Would you rather work in an Oil Company or elsewhere?

Of course, we all know that 9 out of every 10 fresh Nigerian graduates will prefer to work in the Oil and Gas sector if given the opportunity. This trend has been ongoing for like ages. And the major lure has always been the obscene salaries and super juicy perks which major companies in the O&G sector are traditionally known to lavish on their employees.

For example, report shows that high ranking O&G professionals in the cadre of senior staffs, managers and directors are earning as much as N17,000,000 - N47,000,000 or even more per annum depending on the type of job and company in which they are located.

However, on the flip side, new entrants are now realizing that all Oil Companies are not born equal, and as such their salary scales are never the same. In fact, while one Oil Company may be paying up to N8,000,000 in annual salaries to its entry level staff, say in engineering department for example, a similar staff at the same level in another Oil Company may be getting a pay package that's way below N3,000,000 per annum. (Although even this is considered to be a kill compared to what's obtainable in other sectors such as manufacturing and so on.).

It was against this backdrop that we decided to find out what the Oil Companies actually pay their workers in Port Harcourt. We researched eleven companies with focus on basic entry level salary scale. Below are our findings:

Upstream - Integrated Oil Companies (IOCs) in Exploration and Production (E&P)

Total E&P Nigeria
Entry Level Salary: N7, 000,000 – N12, 000,000 / year
Total is arguably the highest paying company in Nigeria today, with about 1700 employees.​

ExxonMobil
Entry Level Salary: N6, 000,000 – N10, 000,000 / year
ExxonMobil, through her two upstream subsidiary companies, is the second largest oil producer in Nigeria, with a cumulative total of up to 4 million deep-water/shallow-water offshore acreage.​

Chevron Nigeria
Entry Level Salary: N6, 000,000 – N9, 000,000 / year
Chevron is the third-largest oil producer in Nigeria with a daily production capacity of over 230,000 barrels of crude oil.​

Shell Nigeria
Entry Level Salary: N3, 360,000 – N7, 800,000 / year
Shell Nigeria is the oldest and the largest oil producer in the country. It produces over 600,000 barrels per day (about 21% of Nigeria's daily output) with about 6000 employees of which about 90% are Nigerian nationals, including its current MD.​

Independent Upstream E&P / Multinational Oil Servicing Companies

Aiteo Eastern E&P
Entry Level: N3,600,000 – N5,000,000 / year
Aiteo is an upwardly mobile Nigerian independent E&P company with ambitious interest in some of the world's most significant basins.​

Schlumberger Nigeria
Entry Level: N3,600,000 – N6,000,000 / year
Schlumberger is a multinational E&P oilfield service provider specializing in technology, information and management solutions in both the midstream and upstream sub-sectors.​

Halliburton Nigeria
Entry Level: N3, 600,000 – 4,500,000 / year
Halliburton is a multinational upstream E&P service provider specializing in operational and reservoir solutions.​

Saipem Nigeria
Entry Level: N2, 400,000 – N4, 800,000 / year
Saipem Nigeria is subsidiary company of Italian oil giant.​

Seplat Petroleum
Entry Level: N2, 400,000 – N4, 800,000 / year
Seplat is a front line Nigerian independent upstream E&P company listed in both Nigeria and London stock exchange.​

Indigenous IOC/ Downstream Companies

Oando Group
Entry Level: N1, 800,000 – N4, 800,000 / year
Oando is Nigeria's first IOC with annual revenue of $1.9 billion in as far back as 2010.​

Conoil
Entry Level: N1,800,000 – N3,600,000 / year
Conoil is an indigenous IOC with about 6 blocks in the Niger Delta and 25% Equity stake in the Block 4 of Joint Development Zone (JDZ)​

Showing some of the O&G jobs that command the highest pay


The Bottom Line

Apart from sub-sector differences and maybe the use of global pay scale (like in the case of top multinational IOCs), there are other factors that cause wide disparity in salaries paid by the Oil Companies, and these factors are probably as hugely diverse as the sector itself. However, Employee Profile is definitely one of the most relevant elements that cause the disparity.

The following are things about employee profile that tend to make some difference:

Major area of study – Oil Companies tend to pay higher salaries to employees with rare oil-industry-specific-skills and training. Stuffs like Petroleum Economics, Petroleum Engineering, and Geosciences are among the hottest Majors.

School attended, grade earned and certifications obtained – There are exceptions to this one though depending on your area of focus. (While some companies may give preference to candidates with foreign M.sc degrees, others like Shell are said to give more credence to high-performance-skills than academic credentials when considering let's say field workers for example.)

Relevant experience - When it comes down to it, nothing would make more difference than the good old experience. That's why many Petroleum Industry professionals usually advice newcomers to do all it takes to build up their experience profile – yes, even if it means working a while (for little or nothing) with a licensed Oil and Gas sub contractor.

Sources:
Hays
Wikipedia
Nairaland
PayScale
Rigzone
www.nigerianbulletin.com/threads/what-oil-companies-pay-their-workers-in-port-harcourt.110615/

Total?Simply Fantastic!

I read Political Science - University Of Abuja

Where am I going to work in the Oil and gas sector


Does Having a Certificate in HSE of any advantage?

https://www.nairaland.com/gbenge77 You ve said it all sir! Total Noni,I reside in Ph presently (no job yet).

Nawa o

This is a more accurate list of top paying oil companies in Nigeria

https://www.jarushub.com/top-7-highest-paying-oil-companies-in-nigeria/

JARUSHUB:
This is a more accurate list of top paying oil companies in Nigeria

https://www.jarushub.com/top-7-highest-paying-oil-companies-in-nigeria/

Hello sir, good evening
How was work today?

Please sir, I will like to know the current pay for Oando graduate trainee if you have the info.

They are about to continue the recruitment that was suspended in early 2020 as a result of covid.

Thank you.

Hi everyone. Please who knows how much Oando pays GT?

Gbenge77:
Total?Simply Fantastic!

please did you get the job?

Blanc8:
I read Political Science - University Of Abuja

Where am I going to work in the Oil and gas sector


Does Having a Certificate in HSE of any advantage?

please did you get the job I also have a certificate in HSE and I'm a Bsc holder aswell