Season's greetings

Merry Christmas and a happy new year. I'll be taking a break from the blog until early Jan when I'll be back on top of things, so this is the last one of 2009.

There's a few companies already ramping up operations into 2010, so hopefully we'll have lots of lovely jobs to fill. As ususal, see the end to see what we have available.

News wise, Brazil aren't wasting any time - they've contracted SBMs FPSO for 18 years, which is good news for the region. Article here

Rigzone have done some good recent articles about 2009, and I liked the floater one from today best.

Not much other news. Jobs wise, I have an IMMEDIATE (as in Sunday) requirement for a subsea Engineer, Junior or Senior, for a drillship going to Equatorial Guinea.

As per my previous post, I need a Geophysicist and an Exploration manager for Edinburgh.

I also need a Process Team Lead for Aberdeen.

And finally, I'm still looking for a driller for the US GOM (deepwater).

That's it, have a great Christmas and new year.

Quick self-serving post

Hi,

I need to find a Geophysicist and an Exploration Manager for the UK. Ideally UK Nationals, or eligible to work here. It's for an operator in Scotland. Full time, residential position, great package and comrehensive benefits.

Please apply or pass around the good word. Those bottles of single malt for people who give succesful referrals are still available!

Thanks. Proper post later in the week.

Alaska, Gulf and Gossip

Not long now until we all have a wee break over Christmas time (those of us who are lucky enough to be onshore that is). As one of my clients put it, there are plenty of candidates who "like their Turkey at home" so there may be a few short term vacancies coming up. I have one now, see end of the post.

News wise, the really big news is that it looks like drilling is going ahead for Alaska. The interweb has only started really getting stuck into it now (links here and here), but the owners of the drillship, Frontier drilling, were advertising for crew for their drillship some time ago.

Go and apply, but if you get the position, please remember that you got the hint from me, Frontier won't deal with us just now, so please put in a good word.

Anyway, Alaska is obviously a contentious environmental issue, so the usual arguments have all come out. In my opinion, (ill informed as I am) at the end of the day, they are going to drill there eventually, and given the state of the US's finances at the moment, I think they'd be well served to get moving on it. And yes, I know the UK's finances are just as bad, if not worse.

In other news, there's still plenty of oil in the Gulf of Mexico, according to this article.

Gossip wise, it looks like Dolphin are going to have their contract terminated, and for some reason, Sevan are trying to terminate their contract with ONGC. Interesting developments, couldn't possibly speculate as to the reasons for Sevan's actions in particular.

Jobs:

Still looking for a DPO for a Semi in the US.
Subsea Engineer for a Drillship in the US.
Ops manager for Macae.
Master Mariner who can speak Norwegian for Norway
Process Engineer for Aberdeen (need to be chartered and live in UK)
and a 6 week contract for a MAster with unlimited DP licence for a DSV/Construction vessel for Oman.

Any takers? get in touch here

Iraq, Falklands, USA

here is an interesting article about Iraq's plans to drill 180 wells next year and 250 every following year. I wouldn't be working there myself yet, but hopefully it'll create a few opportunities. They're already Planning the infrastructure as well, I guess the war is over...

Much as I wouldn't want to quote "The Sun" newspaper, they have got an interesting article about plans to exploit the Falkland's resources over the coming years as well. Article
here

Finally, it might be that the economy is too much of an issue for Obama not to drill. I think this article is a bit exaggerated in terms of job creation, but it seems to be the number one issue in the US at the moment.

Jobs wise, I'm still looking for DPOs and Drillers for Semis in the gulf, and I got an interesting Ops maanger role for Brazil, need to have worked with FSOs and Tankers though, not my usual drilling fare.

That's all for now, only 3 more blogs till Christmas.

Rain, rain, more rain, and some rain

It's definitely raining now.

This week's been a funny one, I think companies are in that jittery phase where they have stuff to do, but don't really want to do so before Christmas (only however many shopping days to go.) Recruitment tends to level out as clients look to the new year, but there's still a few things ticking over.

