Jake Molloy began working offshore in 1980, delivering accommodation maintenance services in the Ninian Field, located in the northern North Sea. Having worked oil rigs for 17 years, who better to explain what life (and work) was like on them…

What was your first impression on seeing an oil rig?

I was totally in awe. The size and scale are beyond belief – an oil rig is a harbour, an airport, a hotel and a refinery. And you get there by helicopter!
Was it new for you?

Aged 21, I had never flown in a helicopter or been in such a small aircraft on my way to Shetland. That was an exciting adventure.

Before you can take the helicopter you’re given basic offshore survival and emergency training. When you fly you wear at least three layers of clothing, then a diving suit, then you put on a life jacket. Everything points to disaster but you’re just trying to get to work! After a while, though, it’s as routine as catching a bus.
How did you land the job?

I was a plumber onshore. I was asked to look at the accommodation facilities with a view to upgrading them. What I thought would be six months turned out to be 17 years. I moved into checking the systems that alert the platform to a fire and gas leak. During a downturn I was laid off and came back three months later to monitor production systems. I checked pressures, topped up oils, put antifreeze into gas systems. I got paid off again, then came back as a landing officer on the helideck.
What’s the camaraderie like?

You have to be able to get on with people because you’re spending half your life with people other than your normal partner. I spent more time with my room-mate than my wife. You need be able to mix it with folk, to know the strengths and weaknesses off your colleagues. Conflict must be avoided in such confined spaces.
What hours do you work?

The standard pattern is two weeks on, two weeks off. Some of the more skilled jobs are two on, three weeks off, which reduces your annual working time to 22 weeks a year. That’s very attractive! The Norwegian model is two weeks on, four weeks off. During a working day you’re 12 hours on, 12 hours off.
And what about the pay?

If you have the skills then it’s well-paid. Electrical, mechanical and technical skills are sought after and pay between £50,000 and £100,000, depending on which firm you work for. The average is £75,000.
What do you do for fun?

During downtime you retire to your cabin. Most of the time you have space to yourself, but not always. We played snooker, dominoes, darts – there was a great camaraderie back then. You got a newspaper every other day, and of course no Wi-Fi or computers. We got BBC Radio Scotland. To talk to your wife you had to get up at 5am to book a phone call and after six minutes you got cut off!
Today there is Wi-Fi and workers talk to their families using an iPad. The camaraderie has suffered, I think. Everyone used to gather in the cinema and games room but not many people do that anymore. They get tuned into their own devices.
What’s the most rewarding part of being an oil rig worker?

Time off! The fact you have 13 full days on a “two shift” [two weeks on, two off] to do as you please. No strings. That was always the attraction.
Sounds great!

In terms of hours you actually do more than if you were working onshore. It is 1,600 to 1,800 hours onshore annually, but offshore it’s 2,184 hours, so you’re working 300 to 500 hours more. But you get that extended period at home. The restriction is that if someone in the family is ill you can’t just go home. You sacrifice weddings, birthdays, funerals and anniversaries.
What’s the hierarchy?

The top man is the offshore installation manager, the OIM. In the old days, he was God. Now you have your own supervisor, so you rarely see the OIM.
Oil and gas rigs: what’s the difference?

They’re essentially the same. Gas rigs in the south of the North Sea are smaller - maybe a couple of dozen people on them. The oil rigs in Central and North can be huge installations with up to 200 people. The floating operations are tied to the sea bed and rotate around a turret so that they’re always head on to the weather. They’re smaller with an average crew of 50 and can be oil or gas. Then there are the drilling units, which drill for oil and gas, cap it, then move to a different well.
What’s the best way of getting onto a rig?

The oil and gas body OPITO has a training website. It’s the industry training body and sets the standards for training and has academies and mature apprenticeships.
You always start at the bottom with drilling. Who you know helps, so you could step out of a supermarket and onto a drilling rig if you know the boss.
You can develop your career on the rig. Roustabout is the lowest entry level, unskilled. You work up from that to Tool Pusher. He pushes the tools into the ground and Tool Pushers are on £120,000. Up from that is Superintendent, on £150,000 to £200,000 – and you spend most of the time onshore.
On the gas side there are entry-level jobs for technical workers. They like to buy experience, but where they can’t they will make sure you have the right training certificates. Most have a degree, but it isn’t essential.
Oilandgasuk.co.uk has lots of information on the trade fairs and explains the career opportunities.
Would you recommend life on an oil rig?

Yes, although I wish I had stuck at school and gone the trade route because the mechanical side is easier than the physical side. But on the physical side you get your time filled. My son-in-law went in as an electrician and walked away because there wasn’t enough for him to do. He now works on ropes so he took a pay cut to work harder for less money.
Er, ropes?

Rope access. Workers hang from ropes. It is quicker and cheaper than erecting scaffolding, but you’re dangling from a rope.
Jake, thanks for the fantastic stories!

My pleasure!

more career tips @ http://naijadreamjobs.com

Here is a rig, I really wish to work @ a rig, I av only worked @ a laybarge n d experience was awesome.

Dat rope access na very risky mata o, but ur pay is gonna worth d risk if u ar working abroad not wit dis Russelsmith pple in Naija

Keep you hopes high. As long as you keep pushing, you will succeed. Goodluck

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well said

lonelydora:
Work in North sea in a rig called Perdido and experience how fat your account can be.

I will like to work there bro.
Can you help with a link?

lonelydora:
Work in North sea in a rig called Perdido and experience how fat your account can be.

Please help with you phone number