As you can imagine, I get a lot of fan mail from guys asking me advice about working in the oil sands and a lot of the guys are from the States and I always have to tell them, as I’ve wrote a million times on the oil sands thread, that they can’t work up there unless they have a certain trade or skill that is in demand. Well guys, I have some good news, for those of you who aren’t already aware, you can begin a career in the oil and gas sector in the USA and now is a great time to do so.
This is a data sheet for any of you guys out there looking to work in the oil and gas sector, specifically in the USA, which is currently experiencing a boom in oil and gas production and is on its way to becoming energy independent within the next few years. I will include basic information that you can use in order to cash in on this energy bonanza but it is up to you to decide what type of career you’d like to pursue and you will likely have to consider relocating to an energy hot spot in order to cash in on the boom.
Is there really an energy boom? Yes, according to an excellent study by Citi GPS titled Energy 2020: North America, the New Middle East, “For the first time since 1949, the US has become a net petroleum product exporting country and has edged out Russia as the world’s largest refined petroleum exporter.”The study goes on to say that, “Five incremental sources of liquids growth could make North America the largest source of new supply in the next decade: oil sands production in Canada, deepwater in the US and Mexico (focused on the Gulf of Mexico), oil from shale and tight sands, natural gas liquids (NGLs) associated with the production of natural gas, and biofuels.” Let’s break down each of these sources and see how you may be able to find work in them:
Oil sands: This is where I work, up in northern Alberta, Canada. There are some Americans working up there but unless you have a trade or specific skillset, you won’t be able to go up there to work. Fortunately for you guys (and unfortunately for Canada), we don’t have the capacity to refine all of our own oil, so we ship it down to refineries state side (more on that later) via pipelines. This is a controversial issue in both countries as pipeline companies are lobbying both federal governments to expand pipeline capacity, something North America doesn’t have enough of.
Offshore Gulf of Mexico (GOM): In 2007, Offshore drilling in the GOM accounts for about 25% of the USA’s oil production and about 14% of its natural gas, although after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, production was cut back and further exploration permits annulled. There still is drilling activity going on there but time will tell whether or not it will be increased due to environmental and regulatory concerns.
Shale and Tight Sands: This is the real game changer is the USA’s domestic petroleum production, new technologies allow oil companies to access massive reserves of shale oil which previously couldn’t be exploited. According to a study by the IMF, “Production of crude oil from unconventional sources increased about fivefold in the United States between 2008 and 2012, reaching close to 1 million barrels a day by the end of 2012…..So far, much of the increase in oil production has reflected field development in the Bakken Shale, which spans the western states of North Dakota and Montana—although in 2012, production in the Eagle Ford Shale in the state of Texas also started expanding rapidly.” Shale oil and gas is an example of “unconventional” sources, just like the oil sands and deep offshore drilling, they are newer technologies that were developed due to the fact that “conventional” oil extraction methods (regular drilling) are yielding less results, this is where the whole “peak oil” theory stems from, I think.
Natural Gas: The USA is sometimes referred to as the “Saudi Arabia of natural gas”, simply put, you guys have tons of it and companies are exploring for it and using it at very high levels. I don’t know too much about the natural gas sector, but they say that it’s booming and since it’s cleaner than coal, it will be used more in the future for environmental reasons and the fact that its cheap.
Okay so now you have a rough idea of where all of this oil and gas is coming from (and I didn’t even mention Alaska!), so how can you get a job in these sectors? Well I have to explain a few more things before we get into the job specifics, there’s basically three main sectors in the production of oil and gas and these are upstream, midstream and downstream, here’s a quick breakdown of each:
Upstream: This is where the exploration companies look for oil and when it’s found, this is where they dig, drill and/or pump the stuff out of the ground, whether it’s an offshore rig drilling for gas in the GOM, a huge excavator digging oil sands from a mine in Fort McMurray, a land based rig in Alaska or a rig drilling through shale formations in North Dakota, these are all upstream oil and gas environments. I hope that you also noticed that each one of these areas is a barely habitable shit hole, so if you’re looking to get into the upstream side of the biz, be prepared to live in God forsaken dumps for long periods of time. These areas are also where you’ll make the biggest money. So once they get the product out of the ground, its sent onto the next stage.