In the news:

New Zealand seems to be the place to be, the E107 has been scheduled to drill another production well. Link here. Maybe Ensco's fortunes are looking up a bit, as they have had a few rigs stacked for a while.

There's a squabble between Chevron and Woodside about the Atwood Oceanics rig they had agreed to share. Sounds like handbags at dawn, but might end up pretty expensive. Just goes to show there's plenty of demand for these Hight Spec Deepwater rigs at the moment. Link here.

Finally Noble might be feeling the pinch due to their reliance on Pemex. 10 of their 12 contracts are up next year, placing Pemex in a good position to pressure them for a better day rate. Link here.


Jobs wise, I need the following - A DPO and a Driller/Tourpusher for a new build Cyberbase Semi in the GOM. I also need a Master Mariner for a Jack up in Egypt. Pipeling Engineer and Safety Engineer for Abu Dhabi, and I'm still keeping my eyes open for a decent subsea Engineer for Brazil.

Anyone you know, or if you're interested, please email me

back to normal

Was away on holiday last week, in the rain. Lovely.

Seems like things have been steady though, nothing too major on the oil and gas front, just the price dipping down, and slowly resurfacing again. Vacancies are still a bit thin on the ground; lots of plans for next year, but nothing new that's concrete for this year.

In the news:

This interesting article about Vietnamese oil and gas production. It's a little under-utilised at the moment, although there seem to be a few drilling contractors heading that way soon.

I guess one of the main news stories is that Ensco are relocating to the UK. Links are here and Ensco's take is here. I wonder why they have chosen the UK? Taxes are pretty high, and life's pretty expensive, but hopefully this will encourage them to employ a few more people from Europe.

This article shows how desperate the anti-drilling lobby are in the US to prevent offshore drilling. Not only is it ridiculous to invoke the military as a reason not to drill, but I guess this means that the US military would e unable to attack across Ocean that has oil rigs in it. Better not tell Iran this, they'll have the perfect defence. However, they seem to be losing ground, as there will be a big sale next year.

Obama was in SE Asia, and China, promoting goodwill and strengthening Economic and Political ties. He's definitely trying to get access to some of the oil revenues that China are getting, particularly from Myanmar. Interesting article here.

That's all for now. Looking for Drillers for the GOM, Cyberbase Semi experience. A Chief Officer for an AHTS vessel in Angola, and Piping and Safety Engineers for Abudhabi.

Email me at the usual address if you are interested or know anyone who might be.

Short

Apologies, not much posted this week, had what the wife would descrube as "man flu".

Romania has opened up it's oilfields for more exploration, which is good news. Hopefully CROSCO and GSP will be able to secure some of the drilling contracts in the area, as things don't seem too busy for them at the moment.

Libya and BP are getting on liek a house on fire, and it looks like there'll be plenty of work there from next year, which is good news as well.

Back to normal next week (honest).

I'm looking for an HR manager for a drilling contractor in Houston if anyone is looking, and other roles will remain the same.

Jack-ups

One of the guys I have dealt with in the past has been writing a very interesting blog that I'll put a link to on the left as well. He's more of a Marine guy, rather than oil and gas, but worth a look all the same.

News wise, Ecuador has come up with a different approach to drilling for oil... Not drilling for oil This may be the way forward, although I have to wonder if in 5 or even 10 years time, a different president might just do it anyway.

Scorpion, a relatively unknown drilling contractor, have won a short term contract in Trinidad - maybe a sign of more work in the Jack up market? Not according to Rigzone.

The Jack up contractor who seem to be struggling the most are Hercules. They have a lot of stacked rigs, and seem to be unable to find much work at the moment. With luck things will look up, but they can't be too happy with their $48.3m loss in one quarter.

Jobs wise, still looking for:

Indian Drilling staff for new build Drillship in India.
SE Asian Mechanics and Materialsment for SE Asia.
American Engineers for a Semi in GOM.
BD Managers and Ops Managers for Asia Pac and Algeria (must speak French for Algeria, Asia experience essential for Asia Pac)

Interested? email me

Late report

Well the oil price is certainly looking a bit healthier than it has done for a while. I'm quite happy if it continues the trend. More work will come out of it hopefully!

