I'd say in a couple of years, seismic exploration will be raking in the money. Since proven reserves are running out.. O&G companies are spending big bucks to try and find new commercially viable prospects. Many seismic explorations companies are expanding their operations and hiring a lot of people. Heck my company is adding 2 new seismic vessels to the current fleet just to keep up with demands.

This post has been edited by enkadirmainbola: Jul 8 2007, 01:49 AM

I was actually offered a position as Seismic acquisition engineer by my company. I guess I was kinda 'lucky' that I ended up in seismic. But Forrest is right.. seismic is not just for geologist/geophysicst.. they mainly do the processing and interpretation of seismic data. Engineers are the ones who actually go out and collect the raw information. So yeah, my job is to set up the equipment, deploy them, monitor the equipment during the acquisition process, maintain and do repairs on the equipment and also troubleshooting the recording instrument. I also do initial QC on the recorded data. Usually they hire engineers with a mechanical or electrical background because the equipment is essentially a long microphone that picks up the reflected sound waves from the surface of the seabed.

I came across my current company while I was interviewing for Schlumberger. Since Western Geco is a subsidiary of Schlumberger, one of the operations manager approached me and asked if I'd be interested to get involved in seismic. The rest as they say..is history.

Get into Seismic, a couple of acquistion engineers in my crew have electrica/electronic degree. Basically what we do is record reflected waves bouncing of the earth's layers that orignates from a high energy source and record the data using highly sensitve hydrophones. The hydrophones are located in streamers that are towed behind the seismic vessel and can be as long as 12km. Obviously this is just the tip of the iceberg of what seismic engineers do but it does help tremendously if you have an electrical background. You'll have to be familiar with terms like sampling rates, nyquist frequencies, anti-aliasing filters, scsi, IEEE 32... just to give an example. However you will be working mostly on a Seismic vessel and not on an oil rig.. but I guess that still counts as being offshore. The pay is good and you typically only spend 5 weeks offshore. It does allow for extensive international travel as the vessel will always be moving around to it's next survey job.

Ya la.. salary shiok.. but the working hours also 'shiok' ma.. yesterday I was outside for 12 hours working and it was raining for 3 hours during my shift. Owh and it was <5 degrees Celsius outside.

And it's supposed to be summer down here in NZ!!!

Heads up to anyone who's interested in getting into seismic (a segment within Oil & Gas), my company (Western Geco) will be expanding our fleet with an additional 6 new seismic vessels. They're looking to hire ~800 new employees to man these new ships over the next three years. So start sending in those resumes guys!

This post has been edited by enkadirmainbola: Dec 4 2007, 08:27 AM

As far as I know you'll have to apply through Schlumberger... best way is to apply online or go to career fairs and visit SLB's booth. It's easier to specify that you'd like to get into Western Geco if you tell them directly.

Try again larr.. you are allowed to apply again after 2 years if you were unsuccessful the first time around.

Right now the seismic market is booming.. so there's a lot of scrambling between diff seismic companies to hire crews to man their new vessels.

And that thing about needing an 'inside' man to get a job in SLB.. completely untrue. I've never even heard of Schlumberger before I graduated from university.

I probably swallowed more chlorined water compared to my entire lifetime during my HUET.. it was great fun tho!!

Not entirely true about seismic companies not recruiting mech engineer grads. I am one and currently working with Western Geco (one of the major players in seismic industry). In fact most of the ppl in our seismic crew come from mech and electrical eng backgrounds. The geology/geophysics majors on the other hand are usually hired as data processors and they work onshore.

mechanical, electrical, civil, petroleum, geology, geophysics, math, physics

if you have any of the degrees mentioned above you can work in o&g, there must be more but a majority of my colleagues graduated in those disciplines.

Personally, I have not met a Western Geco Geoscientist who was hired straight out of school. Typically you start off as Onboard Data Processor (OBP Engineer) and then after 3-4 years only then you move up to Field Geo position.

@xtacy1205

Welcome to Western Geco. Don't worry, OBP ppl have the cushiest job offshore and you still get the same amount of money as the guys who's work are more physical in nature. Just sit in the onboard office and process data only.. end of the month watch the money come rolling in. Better advancement opportunities too compared to office based DP engineers.

Tunggu time OFS-1.. they'll explain everything to you then.

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Added on June 24, 2008, 5:35 amBetul tu.. time tido/mandi kunci pintu .. kadang2 it's not your own ppl yang 'nakal' but outside contractors who come and go all the time. We never really can be too careful around strangers. But other than that.. I have not encountered any harassment when working offshore. Setakat Playboy terselit bawah katil tu.. buat bodo aje sudah.



This post has been edited by enkadirmainbola: Jun 24 2008, 05:35 AM

Your question is too general. There's like 3 different types of employment contracts for Western Geco employees and each of them has their own employee benefits.

So.. what kind of position did they offer you? Maybe then I can answer your question.

This post has been edited by enkadirmainbola: Jun 27 2008, 07:57 AM

Let's hope you'll be assigned to a vessel in Australia.. due to some sort of law they have, WG is required to pay a min of USD2000 base salary. That means more money for you brader!!

Truth be told though.. I personally think WG is the best segment to work in SLB (of course this statement is slightly biased since I'm with WG..hihi). Sure we don't make as much money as ppl in Wireline or D&M but we get more vacation days as we've got the 5/5 rotation...compare this to International Mobile people who work for months on end in some remote location and only get 3-4 weeks off. At least you won't completely miss everything back home. Since we're also on International Commuter status there's a fair bit of traveling involved which is nice. The working hours are not as grueling too as we're only required to work 12 hrs a day..

(I am in no way dissing the IM guys ok.. I know you guys make enough money per annum to give like a 1,000,000 kids free vaccinations)

And being stuck out in the middle of the ocean isn't so bad if you've got a nice boat and a great crew.. BBQ's on the helideck, watching DVDs in the theater room, working out in the gym, playing video games in the dayroom, stargazing on the bridge (you ain't seen nothing if you've never seen the sky on a cloudless, moonless night)

Ok enough gloating.. I'm gonna shut up now.

That's true, recruiting has halted to a near standstill. Very few fresh grads are getting hired right now, sad but true. Hopefully the market will pickup again in 2010.