Midstream: This includes the transport means, storage facilities and upgraders used to turn the product into a solution which is able to be sent to the final production stage, at the refinery. The transport usually is done via pipeline but oil and gas is also transported by rail, it is then held in big oil tanks in an area called a tank farm, if needed, the product is then upgraded in a small refinery before being sent downstream. An example that I’m familiar with is in the oil sands where they take the clay like bitumen substance from the mine, crush it into smaller bits then heat it up and add some water and other solutions in an upgrader and turn it into a product called diluted bitumen, or dil-bit for short, they then pipe it downstream to the refineries near Edmonton.
Downstream: This is the final stage of production and usually takes place in cities, although the areas of these cities aren’t the most desirable places to live as they are industrial. The product is shipped to the refinery and there it is turned into a petroleum product ready to be sold and used, such products include, but are not limited to gasoline, jet fuel, diesel fuel, home heating fuel, lubricants and natural gas. There are many refining centres in the USA, most states have at least one and as you can probably guess, there are a lot in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi but many are close to large cities along the eastern seaboard and California has a lot too. There’s also a massive oil refinery on the US virgin Island of St. Croix and I know a guy who worked there for two years, not a bad gig working in a tropical island paradise.
So now that you have a basic understanding of how the oil and gas industries work, it’s time to consider what kind of job is right for you and fortunately, the oil and gas industries are quite diverse and I’m sure that there’s a position for just about anyone, even if have one of those useless bachelor of Arts degrees, like me. I’m going to base these career options off the sections that I found on one of my favourite oil and gas websites, Rig Zone and apply them to the three sectors I mentioned above.
Upstream:
Geologist, geophysicist, land surveyor, petroleum engineer, heavy equipment operator, truck driver, camp staff, safety personnel, well testers, coiled tubing operator, wireline operators, oil rig workers (lease hand up to driller and site consultant), fishing tool personnel, snubbing operators, etc.
Midstream:
Welder, pipefitter, heavy equipment operator, quality assurance/control personnel, operators, production technologist, completion engineer, frack truck operator, etc.
Downstream:
This is where you have the most people working, in the refinery and process areas, we’ll start with the trades.
Welder, boilermaker, plumber, pipefitter, iron worker, scaffolder, electrician, industrial insulator, crane operator, etc. Other trade related personnel include industrial instrumentation techs, NDT techs, welding inspectors, safety personnel, etc.
Engineers: civil, mechanical, chemical, electrical, materials, etc.
Other field staff: labourers, equipment operators, power engineers, safety personnel, etc.
Office staff: Obviously these big industrial sites have a lot of administrative people as well as managers and other people who don’t get their hands dirty with us grunts out in the field, there’s tons of opportunity here and some of these positions include:
Training coordinator, HR staff, planners/schedulers, quantity surveyors, project managers, systems analyst, instructors, contract engineer, accountant, etc.
Basically there’s lots of different jobs and careers in the oil and gas sectors, just check out the websites Rig Zone and Oil Careers to see more for yourself. Many of these jobs require higher education, such as geologist and engineer, but many don’t and that is the best part about the oil business, if you can get an entry level job and prove yourself, you can advance quite quickly. I’d say that if a guy worked hard for about 3-5 years establishing himself and getting whatever skills, experience and certifications he needs to advance in his career, he would have a very good job and be making good money as well. After ten years in the biz, a guy could pretty much go anywhere with his career, to the next level, so to speak.
For those who are keen to travel, an oil and gas career can take you all over the world, especially if you have American skills and education, you will be in demand. I recently visited a Canadian friend on vacation in the Philippines, I met him at work in the oil sands and his international work experience included six months working on a hydroelectric dam project in China and the construction of a refinery in the Philippines, where he worked for nine months. I also once met a drilling consultant in the Philippines who lives there and has a tax free job in the middle east (Iraq and Turkey) where he makes $27,000 per month (tax free), twelve months a year and works 28 days on, 28 off (flights included), not bad for a guy who probably only has high school, although it wouldn’t surprise me if he didn’t even have that.
