It's been some few weeks, but at least the weather is turning back into spring.
There's been a fair bit happening, and as usual here's the highlights as scientifically chosen by me based on what I think is interesting:
Transocean's profits have gone down a bit, link here and there's also a reasonable overview of the market in the article. This article also highlights how demand on deepwater rigs is going to increase costs and put pressure on the market. This in turn will put pressure on the labour market, so if you want my opinion (unqualified though it may be), deepwater is definitely where you want to be getting your skills if you want to remain at the top of the job pile.
A few contractors flirting with Aramco to get their rigs in use, no bad thing, although I have heard that they can be quite a demanding client, plus visas for Saudi are something of a nightmare.
Songa haven't been impressing anyone recently with their stance stopping people getting off their rig in Singapore. I see it's over now, but I haven't heard of this happening before. Don't really know all the details, but there does seem to be a fair bit of union activity down in the antipodes at the moment.
More Falklands news, they're already looking for another rig down there.
And finally, some encouragement from the folks at Rigzone.
Jobs wise:
AD for Cyberbase Semi in North Sea.
Driller and Chief Engineer for 70 days in North Sea. Semi Experience.
Barge Master for DP2 Barge in UAE
Mooring Master for non-propelled, moored barge in UAE
Maintenance Super for FPSO in SE Asia
Chief Electrician and Chief Mechanic for Jack ups in India
As usual, please email me and tell your friends...
Tuesday, 2 March 2010
Friday, 19 February 2010
No war yet
Not any new ones anyway...
News wise, some boys in London were done for insider trading on oil stocks.
At the risk of repeating myself, Pride are now doing well on the deepwater side, and struggling with the Jack ups.
And, because I'm on a roll when it comes to repetition, here's the latest on the Falklands.
Jobs wise, there's only a few things on the go:
Cementing installation project co-ordinator - need equipment installation experience
2nd Engineer PSV - North Sea
Marine Superintendant - Shore based Singapore.
Sorry not more chat this week, just trying to find the time.
News wise, some boys in London were done for insider trading on oil stocks.
At the risk of repeating myself, Pride are now doing well on the deepwater side, and struggling with the Jack ups.
And, because I'm on a roll when it comes to repetition, here's the latest on the Falklands.
Jobs wise, there's only a few things on the go:
Cementing installation project co-ordinator - need equipment installation experience
2nd Engineer PSV - North Sea
Marine Superintendant - Shore based Singapore.
Sorry not more chat this week, just trying to find the time.
Friday, 12 February 2010
Running to stay still
Big gap between postings this and last week, largely due to a high work volume, so I can't really complain. Few new jobs in, see the end as usual.
The Falklands are the big story at the moment. The UK plans to start drilling there in February, and the Argentinians are less than happy, claiming soveriegnty over the area. With all of our eggs in the Iraq and Afghanistan baskets, I don't know how sensible an idea this is to be poking this particular animal, but what do I know. Lots of links on this here and here and an FT article is here (remember you only get one of these a day!)
Also, the Latest development which I got as I was writing this, the Argentines have blocked a vessel with some supplies, so I think they might do something similar when the rig goes there.
This is quite interesting too, although it's just a short term contract, it looks like American companies are invovled in shallow water jack up work in Brazil. Let's hope there's more work for Jack ups down there, as it'll increase demand for staff.
Finally, Richard Branson appears to have jumped on the Peak Oil bandwagon, but let's be honest, this article is in the Mirror..
Jobs wise, a lot of Marine requirements at the moment.
- HSE co-ordinator and Chief Engineer for accommodation Barge in West Africa
- SDPO and Barge Master for Construction/pipelay Barge in SE Asia (DP2)
- Master Mariner for OSV in North Sea
- 2nd Engineer for PSV in North Sea
Cheers, will try to post a bit earlier next week, if we aren't at war with Argentina of course.
The Falklands are the big story at the moment. The UK plans to start drilling there in February, and the Argentinians are less than happy, claiming soveriegnty over the area. With all of our eggs in the Iraq and Afghanistan baskets, I don't know how sensible an idea this is to be poking this particular animal, but what do I know. Lots of links on this here and here and an FT article is here (remember you only get one of these a day!)
Also, the Latest development which I got as I was writing this, the Argentines have blocked a vessel with some supplies, so I think they might do something similar when the rig goes there.
This is quite interesting too, although it's just a short term contract, it looks like American companies are invovled in shallow water jack up work in Brazil. Let's hope there's more work for Jack ups down there, as it'll increase demand for staff.
Finally, Richard Branson appears to have jumped on the Peak Oil bandwagon, but let's be honest, this article is in the Mirror..
Jobs wise, a lot of Marine requirements at the moment.
- HSE co-ordinator and Chief Engineer for accommodation Barge in West Africa
- SDPO and Barge Master for Construction/pipelay Barge in SE Asia (DP2)
- Master Mariner for OSV in North Sea
- 2nd Engineer for PSV in North Sea
Cheers, will try to post a bit earlier next week, if we aren't at war with Argentina of course.