Few interesting developments this past week. (apologies for the late posting)

China have started eyeing up America for Oil exploration. I don't know if America is quite ready for that, but the article from the NY times is here, and this article has a very good analysis of the situation (in my opinion anyway).

Another story about Transocean. This one looks like it could be a problem for them, as I don't think many companies will do well up against a Saudi Prince working through the Saudi legal system.

No link to it, but I see that the oil spill in Australia still hasn't been fixed. This is really the worst possible time for this to happen, as the American anti-drilling lobby are using it as another example not to drill offshore NC or VA. I'm hopeful that they will lift the moratorium, but we'll have to wait and see.

Jobs wise, I'm looking for business development managers for Asia Pac and Algeria. Must be from a drilling background.

I also need lots of Master Mariners and Mates for DP AHTS and PSV vessels in Angola.

And finally, I could use a few Toolpushers for Brazil, Cyberbase and floaters please.

Have a good weekend.

Lies! (maybe)

Very interesting article here about a company called Ophir energy who have chartered a rig as their consultant told them

"that the deepwater drilling rigs and ships worldwide are “currently 100 per cent utilised and the rates of utilisation are expected to remain at or near 100 per cent and as a consequence oil companies will compete for access to drilling equipment.”"

Now I may be oversimplifying things a bit here, but last I checked utilization was nowhere near 100% for Deepwater drilling. It sounds to me like this company, who will remain nameless on this blog, are cultivating demand to ge their comission a bit earlier. More fool the client I suppose, but it doesn't sound very ethical to me.

Personally, I have found things are starting to look a bit more encouraging as we amble into the last quarter of the year, but the stockmarket seems to disagree. I like this quote about 2 stacked rigs "It's interesting that both went from contract work to stacked, with no idle time in between." Ties in with my earlier theories about jackup rigs being stacked even when contracts are available. If only I had a few Million...

Jobs wise, I am very keen to find Indian nationals with senior experience on semis or drillships. email me if you're interested.

Also am looking for Barge Supers for SE Asia, must have accomodation Barge experience, and look at about $300 per day.

News from the Frozen North

It's definitely approaching winter, had to scrape the frost off the car this morning.

Just a short post today:

First up we see that Neptune have finished refurbishing their rig. Which is nice, as it's taken them 3 years! So it's probably going to be obsolete pretty soon.

I dealt with Neptune as a recruiter before, and wouldn't do so again. Enough said.

This is an interesting development. I'm not sure what would happen if they did this, but it would definitely impact on the dollar, which would in turn harm China and other countries' foreign reserve. Of course, it's just rumour and speculation.

Jobs wise, I really need experienced Master Mariners for AHTS vessels in Angola. They need to have worked on Anchor handling vessels, and to have experience with DP2.

Pinch, Punch...

..It's October. Can't believe how soon it'll be Christmas.

Anyway, Straight to business.

The Chinese have found Combustible Ice which apparently can be a useful sort of fuel. I had never heard of it before, but it sounds fascinating. Don't know if this is quite the future of modern energy, but who knows?

You probably don't need me to tell you the oil price has been up and down like a yo-yo this week. The average still seems to be around 70 for the last month, but it's still a bit shaky.

Maybe I'm deeply cynical, but anyone else find it a coincedence that BP are just about to start drilling in Libya, so soon after all the furore about Al-Megrahi's release? I wouldn't mind so much if they had just been straight up about it, but it can't just be a coincedence, surely?

Before I sound too much like a conspiracy theorist, let's move on to Adma Opco, who are opening their fields for exploration for the first time in 40 years. link here

Jobs:

US Citizens - Master Mariners for SDPO position in the Gulf. Must have experience on semis or drillships.
UK Citizens - 2nd Engineer for PSV in North Sea, poss. elsewhere.
SE Asian Candidates - Mechanic for Jack up in SE Asia.

Feel free to get in touch if you are interested.

US Drilling

I can't remember if and when I have mentioned this before, but it does seem that pressure is building on Barrack Obama to make some kind of decision on Offshore Drilling, it seems that various states are all pressuring him to do so, whilst Green and Conservation campaigners are saying no. Either way he's in a bit of trouble, as they need the money, but not the bad publicity. I wonder how he'll get out of it?

