hey kslee, i'm an m/lwd too...just got transferred to qatar too but with slb.

anyway christine85, service companies like hal, slb, bhi are known to offer very intense training but very specific to their own proprietary technologies.

But for operators like shell, petronas, you'll get to see the bigger picture. so there are pros and cons to it. also, you're more likely to have a normal kinda life with operators.

as for dylan, you're kinda right with the career progression with slb which they call the fixed-step engineer program which lasts about 3-4 years. But there are also ways to branch out to other segments. I've personally seen some guys who managed to jump straight to a very technical role within 2 years (i.e. same paygrade as management). It all depends on your luck, determination and attitude.

This post has been edited by zeusu: Jan 3 2008, 12:12 AM

wah more activity means no vacations! you guys have fixed rotations over in inteq?

wah, how you multiple quote one huh?

anyway, yeah, girls can definitely go offshore, but most of the time there are very few of them. but then, if a girl's out on the rig, sometimes the whole rig will know your name by the next day =) and everyone will be very happy to help.

depending on locations where you are, you can be airlifted out within an hour or so if there's an emergency that requires it. the oil industry generally puts a strong focus on safety issues, especially big-named ones like BP, Shell, etc.

and WildChai & kslee, you guys don't have to pay tax?....shit, over in SLB, we pay something called EMBO, which is fixed at 19%, so e.g. when I was working in Trinidad that time, the local tax was 25% but I paid 19%, and now in Qatar, local's 0% but I still pay 19%. As for rotations, it's not really fixed. You can ask to leave the field after 3 weeks continuous, but sometimes the situation might not allow it.

and what kinda job is the one in office & pays 650-1100/day?

and being a field engineer is not too bad, it's not like an office job, where you have a proper schedule. There's also some outdoor work where you have to sweat & get dirty but most of the time will be spent with the computers. the satisfying part is when you get to fix problems and the solution worked, it feels really great.

as for dylan, my interview after a group exercise was very simple, just 10mins & kautim. they only wanna see if you can be independent & will be able to tahan the field. Only if they tell you that you'll be recruited into Tech & Field program for SLB, then you'll need to prepare some technical notes. check out http://www.oilcareers.com/content/community/ for the interview tips.

wah pool, I'm still pretty new to this field (1 year only), and currently I'm still not too sure about the career direction I should take (management, technical (tool development) or petrophysics?). So do you mind telling us more about your job?

My degree deals mainly with fluid dynamics & also structure modelling.

Christine, read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Baker_Hughes

EMBO is a method SLB uses to distribute the taxes they operate all around the world. so wherever you go in the world, you only pay EMBO tax. so that's 19% of your salary + bonuses. In US & Europe, it'll be slightly different.

hi pool, thanks for replying. Since I'm in the field most of the time, I only got to know ppl in the operations side, so that's why I am keen to know what's happening behind the scenes. Do you happen to know anyone who's in your field now who used to be in an lwd/wireline engineer? What kind of opportunities in an operator would be open to an lwd/wireline engineer? Is it necessary to have some petroleum engineering/geology background to succeed?

all this depends on the segment you'll be assigned to, if anybody noticed the extra work you put in and also the location you'll be in. Some places, you can rise up really fast e.g. VP in 10-12 years! so i guess it might be reasonable to say a sales position might be reachable in say 6-10 years.

they take a while. just be patient. they might offer you HCM at first, but could probably switch to IM depending on business needs. If you're IM, you could be sent to any country which has oil/gas, but for the training school, it'll be in Houston or Abu Dhabi, depending on the location you're sent to, whichever is nearer.

it's not based on your home country, based on the location you're sent to e.g. you're sent to latin america, then you'll be in Houston for training, etc, but there's always exceptions since the school in Houston could be fully booked and you have to goto Abu Dhabi & vice versa.

---

Added on January 8, 2008, 1:47 pmi almost became a pipeline engineer but rejected it in the end. Mind telling us more about it? Like what the job entails, challenges, pros, cons, etc?

This post has been edited by zeusu: Jan 8 2008, 01:47 PM

design i think.

very hard to answer your question man, mainly depends on which sector of oil & gas industry you're working in & also the company.

Some guys i work with have 3 wives in 3 continents, some have horrible divorces where they pay 55% of their salary to their wives, some have 5 girlfriends in the same island & some even divorce the wife and marry their daughter (from another marriage): could be a blessing for you or a curse.

but if it's office based, i guess it's pretty much like other office jobs.

if it doesn't say bosiet-t then it's the normal one, where you get to wear the suit (very bulky & heavy) which keeps you warm when you have to abandon the rig.

only aware of 2: bosiet and bosiet-t, the other one i haven't heard of it. anyway, it doesn't really matter, the operator decides what you need, and you just ask your company to pay for whatever course they need you to take.

hi dylan, give it 6 months - 1 year to be safe. january's a busy time for HR, I think they have yet to decide hiring targets yet.

Transocean's a drilling contractor, own alot of rigs and drill for operators. Just merged with GSF. Long time ago, they merged with Sedco-Forex (used to be owned by SLB).

It's hard to compare since they are essentially different jobs from what BHI & SLB offer (if you exclude SLB's IPM), but a driller job (internationoal) pays really well in transocean, but I would say it's more of a hands-on work. But you get regular rotations, if irregular you get overtime.

Typically the training program (from what I heard) involves a rotation of all the work on the rig where you have to work your way up, from a roustabout to roughneck/derrickman to driller, then toolpusher and eventually an OIM/rig manager.

and powdersnow, DCS does more interpretation work (geoscientists, petrophysicists, etc) while SIS does more of the IT stuff SLB has. WesternGeco's our seismic side (exploring seas, deserts for oil/gas).

i'm not too sure but I think it's long, probably like 10-20 years, if you can make it through the ranks. Most OIMs I see don't seem very young.

honestly, it depends on the offer. i'm sure you can ask to hold the offer?

international contracts are much better than local ones. and also depends on what position you get in slb.

qatar trainee and he's paid 20k++? sure or not? in saudi maybe, but i can assure you it's not in qatar!

lol...didn't know FE's a fundamental engineer.

anyway, salary's a sensitive matter...

btw, anyone knows what FEs (field engineers) do after a while in the field? besides going to management.

hmm, it's the nature of the job i guess, too specialised on proprietary tools. Other than that, you only get to know bits and pieces of the exploration industry.

but these days very easy to be fired...lol

This post has been edited by zeusu: Mar 17 2008, 08:19 PM