Monday, 1 February 2010
Time flies
Back around to Monday again already.
Slightly oil related conspiracy theory of the year here. I'm sure this happened in a James Bond film...
In more relevant news, Ensco have been profiled in this article, highlighting the problems that they are going to face with these shiny new rigs of theirs. There's a few deepwater rigs already out of contract, but hopefully they'll be able to pick up some work with a decent operator so they can recoup some of their costs - my money is on Petrobras....
True to form, the UK government have decided way too late to give tax breaks for oil exploration in the North Sea. In my humble opinion (from my exalted standpoint of knowing next to nothing about anything) this is FAR too late. If they had dones something a year ago, perhaps the problems in the North Sea would have been a lot less serious. Anyway, the article is here.
Songa are up, Hercules are down. Showing once again that companies that deal with me for their recruitment can only do well out of it.
OK, it might also have something to do with Songa being a small deepwater driller, and Hercules being a much larger driller, having Jack ups and Barges, which are not popular options at the moment.
Jobs wise, pretty much covered for candidates at the moment, but I wanted to post a bit of advice when it comes to writing CVs/resumes for oil and gas:
- Always write a CV in reverse chronological order, most recent position first.
- A contentious point this one, but I find it is better to avoid the first person "I worked on x,y,z", keep it in the third person, or non-specific, and watch your tenses.
- Clients these days look for specifics. They want to know if you have worked on a Semi, a drillship, or a Jack up. They want to know the name of the Unit, whether it is Cyberbase, DP, and what types of systems you worked with. They want to know how long you were there for, and in what role.
- Don't put all your history and equipment at the start and then have a few dates and with what company, a CV should read almost like a history of what you did where.
- Don't repeat big chunks of information, and don't write "same as previous role" in a job description. Look for things that stand out about any position - challenges, equipment, location etc.
- Make it readable. The best format is as follows:
Personal details
Certificates/Education
Job history
dates Job title
company
job description....
repeat etc.
Hope this helps, preaching over.
Slightly oil related conspiracy theory of the year here. I'm sure this happened in a James Bond film...
In more relevant news, Ensco have been profiled in this article, highlighting the problems that they are going to face with these shiny new rigs of theirs. There's a few deepwater rigs already out of contract, but hopefully they'll be able to pick up some work with a decent operator so they can recoup some of their costs - my money is on Petrobras....
True to form, the UK government have decided way too late to give tax breaks for oil exploration in the North Sea. In my humble opinion (from my exalted standpoint of knowing next to nothing about anything) this is FAR too late. If they had dones something a year ago, perhaps the problems in the North Sea would have been a lot less serious. Anyway, the article is here.
Songa are up, Hercules are down. Showing once again that companies that deal with me for their recruitment can only do well out of it.
OK, it might also have something to do with Songa being a small deepwater driller, and Hercules being a much larger driller, having Jack ups and Barges, which are not popular options at the moment.
Jobs wise, pretty much covered for candidates at the moment, but I wanted to post a bit of advice when it comes to writing CVs/resumes for oil and gas:
- Always write a CV in reverse chronological order, most recent position first.
- A contentious point this one, but I find it is better to avoid the first person "I worked on x,y,z", keep it in the third person, or non-specific, and watch your tenses.
- Clients these days look for specifics. They want to know if you have worked on a Semi, a drillship, or a Jack up. They want to know the name of the Unit, whether it is Cyberbase, DP, and what types of systems you worked with. They want to know how long you were there for, and in what role.
- Don't put all your history and equipment at the start and then have a few dates and with what company, a CV should read almost like a history of what you did where.
- Don't repeat big chunks of information, and don't write "same as previous role" in a job description. Look for things that stand out about any position - challenges, equipment, location etc.
- Make it readable. The best format is as follows:
Personal details
Certificates/Education
Job history
dates Job title
company
job description....
repeat etc.
Hope this helps, preaching over.
Monday, 25 January 2010
IT issues resolved
Apologies for no post last week, I.T. stuff happened, so the blog didn't.
Plenty of news though. There's been a big fight in the Antipodes about wages for offshore oil workers. I can't see it specified anywhere exactly what jobs these boys are doing, but they are asking for an increase of about $60k US, so either they are horribly underpaid, or they're greedy as hell. I think maybe the former.
Jack ups are in the news again, this report says what we are all thinking - "why do they keep building Jack ups when they have quite a few stacked already?" I suspect some of these companies will shift them pretty fast to cut their losses. Sustainable growth it aint. They'll probably get utilised eventually, but in the meantime, the guys paying for them, especially smaller cos and new startups, will really struggle.
Close to my heart this one - it's a reasonably interesting (if badly written) article about recruitment scams and what to watch out for. There's a coupla points I would raise on it though...