Article which is more pro-offshore is here from Reuters, and for the other side here.

The Kan Tan IV Semi is off to Australia after a few Crane problems. It's a good long contract, about 2 years minimum. I have a soft spot for this rig as I placed my first offshore guy on it.

Finally, I found this this list of every rig on order. It's a useful document... If anyone can tell me what the story is with Desarollo, I would be very greatful.

Jobs wise (email me if you are interested) I'm looking for:

American DPOs for GOM, Must have Master's Certificates
South East Asian candidates for Jack up - I need a Materialsman and a Mechanic. Rates are around $130 - $150US per day. + bonus.
Subsea Engineers for Brazil - must have operational rig based experience.

Have a good week.

Deepwater still in demand

This Outlines a few interesting points, particularly that the Russians will need help from outside to access their offshore reserves, which might mellow out the often difficult relationship between Russia and other countries when it comes to Energy policy. Here is another article which outlines exactly that.

Also, Greenaland is mentioned a few times which is a good tip. I may be wrong, but I think Greenland, Iceland and around Svalbard will be the next new fields to be explored.

This Rigzone article about Mexico also caught my eye. The Tiber find has obviously got the Mexicans back into thinking about increasing their exploration, perhaps in partnership with Petrobras for the deepwater work. Again, more international collaboration.

Which brings us to Petrobras, busy as ever. They stated that they will build or hire 28 new deepwater rigs in coming years. Article here. But they are also having Rig Charterers build the other rigs in Brazil. Sensible from Brazil's point of view as this will encourage investment and bring money in. Probably isn't great news for the guys at Keppel FELS, Korea and elsewhere though. Also, where will they get the staff? Hopefully from me...

Jobs this week:

Senior DPO, must be US citizen, for New Build Semi in Gulf of Mexico.
2nd Engineer Vacancy is back, PSV, North Sea. Need to be resident in the UK.
Subsea Engineers for Brazil, MUX experience needed.

Offshore Europe

Offshore Europe was pretty busy, there were a lot of interesting stalls and stands, and I got the chance to meet a few people too. I also went to the lecture on Maintaining and attracting talent for the UK sector - the Secretary of State for Scotland, Jim Murphy was there. (He's the Labour representative in Scotland.) I have to say, I wasn't too impressed - he didn't really have the confidence or the quick thinking you would expect from a member of the Cabinet, but then I guess Scotland is pretty much a lost cause to the UK government these days anyway.

But enough of that. The lecture was interesting, Bob Fryer from Shell E&P was there, and he had a good overview of the international nature of the market we are in, as was the next speaker, Stephanie Brouwer of Halliburton. Prof Alistair Oag was next, and was the best speaker, he works for a big University now, and was more talking about the Graduate side, and David Doig from OPITO was the last one up. The 2 UK guys struck me as being a lot less aware of how international the market is now. There seems to be a bit of a culture of protectionism when it comes to our skillsets; trying to keep them in the UK. But the fact is most offshore guys don't want to work in the UK because of the taxes, so they would probably be better off attracting international talent!

The stalls were pretty good, Taqa had decided to just have a coffe bar, and a few of the Marine companies had free bars, which was popular. I can't list everyone who was there. If you're interested go to their website.

One final thing, an interesting point came up when I was talking to a potential client in Aberdeen with regard to temp work. They said that they prefer to use the Aberdeen agencies as they "knew the candidates better". I just wondered if any of you had good or bad experiences with your Aberdonian agencies, and if you did, please email me, or leave a comment.

The blog will be back to normal later in the week.

Hotels and Climate change

What a week! The build up to Offshore Europe in Aberdeen continues (I will be there tomorrow, the 9th, if anyone wants to meet up, feel free to email me)

This article asks quite an important question, what are Brazil and China doing about climate change? Well... not much, although I think you could argue that in order to build all of the wind farms, turbines, etc, is going to take a lot of oil, petrol and various other materials from the oil industry. It also gives a good run down of how busy the 2 countries have been.

