The Lowdown. Work Schedules:
It cannot be said enough that a person needs to be either single or have a stable home life before taking a job in the drilling industry that can potentially keep them away from home sixty days or more in extreme cases. Typically an oilfield worker that is working for the rig itself can expect to work a rotation of one to two or more weeks "on" and a week or more "off" on most jobs. On the rig shifts are typically in 8 to 12 hour "tours" pronounced strangely enough "towers". "Service companies", those contracting various essential services to the rig or oil company, may or may not remain on the rig for the duration of the well.
A mud logger, for example, a person who collects and analyzes the cuttings that come up from the drill bit, may remain on the rig for the duration of the well, while a wire line operator for a company like Schlumberger, (pronounced slum ber jay) may be called to the well at specific points during the drilling to reel an instrument laden probe down the well bore to inspect rock layers for oil and gas after they have been drilled by the rig.
How to Get Your Foot In The Door:
If you are mechanically or technically inclined and don't mind hard work and travel there are numerous employment positions in the oilfield that may suit you.
Persons with engineering or science degrees may find it easier to start out higher on the salary scale for a service company such as Halliburton, Schlumberger or Baker Hughes, but even if you only have a skill such as automotive maintenance there are jobs on the rig that a person could get without prior experience.
Usually a person working on the rig crew (without any prior oil field experience) will have to start out at the bottom of the scale as a roustabout. A roustabout does whatever odd jobs around the rig he is directed to by the "tool pusher" or rig boss or by the driller or other higher ranking crew member. He may be asked to paint, sandblast, carry bags of drilling mud, all of the lowest jobs.
A new crew member whether he is on the rig crew or a service company who has no experience starts out as a "worm". Please don't be offended, everyone on the rig was once a worm themselves.
From lowly "worm" the crew member can work his way up the ladder, even to the top job of tool pusher with many more years of experience. The tool pusher, or rig boss, has usually held every position on a rig crew at least once in his life. For a mechanically inclined person the job of motorman is to keep all the motors and equipment maintained and running.
Prospective oilfield workers need to read up on the industry and get a feel for where they may belong. Books such as " A Primer of Oil Well Drilling", (SEE LINK BELOW) available from Amazon.com, are a good start.
While rig crew workers or "rough necks", are still mostly a men's only club, there are exceptions. Today there are a few women employed by service companies such as Baker Hughes, Halliburton, Weatherford and Schlumberger. If you are a female you may find it hard at first since there is a certain degree of harassment that still prevails, though to a much lesser degree than in past times.
Try and find the area where your skills will match the position. If you are a technical geek yet one who also doesn't mind getting his hands dirty then there are technical jobs keeping up rig electronics and operations such as well logging that involve a lot of electronics.
Entry level jobs that can get you in the door with minimal skills are jobs such as mud logger trainee or "sample catcher" (who catches pan fulls of rock cuttings for the mudlogger to analyze in a mobile lab, roustabout, welders helper, etc. Note that many mudlogging companies will require a degree in geology, other smaller companies may train you if you have good technical skills and are a fast learner.
Mud loggers Mobile Lab
Mud Engineer Using Mobile Equipment
Jobs for those with chemistry experience include those such as the mud engineer or "mud man" for a company such as Newpark Drilling Fluids. He is responsible for making large batches of drilling fluid in tanks, formulating it for the needs of the hole depth, etc, using chemistry skills and equipment. If you have a college degree and a good resume a mud company such as Newpark Drilling Fluids may be willing to hire you and send you to a three month "mud school" to learn how to be a mud engineer.
Almost any job working in the oilfield will involve some heavy lifting so you need to be in good physical shape
Entry Level Positions
With the exception of the sons of ex presidents who own an oil company, most persons looking to work in this industry will have to start at the bottom and work their way up. This may mean starting as a roustabout, carrying, lifting things, painting and sandblasting and doing jobs the rougnecks don't have time to do.
A good job to get a grasp of the service end of the service industry and work up from, would be mudlogger trainee or sample catcher. Beginning sample catchers typically start out at only around $100 per day and work for the lead mud logger gathering a sieve full of mud and rock cuttings that come back from the drill bit via the mud as it is pumped down the drill pipe and back up the open well bore that has been drilled. Sample catchers wash these to be inspected by the logger who then classifies what kind of rock cuttings they are, if they contain oil, and notes them on a computerized log of the well that starts from surface and ends at the point where drilling starts. From that job the person can be trained as a mud logger in several months (mom and pop companies will hire non geologists but major player such as Sperry Sun will require a geology degree). Persons wishing to apply for a mudlogging or entry level sample catcher position need an understanding of geology, good math and science skills and the ability to troubleshoot and fix mechanical devices.
In addition to service companies involved in drilling the well there are companies that provide water and septic services to land based rigs.
A rig site is like a small city, with generators, large light towers powered by generators, water tanks that have to be filled, etc. A company such as Light Tower Rentals in the Permian Basin, for example, hires mechanically inclined people to deliver and set up the generator that power the rig and mobile homes on site. Companies such as Stallion Rentals, deliver and maintain the mobile homes that service employees and company men live in. Companies such as Pason provide intercom systems and electronic rig monitoring.
There are also companies that provide satellite internet service, haul away water with vacuum trucks, run dozers and backhoes that prepare the location before drilling starts etc.
After a well is completed, providing it is not a dry hole, there are employees of companies such as Halliburton that come with large pumps and force highly pressured water down the well and out into rock layers, or a "frac job" that fractures the formation so oil and gas can come out. A "flow back crew" will later come and set up monitoring equipment to check how much volume of oil and gas are being produced and how to regulate its flow so as not to overproduce the well and ruin it by flowing it too hard. These employees are among the last service companies who work on the well after it has been drilled.
Then it is time for a lease service company to come along and hook up the tanks, pipes, meters, etc where the oil and gas will be stored and processes. Pipeline crews, consisting of manual laborers and highly skilled equipment operators and welders, will lay mile of pipeline to connect the well to a major pipeline.
All said, from "spud" or kickoff of a well to production stage, hundreds of employees providing a myriad of services are involved. There are folks from backgrounds as diverse as retired couples who own an RV and have contracted to set up at the ranch gate and check in vehicles and act as "gate guards" to the rougnecks that operate the rig.
Finding the position that suits you will require determining what your strengths are as an applicant and where you may feel most at home, working with electronics or getting yours hands dirty as a motorman changing oil and keeping equipment running for example.
Your willingness to relocate, travel, start at the bottom, be super reliable and flexible with work hours, ready to jump and be ready at a moments notice when the phone rings and leave your home life behind will determine the ease with which you fill find a job in this industry
Where The Jobs Are Located:
At first you will probably need to move to where there is a hub of offshore or onshore activity, and a concentration of drilling companies, such as the Louisiana, Mississippi or Texas Coast. Major onshore areas are the Permian Basin around Midland Texas, Casper Wyoming, Utah, Oklahoma and new shale gas fields that are being developed in the Appalachian region to New York State area.
It is important that you learn the terms and basics of the industry before applying for any oilfield job.
I highly recommend the book "A Primer of Oilwell Drilling" is widely used in technical colleges and service company training programs and thoroughly understanding its contents will give you an advantage before looking for employment. For persons considering becoming a mudlogger trainee I also recommend a good field guide to rocks and minerals in addition to basic geology 101 textbooks.
Other Recommended books include those about basic field geology (for persons considering mudlogging and mud engineer jobs) and books about offshore oil and gas drilling.
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