1) NEVER, EVER pay money for recruitment if you are a candidate. In the UK, it is illegal to request money for the purposes of inding a job. If a UK company asks you for money, report them to the DTI. (Department of Trade and Investment)
2) If you're happy to go to Nigeria, fine. Don't assume it's a fake job just because it's there.
Jobs wise, I need a Norwegian for a shore based H&S position in Stavanger, and I also need Geophysicists with 10 years experience for everywhere (particularly the UK).
Jobs from previous post are still active too.
More later in the week.
Plenty of news though. There's been a big fight in the Antipodes about wages for offshore oil workers. I can't see it specified anywhere exactly what jobs these boys are doing, but they are asking for an increase of about $60k US, so either they are horribly underpaid, or they're greedy as hell. I think maybe the former.
Jack ups are in the news again, this report says what we are all thinking - "why do they keep building Jack ups when they have quite a few stacked already?" I suspect some of these companies will shift them pretty fast to cut their losses. Sustainable growth it aint. They'll probably get utilised eventually, but in the meantime, the guys paying for them, especially smaller cos and new startups, will really struggle.
Close to my heart this one - it's a reasonably interesting (if badly written) article about recruitment scams and what to watch out for. There's a coupla points I would raise on it though...
1) NEVER, EVER pay money for recruitment if you are a candidate. In the UK, it is illegal to request money for the purposes of inding a job. If a UK company asks you for money, report them to the DTI. (Department of Trade and Investment)
2) If you're happy to go to Nigeria, fine. Don't assume it's a fake job just because it's there.
Jobs wise, I need a Norwegian for a shore based H&S position in Stavanger, and I also need Geophysicists with 10 years experience for everywhere (particularly the UK).
Jobs from previous post are still active too.
More later in the week.
Friday, 22 January 2010
Thursday, 14 January 2010
New year
So, it's back to the grindstone. I hope you had a good new year, and I hope that this year is good to you.
Optimism seems to be the general feeling at the moment. Rigzone have been talking about things looking a bit better in terms of increasing rig counts. A few of my clients have taken the next microsteps forward in getting rigs on contract, and the oil price has been up, and down. And up again, and down again, and so on.
There have been a few retrospectives on how terrible 2009 was for the industry; one here, but continuing with the positive theme, Cairn have secured another rig for Greenland, link here, there's a healthy debate about where is best to look for oil here and here.
The Guardian also had an interesting article about how offshore windfarms will need offshore workers, here. In my experience, the crossover in skills is actually pretty easy when it comes to recruitment, but the problem is the companies want people who have already done this before, which in this case no-one has. It'll be interesting to see what happens...
Jobs wise, things are busier than they were, although most roles require something specialist:
- Geophysicist, 10 years +, Edinburgh, UK
- ET, Jack up experience only, Cyberbase too, S.E. Asia
- Process Engineering Lead, Aberdeen, UK.
- Drillers, Toolpushers, Rig Supers, need Offshore Modular workover experience
- Barge Master, Needs to have worked on 8 point mooring Anchor Handling pipelay, no fixed location as of yet.
- Master Mariner, AHTS vessel, Angola
- SDPO for Dive Support Vessel, need Sat-dive experience, Qatar
- ETO, Chief Engineer, 2nd Engineer, DP2 Barge experience, UAE
- Commercial Manager, downhole tools co experience, North Scotland
As usual, if you are interested, please email, or if you know anyone who might be, I'm still doing the Whisky for referrals program!
Optimism seems to be the general feeling at the moment. Rigzone have been talking about things looking a bit better in terms of increasing rig counts. A few of my clients have taken the next microsteps forward in getting rigs on contract, and the oil price has been up, and down. And up again, and down again, and so on.
There have been a few retrospectives on how terrible 2009 was for the industry; one here, but continuing with the positive theme, Cairn have secured another rig for Greenland, link here, there's a healthy debate about where is best to look for oil here and here.
The Guardian also had an interesting article about how offshore windfarms will need offshore workers, here. In my experience, the crossover in skills is actually pretty easy when it comes to recruitment, but the problem is the companies want people who have already done this before, which in this case no-one has. It'll be interesting to see what happens...
Jobs wise, things are busier than they were, although most roles require something specialist:
- Geophysicist, 10 years +, Edinburgh, UK
- ET, Jack up experience only, Cyberbase too, S.E. Asia
- Process Engineering Lead, Aberdeen, UK.
- Drillers, Toolpushers, Rig Supers, need Offshore Modular workover experience
- Barge Master, Needs to have worked on 8 point mooring Anchor Handling pipelay, no fixed location as of yet.
- Master Mariner, AHTS vessel, Angola
- SDPO for Dive Support Vessel, need Sat-dive experience, Qatar
- ETO, Chief Engineer, 2nd Engineer, DP2 Barge experience, UAE
- Commercial Manager, downhole tools co experience, North Scotland
As usual, if you are interested, please email, or if you know anyone who might be, I'm still doing the Whisky for referrals program!
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