The big news of the past week has been this massive BP find in the Gulf of Mexico at the Tiber well. It's sparked a whole storm of commentary on both sides of the fence about whether America should be drilling offshore, and if they don't, someone else will.

On a slightly lighter note, there was an architect who was planning to make Oil Rigs into hotels and Casinos. Link here. I don't imagine that this is the safest idea in the world, but maybe that's just me...

I got that link as I was reading this interesting article about Decommisioning. By all accounts, this is the most boring kind of work possible, but I reckon it'll be a big industry fairly soon.

Jobs this week have changed, it's looking likely that I will be needing some senior staff for a newly built drilling rig in China.

At the moment I need Senior DPOs with Semi sub or Drillship experience, and Barge Engineers with similar. As usual, emails to mb.oilblog@gmail.com

Take it easy, and there'll be a report on Offshore Europe soon.

End of the month

It's been a busy month for the industry, hopefully the beginning of things looking up. I've definitely had more conversations with clients about projects that can be described as immininent, or happening, which is a big improvement on most of last year whene everyone stopped doing anything.

First up in my weekly news updates is this piece which I have to say I mostly disagree with.

"..note that during this severe global recession, worldwide oil usage has dropped by a minuscule 2.7%" I have to say that 2.7% of global oil usage is actually a hell of a lot of oil!

I agree when they say that the price of oil will go up due to demand vs. peak oil, but the statement that only 14 of the 54 oil producing counties are still increasing production, whgilst true, is very misleading. Those countries are the biggest producers by an incredibly large amount.

Without labouring the point, I think what has failed to be taken into account s that s the oil price does go up, more money will be spent in E&P, and so this will improve the picture considerably.

China again, and they're losing money, although I guess this isn't a major surprise given how much they have spent in the last few months.

Good news again for the deepwater market with some interesting figures about Transocean's latest contract.

Jobs as last week - email me your CV if you're interested.

Production Supervisor - Norway - Residential position. Must have experience with FPSO production projects.
Driller - Modular Workover Rig - India. Client are quite flexible on Nationality, but must have worked on these modular workover rigs offshore.
Technical Safety - Norway - Residential position. Must have experience with Process Engineering and Production Engineering experience.

Busy week

Apologies for the delay in posting, a few trips abroad and a few new jobs mean I haven't quite been able to get the time.

It definitely looks like things are getting a bit better. Oil is up, unemployment is down, and there's a few more Rigs going out on the land side.

A grim reminder of how dangerous rigs can be: link here This rig off Australia looks like it'll be leaking oil for the next few months. Luckily no-one was hurt, but I don't think it'll have helped cases for more offshore drilling.

This article is yet another example of China spending more money. Those foreign reserves they built up over the last 60 odd years have definitely paid off with these energyinvestments.

It's not often that I talk about America, but here is an interesting comment on the problems in California. I'm inclined to agree that E&P is probably a good thing for the State itself, as well as for me...

A few new jobs have come in, so please get in touch if you can do them. Email mb.oilblog@googlemail.com if you are interested:

Production Supervisor - Norway - Residential position. Must have experience with FPSO production projects.

Driller - Modular Workover Rig - India. Yes this job is back. Client are quite flexible on Nationality, but must have worked on these modular workover rigs offshore.

Technical Safety - Norway - Residential position. Must have experience with Process Engineering and Production Engineering experience.

Oil price hike

Extreme oil price hike today. Up $3 as of time of writing. Crazy.

Job market is still a bit unreliable. Have spoken to a few candidates now who have had jobs offered, withdrawn, offered and withdrawn again. A lot of employers seem to be treading a fine line on their projects, which casues all kinds of problems for employees and employers alike. Once candidates hear a company has a poor recruitment procedure, or that they muck candidates around, this can cause irrevocable damage when they do try to recruit again.

If only they would listen to me.....

Potentially troubled times for Petrobras ahead. Article here. It is possible they've bitten off more they can chew, but in my completely amateur opinion, they are in a lot better shape than Venezuela for example, and should have the money coming out of the pre-salt layer oil to justify a great deal of borrowing now.