If you take a look at the job vacancies on web sites such as Rig Zone, you’ll notice that a lot of the work is in exotic locations such as Brazil, Singapore, Indonesia, the Middle East and Africa. Many of these are tax free, expat positions and some are rotation based, quite often 28/28, these jobs can definitely lead to a nice lifestyle on your days off, where you can go anywhere you want in the world and have a good amount of money to spend.
RVF oil and gas success story: A couple of months ago while in Bangkok, I was hanging out with forum member 20nation, who I had met the previous winter while traveling in Colombia and he asked me about my line of work and seemed interested in getting on in the oil biz. So we sat down, had a few beers and I told him all about my job and how to get into it, I sent him some links on Facebook and included the names of several contractors, many who have operations all over North America, including the oil sands. So after he finished his epic Asian adventure, he went back home to the States and within a couple of days, he visited a couple of the contractors I had suggested and got an interview. A week later and he contacted me, “I got the job bro!”, he was pretty stoked and I was pretty impressed that a guy with no previous experience or education in the trade was hired right off the street in what many people consider to be a terrible economy. He’s currently working lots of hours at a refinery in his home city and is on his way to making some big coin because I know with his and intelligence, he’ll probably have more tickets than I do in a couple of years. Who knows, maybe we’ll work on the same job site someday.
So there you have it guys, if you’re a young guy who isn’t sure what he wants to do for work, the oil and gas sectors are a solid bet and the future looks pretty good, according to CITI GPS, “We estimate that some +550,000 new jobs would be directly created in the oil and gas extraction sector by 2020”, so why not get on the gravy train now?
Now that I’ve got some of you all excited about a career in the oil biz, its time for a reality check and I have to tell you guys about the negative aspects of working in oil and gas.
-Working with riff raff: It’s no secret that the oil biz attracts a rough crowd, there’s a reason that we’re referred to as “oil trash”, especially the tradesmen, lots of them are excons, dead beats and drug addicts. Makes for some interesting work stories anyway.
-Working long hours/labour intensive jobs: Again this is more prevalent in the trades and rig work, 80-100+ hours/week isn’t uncommon and often times its in less than ideal conditions: work at heights, confined spaces, up to your knees in mud or other shit, etc.
-Isolation: If you’re doing upstream work, you’ll be working away from home and away from your family and friends, you’ll miss milestones, parties, concerts, etc. Plus you’ll be around a bunch of rowdy dickheads all day long, this can wear on a guy’s nerves.
-Dangerous conditions: Its one of the reasons that oil work is highly paid, there’s a chance that the rig you’re working on may blow up and you could be badly wounded, or worse, you could die.
There’s other negative aspects of the job, but even if it can be tough sometimes, I’d still rather work with a bunch of crazy oil trash guys pulling 16 hour shifts than be stuck in a politically correct office job walking on egg shells all day and taking orders from women (been there, done that). Working in the oil biz will definitely toughen you up, I know it made more into even more of an asshole.
If you guys have any further questions, I’ll be happy to answer as best as I can and hopefully other guys who are based in the USA or have experience there can contribute also. This data sheet is by no means definitive, there’s a lot more information to look for and that will be up to you guys but hopefully I’ve sparked some interest in guys out there looking for career options, the oil biz has been pretty good to me.
Sources:
ENERGY 2020: INDEPENDENCE DAY
Global Ripple Effects of the North American Energy Revolution: https://www.citivelocity.com/citigps/Rep...ies.action
ENERGY 2020: North America, the New Middle East? http://fa.smithbarney.com/public/project...a63cc2.pdf (very thorough and well researched article)
IMF article: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fand...lbling.htm
Natural gas info: http://www.naturalgas.org/business/industry.asp
List of oil refineries in the USA: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oil...ted_States
Cheap Natural Gas Pumping New Life Into U.S. Factories: http://www.npr.org/2013/03/28/175483517/...-factories
US Is on Fast-Track to Energy Independence: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100450133
Rig Zone: http://www.rigzone.com/
Oil careers: http://www.oilcareers.com/worldwide/
RVF info on oil work in North Dakota:
http://www.rooshvforum.network/thread-11227....rth+dakota
http://www.rooshvforum.network/thread-13880....rth+dakota
This is a data sheet for any of you guys out there looking to work in the oil and gas sector, specifically in the USA, which is currently experiencing a boom in oil and gas production and is on its way to becoming energy independent within the next few years. I will include basic information that you can use in order to cash in on this energy bonanza but it is up to you to decide what type of career you’d like to pursue and you will likely have to consider relocating to an energy hot spot in order to cash in on the boom.
