Offshore oil jobs that can be found on oil rigs and oil platforms at sea

Working on oil rigs

The most common entry level position for working on offshore oil rigs can be a vacancy of a Roustabout. This is an unskilled person, normally male, requiring to do hard manual labor with the responsibilities encompassing carrying and moving around the deck and premises different heavy mechanisms, unloading and loading supplies, materials, food etc.

Other than that, Roustabout's responsibilities also include assisting crane operator by leading and handling cargo while the crane operator moves it from place to place around the crew and drilling deck, assisting manually with different maintenance and repair duties, substituting from time to time Roughnecks (Assistance Drillers or Driller Helpers), when needed. Position of Roustabout requires just a little hands-on training.

As you can see, Roustabouts and Roughneck's life on oil platforms is all like hard manual labor for the most of time.

To get shortlisted as successful candidate it should be beneficial, though not necessary, that you have some oil drilling industry related skills or training, or at least one of the numerous certifications, required in this industry.

Not that without certification you won't be hired as Roustabout. Having you listen to another brief course on safety is not a problem for oil drilling company, but if you already have one, that's already a valid sign for recruiters or people in HR that should be interpreted as candidate's good motivation and eagerness to learn and pick up necessary skills to possibly get promoted for more skilled jobs while already aboard oil exploration platform.

Greenhand certification is available for anyone who wishes to obtain it, even if you never worked on the offshore oil rigs so far. It does have sense to get obtained, since major oil drilling contractors do give preference to candidates who cared to do their own research on the Internet, attend the courses and obtain that kind of certification, though the oil companies that drill for oil and gas reservoirs in Western Australia normally will hire without the preliminary certification unskilled workers for the jobs with relatively little or no experience on offshore oil rigs and even train them. The same applies to the UK and in part companies drilling for oil off the shore of Aberdeen. By the way, UK offshore oil and gas drilling for the most part is located off the east coast of Scotland and England in the North Sea. The other oilfields and exploration from the platforms are in the Irish Sea and to the west from the Shetland Islands.

What is Greenhand Certification?

A standard Greenhand Certification is a 5-day course widely available from different training providers with focus on offshore oil industry that gets students instructed in areas like Introduction to Drilling Operations, Working Safely, Helicopter & Helideck Safety, Manual Handling, COSHH, Working at Heights, and Banksman & Slinging. Greenhand Certification course aims at helping offshore oil rig job seekers raise the awareness of life of workers and the duties entry level positions would normally require to perform an harsh and life threatening environment while working on offshore oil rigs. This kind of certification by the UK upstream oil industry is widely recognized worldwide, therefore I dare to recommend it, if you're seriously regard career on offshore oil rigs.

Continuous learning and certification, both basic and advanced is characteristic for upstream oil industry job. It is essential for entry-level jobs that you could start without prior experienced (roughneck, roustabout, welder, mechanic, subsea engineer, electronic technician, apprentice electric, motorman, scaffolder) as well as for advanced specialized positions on offshore oil rigs that require professional education and training, such as Derrickman, Driller, Toolpusher, Control Room Operator, Safety Coordinator, Helicopter Pilot, Barge Engineer etc.

tags: APEGGA, geophysics jobs in Alberta, Canada. ASET.

The issues related to positions on oil rigs to be covered soon: Roughneck job description; Oil rigs jobs salaries