have fun! probably gonna be quite hot till August.

abu dhabi's more open than qatar, but less than dubai. OFS-1 just an orientation, take it easy, have fun, meet new friends, can probably find out who'll be in the new location with you.

it's gonna be hot!!!...prob. around 45-55 degC till August, then autumn & winter (winter's about 7-15 degC). Not recommended to bare too much skin in qatar though, since you'll get alot of stares from everyone & also it's an Islamic country. Ratio of men:women in Qatar's probably like 10:1, maybe even higher!

pre-school should be around 3 months +/- 1-2 months, depending on your manager. Then to school, then back to location to work until you get your promotion. Anyway, they'll explain more in OFS-1.

Which segment are you in?

My vaccinations took like 1 week to feel less sore.

anything with sleeves is fine =)

mudlogger & mud (drilling fluid) engineer are 2 separate jobs.

mudlogger: monitor fluid & cuttings return from downhole. companies doing this e.g. Baker Hughes, ILO, GeoServices. Sample catcher's pay is the lowest on the rig, maybe slightly higher than laundry guy but once you do that for like 3-6 months, you go become a mudlogger then data engineer.

mud engineer: prepare drilling fluid for downhole including LCM for curing losses, etc. companies which do this e.g. MI-Swaco, Baroid. Last heard salary (about 1 month ago) for consultant is $850/day, 4-4 rotation, $1000/day for overtime.

basically for drilling operations, everyone works for a service company which are in charge of different activities, operator companies only have very few representatives on site & even then, they can be all consultants/contractors & not permanent employees.

so, pinkdalmation, what do you need to know about qatar?

This post has been edited by zeusu: Jun 29 2008, 09:26 AM

ur fren forgot to mention the 1.33 coefficient & bonus/day for slb ic contract, dependent on salary grade of course.

money's in directional drilling my fren, 1k/day

just look at the package & which division you wanna ...it's hard to say when all the companies you say are doing different things, service & operators

need to know your interest, education background, work experience, etc.

i think in alaska, most companies treat their employees pretty well.

it's cold, some of my frens get 3/3 rotations, there's still civilization nearby so it's not as bad as siberia.

north sea is not too bad either, except for aberdeen & if rough weather, just wait on weather

goto service companies for $$$, then cross

59 pages already!!!

hey guys, feels that there's too much info in just 1 thread & all the discussions are too unorganized.

so i made a new forum here: http://www.petrolbar.com

everyone's welcomed to join!

IMHO, I think for drilling engineer, degree in petroleum engineering will help to a certain extent. A background in drilling services with services company will help alot too.

DEs with directional drilling experience will be highly valued. Also, in next 5 years, there could be more emphasis on geosteering a.k.a. well placement using DTB (distance to boundary) tools like SLB's PeriScope, Sperry's ADR & BHI's APR as we seek to maximise production from marginal fields but this also depends on whether operator companies' structure of a different G&G department and Drilling & Completions department will evolve.

wondering how much are they offering for this position? or what you state as expected salary?



well, i think we're gonna be net importer soon, not totally out of oil. anyway, you can work overseas as well.

that's much lower than i expected. last time shell was offering like 4k for similar position.

wireline as engineer or operator? basically, i think about the same, just look at the money, days off, benefits & decide.

wow...$800/day as MWD? how many tools you have to run to get that?

on my side, only $75 bonus extra for running the FPWD tool, otherwise the same rate for everything else...doesn't matter if you run 1 tool or 10 tools.

good experience i think, if you become drilling engineer, the skills are transferrable, just that their pay is well below average man...2k+..I think you get higher in India even!

wonder if their training scheme is like Occidental Petroleum (OXY), where they first put you in the field where they let you work up the ranks yourself - from painter -> roustabout -> roughneck -> derrickman & maybe driller in 2 years, then only go into office.

and after long time as drilling engineer, you can become company man! 3k/day rates on some rigs!

here in middle east, a roughneck easily earns like US$1800/month.

don't know much about UMW's program but slb 3 year programme is like a fast-track to managerial status (actually grade 11 or 12 - can be any role, some division only takes 2 years)....maybe like 30% quit before they reach 3 years, but you're treated like a permanent staff, with all the international benefits & salary, except for discounted stock purchases which are only valid after 6 months you join the company & the pension plan which only starts after 1 year working with the company.

then again, staying offshore will get you more money, so some opt to stay offshore. the managerial route is very challenging, my last manager almost got divorced because of the workload, getting calls at all times of the day until he got carjacked & that probably patched up things with his wife.

lol, the divorce problem is quite true....seen like some guys with 3 ex-wives in 3 continents, and gotta work just to pay the alimony & get some for their own retirement....very sad.

lol...i also know this guy who's 60+ years old, married a 36 year old Venezuelan woman with an 18-year old daughter, divorced her after 1 year, and married her daughter...alot of weird shit happens down in Latin America!

well, Quasar, alot of companies call the same position different names.

But I suppose Shell's Wellsite Engineer should match what you said quite closely. And in other companies, it's what they call Drilling Engineer as well.

Basically, for most of the time, you'll be based offshore on the drilling rig & you'll be kinda like an assistant for the company man (i.e. the guy from the operator side i/c of everything on the rig). You'll be there to assist & oversee all the operations from drilling -> casing -> cementing for all the different hole sizes & then finally perforation & testing i.e. coordinate everything with all the service companies on the rig so you get 0 downtime/lost time incidents if possible and try to complete the well way below the time & costs allocated.

If got downtime, try to find out who's fault, & charge the service company for it. Also, got to keep the crew alive, make sure the rig crew are aware of all the safety issues/hazards, etc.

These kinda positions, you'll normally be based on a certain rig for the whole campaign, working back-to-back with another wellsite engineer (i.e. you get rotations). Some companies also require their Wellsite Engineers to be on production platforms as well for some time, as part of their training.

Also, some companies prefer their Drilling Engineers/Wellsite Engineer to start from the bottom i.e. become the painter -> roustabout -> roughneck -> derrickman -> driller if possible. So, they give you 2 years on the rigs & let you work your own way as high up possible in the chain, then move you to become Drilling Engineer.

So, the good thing here is that you get a good overview of all the operations & will learn what needs to be done & all, which prepares you to be the Company Man (US$2-3000/day rate for the experienced ones).

As for construction engineer, sorry, don't know much about it.