Is there really an energy boom? Yes, according to an excellent study by Citi GPS titled Energy 2020: North America, the New Middle East, “For the first time since 1949, the US has become a net petroleum product exporting country and has edged out Russia as the world’s largest refined petroleum exporter.”The study goes on to say that, “Five incremental sources of liquids growth could make North America the largest source of new supply in the next decade: oil sands production in Canada, deepwater in the US and Mexico (focused on the Gulf of Mexico), oil from shale and tight sands, natural gas liquids (NGLs) associated with the production of natural gas, and biofuels.” Let’s break down each of these sources and see how you may be able to find work in them:
Oil sands: This is where I work, up in northern Alberta, Canada. There are some Americans working up there but unless you have a trade or specific skillset, you won’t be able to go up there to work. Fortunately for you guys (and unfortunately for Canada), we don’t have the capacity to refine all of our own oil, so we ship it down to refineries state side (more on that later) via pipelines. This is a controversial issue in both countries as pipeline companies are lobbying both federal governments to expand pipeline capacity, something North America doesn’t have enough of.
Offshore Gulf of Mexico (GOM): In 2007, Offshore drilling in the GOM accounts for about 25% of the USA’s oil production and about 14% of its natural gas, although after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, production was cut back and further exploration permits annulled. There still is drilling activity going on there but time will tell whether or not it will be increased due to environmental and regulatory concerns.
Shale and Tight Sands: This is the real game changer is the USA’s domestic petroleum production, new technologies allow oil companies to access massive reserves of shale oil which previously couldn’t be exploited. According to a study by the IMF, “Production of crude oil from unconventional sources increased about fivefold in the United States between 2008 and 2012, reaching close to 1 million barrels a day by the end of 2012…..So far, much of the increase in oil production has reflected field development in the Bakken Shale, which spans the western states of North Dakota and Montana—although in 2012, production in the Eagle Ford Shale in the state of Texas also started expanding rapidly.” Shale oil and gas is an example of “unconventional” sources, just like the oil sands and deep offshore drilling, they are newer technologies that were developed due to the fact that “conventional” oil extraction methods (regular drilling) are yielding less results, this is where the whole “peak oil” theory stems from, I think.
Natural Gas: The USA is sometimes referred to as the “Saudi Arabia of natural gas”, simply put, you guys have tons of it and companies are exploring for it and using it at very high levels. I don’t know too much about the natural gas sector, but they say that it’s booming and since it’s cleaner than coal, it will be used more in the future for environmental reasons and the fact that its cheap.
Okay so now you have a rough idea of where all of this oil and gas is coming from (and I didn’t even mention Alaska!), so how can you get a job in these sectors? Well I have to explain a few more things before we get into the job specifics, there’s basically three main sectors in the production of oil and gas and these are upstream, midstream and downstream, here’s a quick breakdown of each:
Upstream: This is where the exploration companies look for oil and when it’s found, this is where they dig, drill and/or pump the stuff out of the ground, whether it’s an offshore rig drilling for gas in the GOM, a huge excavator digging oil sands from a mine in Fort McMurray, a land based rig in Alaska or a rig drilling through shale formations in North Dakota, these are all upstream oil and gas environments. I hope that you also noticed that each one of these areas is a barely habitable shit hole, so if you’re looking to get into the upstream side of the biz, be prepared to live in God forsaken dumps for long periods of time. These areas are also where you’ll make the biggest money. So once they get the product out of the ground, its sent onto the next stage.
