it's not that bad lah, as far as i know, you don't have to wear bullet proof vests, etc, you'll stay in company compound in high risk areas with security, etc...lagos/abuja is ok in the day, at night make sure you travel with some locals or stay in areas where most expats are, don't walk in the streets by yourself, try not to drive at night if you can, don't act like you're very wealthy, don't just go & pick prostitutes from the streets only get from recommendation, etc...Also, for most companies if you have to goto port harcourt, you travel abit further to avoid the inner niger delta area. Cost of living is of course abit higher since you're considered an expat (locals think you're rich), you pay different price to locals. So, rule of thumb is to keep a low profile, be open & respectful to their culture, etc.

In Middle East, it's like the reverse, you're expat but the locals are rich (except Yemen)...so rich, they bring their sports cars for holidays in Europe. So, you sometimes feel like you're a slave esp. if you are Asian/Oriental. The only place you'll probably feel equal are in the bars (except Saudi, where alcohol is hard to find, you can probably buy alot of apple juice and add yeast, then wait a couple of weeks...it doesn't taste good but it sure gives u the "kick" or you can spend some money & go to Bahrain for the weekend). Cost of living varies, you can save if you just goto the indian restaurants to eat, hygiene can be a problem sometimes but I think Malaysian stomachs should have no trouble in most countries...lol

In Latin America, most cities are quite nice, girls are very beautiful & easy, but in smaller countries like Suriname or Guyana, don't be surprised to find underaged prostitutes, drugs in the open, etc. Express kidnapping seems to be on the rise though, so just watch out!

I don't wish to go into details but I've worked in most of them except Sub-Saharan Africa, China, Russia, Arctic, Antarctica, Central America, southern Latin America, central Europe, Canada/Alaska but most of the time I was posted to work in the Middle East. 1 of my friend (not M'sian) got kidnapped in Nigeria about 2 years back but returned safe with all limbs intact. It was a bad experience but he had fun there as well.

What kinda advice you want?

about the oil importer issue, it's true...we'll be net importer in the next 5 years or less. The last time i read it was 2011...

But that doesn't mean we'll run out of oil or anything it just means the amount of oil we produce cannot meet the local demand for oil, so we have to import more than we export.

All the shallow stuff have already been found, and now we are moving on to deeper areas but these costs $$$, the deepwater projects over at Gulf of Mexico needs $70/barrel just to break even, so you can imagine how much investments that would need...

btw, looks like things might turn around by mid of next year and last i heard some service companies are starting to hire again...

1) not too sure if it's very different, i have experience for drilling in oil rig but not in directional boring, but from search online about HDD it looks like there's some semblance to what we do but not exactly alike, the difference being directional boring is much shallower, the drilling is done in much softer formation, not much considerations about things like geomechanics or geo/petrophysics. The method to steer also is not exactly the same as well, with rotary steerable systems being used more & more in the oilfield and singleshot/multishot/gyro/mwd for direction & inclination. See these:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directional_drilling, also goto websites like halliburton, baker hughes and schlumberger for more info.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directional_boring - HDD

http://www.cherrington.com/html/directional_control.html - this with a mud motor looks more like what we do.

2) Anything is possible, but I would say those ppl who drill deep water wells would be considered to have more experience.

This post has been edited by exp007: May 9 2010, 11:42 PM

kalkulator85, good choice to go back to studying. SLB is very smart not to let their people learn too much from the helicopter point of view but make you focus on proprietary technology within SLB, which unfortunately is quite untransferrable.

Anyway, the MSc will help you reverse that, but then again, ex-SLBians are known in the industry to be able to take all kind of shit a.k.a. die hard & also at times excessive planning - pre-job meeting, HARCs, Q-STOP, JRI, PRA, etc, so make sure you use that to your advantage! Don't join back O&G services, target oil companies but again remember your SQ training, plan plan & plan ahead and also excellence in execution! You're now officially in charge of your life and you kinda only have 1 choice!

So, take advantage of the extra free time you get with uni life! I know after 2 months in yemeni desert with no internet no phone (if you're lucky at least a slow VSAT connection) and your highlight of the week being the terrorist drills, you feel like you deserve a break but don't let that get you! After joining SLB, you should know how hungry the other ppl from other third world countries are but they are your competition now! Make sure you join local SPE chapter and become one of the committee members & be very active & gung-ho. Like you said already, networking is important. The job is not hard but people like to work with people they like.

If you're shy, go & join Toastmasters to develop your public speaking skills. If even more shy than that, go sign up in the weekends to be those guys doing outdoor sales, selling credit card, MLM or membership of this & that but don't buy those things yourself of course and no need to put in CV. Also, don't forget to pick up a sport e.g. golf.

Anyway, good luck and enjoy!

bro, i give u plenty of hints already so no need to be so clear-cut. Need to maintain some form of anonymity lah. But do share with us your experience & what you think could be done better if you met any obstacles.

Some links to keep you occupied meanwhile:

http://rajoilandgas.com/

http://63.234.227.130/SLTC/etools/oilandga...d_glossary.html

http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Topic:Petroleum_engineering