Mexico want in on the action though. Article here. Interestingly, there is no response from Brazil, and I don't know what they would get out of any arrangement. It would be interesting to see what happens.

Things aren't looking so great for rig day rates either. Article here. Most notable is the Jack up rate falling for NW Europe. Definitely a bad sign when the utilization is generally consistent. But this isn't any news.

Cool little 3D animation for drilling here if you want to have a look.

No real comment, but no post from me would be complete without something to do with the Chinese. It's here.

Still looking for that Marine Engineer. Anyone you know, please get them to send their CV to mb.oilblog@googlemail.com

Friday feeling

Short one today.

Bit of optimism about the Jack up Market, which is good. It amazes me that there are 315 projects awaiting a jack up, yet there are still rigs being stacked.

I try not to pinch too much from Rigzone, but this article is quite interesting. There are a lot more floating rigs in the North Sea than you might think!

And finally, I found a useful article that will help anyone who might want to start working in the oil and gas industry.

Jobs are still the same this week. if you're interested email me

- Marine Engineer - PSV - North Sea - Bergen B and Star information experience. STCW95 - at least 2nd Engineer- Process Engineers - Residential - London/South East UK.- Subsea Engineers - New Semis/Drillships - Brazil- Barge Master - Day rate - accomodation barge - South East Asia and Angola.



A candidate of mine is a keen photographer, and he very kindly sent me over some pictures of some rigs he has worked on. I will add them next week.

Have a great weekend.

IT Jobs blog

My Colleague, Paul Swettenham, has a similar blog to mine, covering the IT sector. Please feel free to check it out (link is on the left), and pass it on to any of your friends who may be looking.

Good, Bad, Cuba, China

Things are looking good for the rig count in the US, up 18 which is a good sign, and also there are 2 shiny new drillships out.

However, things are a bit different elsewhere particularly for Jack ups, with Northern offshore cold stacking the Energy Exerter. I've always thought that Northern Offshore have struggled a bit since they bought those rigs from Maersk, victims of bad timing maybe, as they lost a few contracts just as the oil price died.

Although I can't claim much in the way of prescience, an interesting article in Rigzone appeared talking about the political fight that's going to kick off around Cuba's oil field. My guess is that the American government will cave in and compete with their own drilling programme there, but that the Florida state won't be too happy about it. Things could get pretty interesting, especially if there are substantial amounts of oil there.

Finally, The Chinese are spending money on oil comapnies - nothing unusual there, but it is odd, as they are buying YPF , the Argentinian Oil Company. They don't have much in the way of reserves. Again, this is purely speculation on my part, but it gives China a convenient power block beside some of the major oilfields, and they will be able to make some political capital out of the reasonably strong ties between Brazil and Argentina. Plus, they'll probably be able to make some money purely by virtue of having stacks of useful equipment right beside Brazil's new sub-salt layer.

As usual, below are my available jobs. If you're interested in applying for any of the positions, please email me at mb.oilblog@googlemail.com with a copy of your CV. If you fit the bill, I'll get back to you, but we get a lot of applicants, so please don't be offended if I don't get back in touch straight away. Jobs today are:

- Marine Engineer - PSV - North Sea - Bergen B and Star information experience. STCW95 - at least 2nd Engineer
- Process Engineers - Residential - London/South East UK.
- Subsea Engineers - New Semis/Drillships - Brazil- Barge Master - Day rate - accomodation barge - South East Asia and Angola.

Brazil, Cuba and unfounded rumours

More news from Cuba here, reflecting the need for Americans to do something about it, whether they help the Cubans or drill themselves, some effort will need to be made soon.

I also noticed America are lending a significant pile of cash to the Brazilians link here. I reckon there are 2 reasons for this - first of all to get their hands on some of the oil once it comes back, but also to try and put one over on China, who have been pouring money to Brazil as well. Good Economist articlehere.