Midstream: This includes the transport means, storage facilities and upgraders used to turn the product into a solution which is able to be sent to the final production stage, at the refinery. The transport usually is done via pipeline but oil and gas is also transported by rail, it is then held in big oil tanks in an area called a tank farm, if needed, the product is then upgraded in a small refinery before being sent downstream. An example that I’m familiar with is in the oil sands where they take the clay like bitumen substance from the mine, crush it into smaller bits then heat it up and add some water and other solutions in an upgrader and turn it into a product called diluted bitumen, or dil-bit for short, they then pipe it downstream to the refineries near Edmonton.
Downstream: This is the final stage of production and usually takes place in cities, although the areas of these cities aren’t the most desirable places to live as they are industrial. The product is shipped to the refinery and there it is turned into a petroleum product ready to be sold and used, such products include, but are not limited to gasoline, jet fuel, diesel fuel, home heating fuel, lubricants and natural gas. There are many refining centres in the USA, most states have at least one and as you can probably guess, there are a lot in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi but many are close to large cities along the eastern seaboard and California has a lot too. There’s also a massive oil refinery on the US virgin Island of St. Croix and I know a guy who worked there for two years, not a bad gig working in a tropical island paradise.
So now that you have a basic understanding of how the oil and gas industries work, it’s time to consider what kind of job is right for you and fortunately, the oil and gas industries are quite diverse and I’m sure that there’s a position for just about anyone, even if have one of those useless bachelor of Arts degrees, like me. I’m going to base these career options off the sections that I found on one of my favourite oil and gas websites, Rig Zone and apply them to the three sectors I mentioned above.
Upstream:
Geologist, geophysicist, land surveyor, petroleum engineer, heavy equipment operator, truck driver, camp staff, safety personnel, well testers, coiled tubing operator, wireline operators, oil rig workers (lease hand up to driller and site consultant), fishing tool personnel, snubbing operators, etc.
Midstream:
Welder, pipefitter, heavy equipment operator, quality assurance/control personnel, operators, production technologist, completion engineer, frack truck operator, etc.
Downstream:
This is where you have the most people working, in the refinery and process areas, we’ll start with the trades.
Welder, boilermaker, plumber, pipefitter, iron worker, scaffolder, electrician, industrial insulator, crane operator, etc. Other trade related personnel include industrial instrumentation techs, NDT techs, welding inspectors, safety personnel, etc.
Engineers: civil, mechanical, chemical, electrical, materials, etc.
Other field staff: labourers, equipment operators, power engineers, safety personnel, etc.
Office staff: Obviously these big industrial sites have a lot of administrative people as well as managers and other people who don’t get their hands dirty with us grunts out in the field, there’s tons of opportunity here and some of these positions include:
Training coordinator, HR staff, planners/schedulers, quantity surveyors, project managers, systems analyst, instructors, contract engineer, accountant, etc.
Basically there’s lots of different jobs and careers in the oil and gas sectors, just check out the websites Rig Zone and Oil Careers to see more for yourself. Many of these jobs require higher education, such as geologist and engineer, but many don’t and that is the best part about the oil business, if you can get an entry level job and prove yourself, you can advance quite quickly. I’d say that if a guy worked hard for about 3-5 years establishing himself and getting whatever skills, experience and certifications he needs to advance in his career, he would have a very good job and be making good money as well. After ten years in the biz, a guy could pretty much go anywhere with his career, to the next level, so to speak.
For those who are keen to travel, an oil and gas career can take you all over the world, especially if you have American skills and education, you will be in demand. I recently visited a Canadian friend on vacation in the Philippines, I met him at work in the oil sands and his international work experience included six months working on a hydroelectric dam project in China and the construction of a refinery in the Philippines, where he worked for nine months. I also once met a drilling consultant in the Philippines who lives there and has a tax free job in the middle east (Iraq and Turkey) where he makes $27,000 per month (tax free), twelve months a year and works 28 days on, 28 off (flights included), not bad for a guy who probably only has high school, although it wouldn’t surprise me if he didn’t even have that.
