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.