I heard an interesting story today, which I am not sure if it is true or not, concerning Transocean. The rumour mill says that they bought GSF purely for a patent on a double derrick rig which was in dispute between the 2 companies, and they had already intended to cut back on their Jack up operations, to focus on deepwater drilling. This isn't actually that groundbreaking, Ensco, and various other companies are doing the same.
The knock on effect for Transocean is that they are turning down work for Jack ups at good day rates (rumour says one operator had offered them $150k per day for one of the GSF Jack ups!), and are stacking rigs instead.

It's their company, so of course they can do what they like, but there are plenty of unhappy employees at Transocean at the moment, most of them ex-GSF.

As usual, below are my available jobs. If you're interested in applying for any of the positions, please email me at mb.oilblog@googlemail.com with a copy of your CV. If you fit the bill, I'll get back to you, but we get a lot of applicants, so please don't be offended if I don't get back in touch straight away.
Jobs today are:

- Driller, Toolpusher, Maintenance Supervisor, Mechanic, Electrician - Workover Offshore -India. - Still looking for people.
- Process Engineers - Residential - London/South East UK.
- Subsea Engineers - New Semis/Drillships - Brazil
- Barge Master - Day rate - accomodation barge - South East Asia and Angola.

Please feel free to apply. I am in particular keen on Indian nationals for my workover roles, so please do pass my details on.

Green Shoots?

It was an interesting week last week, the Oil price went from almost $60 to $70 back to$65 and is now as I write this over $71! Lots of people have written different theories on why this is, but I don't claim to have any answers.

Few things worth noting:

Cuba and Russia appear to be cementing their relationship, a good thing for Russia, but perhaps not quite so nice for the Cubans in the long run. Having only Russian equipment may limit their scope to look at other big national organisations in the future.

Arguments over drilling off certain parts of the US are still going strong. (Too many links to pick just one, it's everywhere.) Again there could be a substantial amount of drilling work there, but it'll be a while yet before anything happens outside of the GOM.

The Rumour mill is grinding out that JDC will be involved in several large scale projects over the coming years, particularly in their tie up with Petrobras. (this is slightly old news, but worth keeping a close eye on)

As usual, below are my available jobs. If you're interested in applying for any of the positions, please email me at mb.oilblog@googlemail.com with a copy of your CV. If you fit the bill, I'll get back to you, but we get a lot of applicants, so please don't be offended if I don't get back in touch straight away.

Jobs today are:

• Driller, Toolpusher, Maintenance Supervisor, Mechanic, Electrician - Workover - Offshore India.
• Process Engineers - Residential - London/South East UK.
• Cyberbase Driller - Jack ups - Worldwide.

Please feel free to apply. I am in particular keen on Indian nationals for my workover roles, so please do pass my details on.

Oil Price Slump

Welcome! Straight to business.

The oil price has been taking a nose dive for the last 2 weeks, from $70 to just above $60.

This blog won't be about speculating as to why the price of oil is doing what it's doing, or what it's going to do, but it might touch on some of the effects.

Generally at the moment the rig count is pretty low - see here and there'll be a link on the sidebar so I don't need to keep telling you. Utilisaiton rates are also pretty poor.

The general consensus seems to be that deepwater drilling will be popular for a long time yet, while jack ups will fade into cheapness and obscurity eventually.

Having said that, some of the Jack ups in the middle east are looking as if they'll pick up a few contracts, and not just on the cyber rigs either.

Iraq has been big news at the moment, with many of the oil companies telling the Iraqi authorities to get stuffed: the terms just don't seem favourable to the E&P companies.

The coolest thing this week so far has been the round rigs from Sevan Marine. Is it just me or do they look pretty unstable?

Intermittently, I'll be posting my available jobs. If you're interested in applying for any of the positions, please email me at mb.oilblog@googlemail.com with a copy of your CV. If you fit the bill, I'll get back to you, but we get a lot of applicants, so please don't be offended if I don't get back in touch straight away.

Jobs today are:

• Driller, Cyberbase, Jack up, Indonesia - Must be Indonesian.
• Chief Officer/Master Mariner, FPSO, Phillipines - DP, STCW certificate, Shuttle Tanker experience.
• OIM, FPSO, no location yet - STCW Master's Unlimited, FPSO or offshore production experience.

That's all for today.