as they were born with however..

[CyprusCraig]

The old man is an OIM, he reckons it is the hardest job he has ever done. When he is working he often works 17hour days. Basically what people are saying about HSE is true, it makes the simplist job last alot longer.

[Hell27]

Generally maintain equipment, analyse data, feed staff, handle logistical operations, exploit natural gas and oil, most things that you would expect to be done in an extremely busy and harsh engineering operations environment.

[uk_vette]

oops

Edited by uk_vette on Wednesday 18th February 22:43

[C8PPO]

Swim out of helicopters, apparently.

[Steve996]

As others have mentioned there are numerous jobs on board an offshore installation. I use that term rather than rig because there is a fair old variety of installations out there too. In its rawest sence a "rig" generally refers to a drill rig which is moved around and then either jacked down or anchored into position so that wells can be drilled deep into the seabed to access the oil and gas that is trapped there, however they are generally only used to drill the well, or wells and then some other form of installation is needed to receive the fluids and process them for export either via tanker or pipeline. As well as rigs there are production platforms which often have a "rig" on them to allow drilling from the platform but only from one relatively fixed location, albeit the wells themselves can be steered directionally in all manner of ways to access quite a radius from that fixed platform. Then there are FPSO's which are effectively big tankers moored in position that are connected to subsea wells and produce them through a process plant to get the fluids treated to a suitable condition to allow them to be stored in their storage tanks in preparation for offload to a tanker. In addition to that lot there are multitudes of service and support vessels that do all manner of associated marine and subsea activities to keep the whole lot going. Appreciate the OP asked about the type of job rather than the type of vessel but thought it might be of interest to know that there are quite a lot of different types of "rig" out there in the North Sea.

In terms of the jobs that people do, there can be anything from 20 up to several hundred people depending on the size and activity level on an installation so there is a huge range of skills on board. The drilling related positions are mentioned in another post so I'll not repeat them but on production installations there are positions such as catering staff (including chefs), tradesmen of all kinds (mechanics/electricians/instruments), plant operators, engineers, paramedic/nurse, deck crew, scaffolders, crane drivers, riggers, supervisory staff, safety & environmental advisor, secretary/admin, offshore installation manager. These form the "core team" usually and then all sorts of specialist engineers for specific pieces of equipment are mobilised as required. In terms of what they do, on a very high level they collectively operate & maintain the equipment and plant as safely as possible to produce the oil and gas so it can be sold on for refining.

I've recently moved to an onshore job having worked offshore on various installations since I left school and joined BP as an apprentice instrument technician as a 16 year old. After completing my apprenticeship I spent 17 mostly happy years offshore in a lot of different roles before moving to an onshore role. If anyone is thinking about a career offshore I can heartily recommend it. It can be a very rewarding industry on a number of levels with a lot of great people and lots of demanding, resposible and rewarding jobs to do. It is not all the dirty horrible drillfloor-covered-in-drilling-mud type of scene that is commonly trotted out on the news when offshore is mentioned!

There that's enough for now. I'm sure others will pitch in with anything I've missed as I know there are a fair old amount of offshore PH'ers around!

Edited by Steve996 on Wednesday 18th February 23:31

[elster]

james_tigerwoods said:

I've just been chatting with my OH about the Helicopter accident out to the Oil Rig and she asked what workers on oil rigs actually do. (Mainly because there's a pretty good chance she flew some of them up to Aberdeen today)

Can anyone shed any light on this?

Does your OH go into Breighton a fair bit, well used to when I was there a lot.

[SPR2]

Steve996 said:

As others have mentioned there are numerous jobs on board an offshore installation. I use that term rather than rig because there is a fair old variety of installations out there too. In its rawest sence a "rig" generally refers to a drill rig which is moved around and then either jacked down or anchored into position so that wells can be drilled deep into the seabed to access the oil and gas that is trapped there, however they are generally only used to drill the well, or wells and then some other form of installation is needed to receive the fluids and process them for export either via tanker or pipeline. As well as rigs there are production platforms which often have a "rig" on them to allow drilling from the platform but only from one relatively fixed location, albeit the wells themselves can be steered directionally in all manner of ways to access quite a radius from that fixed platform. Then there are FPSO's which are effectively big tankers moored in position that are connected to subsea wells and produce them through a process plant to get the fluids treated to a suitable condition to allow them to be stored in their storage tanks in preparation for offload to a tanker. In addition to that lot there are multitudes of service and support vessels that do all manner of associated marine and subsea activities to keep the whole lot going. Appreciate the OP asked about the type of job rather than the type of vessel but thought it might be of interest to know that there are quite a lot of different types of "rig" out there in the North Sea.

In terms of the jobs that people do, there can be anything from 20 up to several hundred people depending on the size and activity level on an installation so there is a huge range of skills on board. The drilling related positions are mentioned in another post so I'll not repeat them but on production installations there are positions such as catering staff (including chefs), tradesmen of all kinds (mechanics/electricians/instruments), plant operators, engineers, paramedic/nurse, deck crew, scaffolders, crane drivers, riggers, supervisory staff, safety & environmental advisor, secretary/admin, offshore installation manager. These form the "core team" usually and then all sorts of specialist engineers for specific pieces of equipment are mobilised as required. In terms of what they do, on a very high level they collectively operate & maintain the equipment and plant as safely as possible to produce the oil and gas so it can be sold on for refining.

I've recently moved to an onshore job having worked offshore on various installations since I left school and joined BP as an apprentice instrument technician as a 16 year old. After completing my apprenticeship I spent 17 mostly happy years offshore in a lot of different roles before moving to an onshore role. If anyone is thinking about a career offshore I can heartily recommend it. It can be a very rewarding industry on a number of levels with a lot of great people and lots of demanding, resposible and rewarding jobs to do. It is not all the dirty horrible drillfloor-covered-in-drilling-mud type of scene that is commonly trotted out on the news when offshore is mentioned!

There that's enough for now. I'm sure others will pitch in with anything I've missed as I know there are a fair old amount of offshore PH'ers around!

Edited by Steve996 on Wednesday 18th February 23:31

How do the shifts[ if that is the right word] work out when off shore? Daily, weekly, or monthly or does it depend on the type of job you are on?

[Semi hemi]

Shifts tend to be 12 hours on 12 hours off (duty)
Trip or Tour on a "Rig" or "Platform usually 14 days
28 days on things like Dive Support Vessels Construction, & Pipelaying barges

Leave cycle can vary as well, from, 2 weeks on (the rig) 2 weeks off (the rig)
to 2 on 3 off and multiple variations there of,

Edited by Semi hemi on Wednesday 18th February 23:55

[SPR2]

Semi hemi said:

Shifts tend to be 12 hours on 12 hours off (duty)
Trip or Tour on a "Rig" or "Platform usually 14 days
28 days on things like Dive Support Vessels Construction, & Pipelaying barges

Leave cycle can vary as well, from, 2 weeks on (the rig) 2 weeks off (the rig)
to 2 on 3 off and multiple variations there of,

Edited by Semi hemi on Wednesday 18th February 23:55

Thanks for that, and is it always the same 'Rig , or 'Platform' each trip?