If you take a look at the job vacancies on web sites such as Rig Zone, you’ll notice that a lot of the work is in exotic locations such as Brazil, Singapore, Indonesia, the Middle East and Africa. Many of these are tax free, expat positions and some are rotation based, quite often 28/28, these jobs can definitely lead to a nice lifestyle on your days off, where you can go anywhere you want in the world and have a good amount of money to spend.
RVF oil and gas success story: A couple of months ago while in Bangkok, I was hanging out with forum member 20nation, who I had met the previous winter while traveling in Colombia and he asked me about my line of work and seemed interested in getting on in the oil biz. So we sat down, had a few beers and I told him all about my job and how to get into it, I sent him some links on Facebook and included the names of several contractors, many who have operations all over North America, including the oil sands. So after he finished his epic Asian adventure, he went back home to the States and within a couple of days, he visited a couple of the contractors I had suggested and got an interview. A week later and he contacted me, “I got the job bro!”, he was pretty stoked and I was pretty impressed that a guy with no previous experience or education in the trade was hired right off the street in what many people consider to be a terrible economy. He’s currently working lots of hours at a refinery in his home city and is on his way to making some big coin because I know with his and intelligence, he’ll probably have more tickets than I do in a couple of years. Who knows, maybe we’ll work on the same job site someday.
So there you have it guys, if you’re a young guy who isn’t sure what he wants to do for work, the oil and gas sectors are a solid bet and the future looks pretty good, according to CITI GPS, “We estimate that some +550,000 new jobs would be directly created in the oil and gas extraction sector by 2020”, so why not get on the gravy train now?
Now that I’ve got some of you all excited about a career in the oil biz, its time for a reality check and I have to tell you guys about the negative aspects of working in oil and gas.
-Working with riff raff: It’s no secret that the oil biz attracts a rough crowd, there’s a reason that we’re referred to as “oil trash”, especially the tradesmen, lots of them are excons, dead beats and drug addicts. Makes for some interesting work stories anyway.
-Working long hours/labour intensive jobs: Again this is more prevalent in the trades and rig work, 80-100+ hours/week isn’t uncommon and often times its in less than ideal conditions: work at heights, confined spaces, up to your knees in mud or other shit, etc.
-Isolation: If you’re doing upstream work, you’ll be working away from home and away from your family and friends, you’ll miss milestones, parties, concerts, etc. Plus you’ll be around a bunch of rowdy dickheads all day long, this can wear on a guy’s nerves.
-Dangerous conditions: Its one of the reasons that oil work is highly paid, there’s a chance that the rig you’re working on may blow up and you could be badly wounded, or worse, you could die.
There’s other negative aspects of the job, but even if it can be tough sometimes, I’d still rather work with a bunch of crazy oil trash guys pulling 16 hour shifts than be stuck in a politically correct office job walking on egg shells all day and taking orders from women (been there, done that). Working in the oil biz will definitely toughen you up, I know it made more into even more of an asshole.
If you guys have any further questions, I’ll be happy to answer as best as I can and hopefully other guys who are based in the USA or have experience there can contribute also. This data sheet is by no means definitive, there’s a lot more information to look for and that will be up to you guys but hopefully I’ve sparked some interest in guys out there looking for career options, the oil biz has been pretty good to me.
Sources:
ENERGY 2020: INDEPENDENCE DAY
Global Ripple Effects of the North American Energy Revolution: https://www.citivelocity.com/citigps/Rep...ies.action
ENERGY 2020: North America, the New Middle East? http://fa.smithbarney.com/public/project...a63cc2.pdf (very thorough and well researched article)
IMF article: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fand...lbling.htm
Natural gas info: http://www.naturalgas.org/business/industry.asp
List of oil refineries in the USA: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oil...ted_States
Cheap Natural Gas Pumping New Life Into U.S. Factories: http://www.npr.org/2013/03/28/175483517/...-factories
US Is on Fast-Track to Energy Independence: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100450133
Rig Zone: http://www.rigzone.com/
Oil careers: http://www.oilcareers.com/worldwide/
RVF info on oil work in North Dakota:
http://www.rooshvforum.network/thread-11227....rth+dakota
http://www.rooshvforum.network/thread-13880....rth+dakota