coldwater:

Yes I did. About 50 questions for 2 hrs ( non-objectives). Focus was on BHP, Hydraulics, well control, casing design ECD etc etc

hmm my guess is that some of the questions were lifted from well control training manual/practice test

I hope you gave them what they want, well control and casing design are my favorite topics

good luck man!
I wish you success

CNL is a good place to start a career as a driller,

KenGali:

Hello House, esp Devmantic and Okeyz.
I really need your opinion and possibly contact.

I got an offer of Admission from TU Clausthal:Drilling and Production Engineering.
Now am really getting cold feet!

I would actually prefer to study in the US or UK, but the cost compared to Germany no be moi-moi
Am still gunning for a US admission though.
But pls, does any one in the house know for sure if going to UK or US will really offer me significant better chance of employment after, than Germany.

For one I do not know of any German oil exploration major, nor have I been successful in tracking past graduates of TU Clausthal to see where they are working.
Also, I have heard the moral lesson that your employment prospect depend on how you sell yourself. and God and others. At this stage for me, the major employment trend matters a lot o! Please tell me if you know! Where are the graduates from TU Clausthal in the industry, compared with Texas Austin, Stanford and Texas A&M graduates, etc.

Please if you are a Nigerian Alumini of TU Clausthal can we talk? please?
I have a pretty good job that I may risk to do this study, so you get my point of indecision.

Well if i must say yours is a very tough decision.
but i will like to ask you some question
Do you presently work with any drilling contractor or any Major E&P MNC,s?
Do you have one or more experience in oil and gas related business(upstream)?
if the answers to both question is yes ,then you better go for it man,it;s an opportunity of a life time as far as there is no gap in your resume if you understand what i mean,
Most Major E&P MNC ,S encourage their employees to go for higher education or upgrade when the need arises due to the continue improvement policy that is associated with the industry.

As for the choice between Germany and Uk or US, if you have the cash then US is preferable IMO, there seems to be shortage of oil and gas personal in the west, mind you most of the oil and gas coys in US are now recruiting retired marines to mann their rigs,why ?because they feel these guys have the discipline and the experience to weather any form of rig work coupled with military training.
But Germany too offers great prospect , remember, that the sole reason for most african's wanting to study in clausthal is the absence of tuition!!

So if you have the means of going to the US , why not?
And to let you know, the former president of International Association of Drilling contractors world wide is an alumnus of clausthal, Mr claus chur, who was a one time director of KCA Deutag, the second largest drilling coy in the World!!

So Clausthal has world repute in terms of employability, as the standard of teaching is world class, i know some alumni here in Nigeria working for the big MNC,so be rest assured u r on the right track.

But if you have the cash and the drive for US, go ahead, spending 30k dollars for oil related course is not beans!!, this oil companies know that and respect any one who takes time to develop ones self,

Goodluck,

where is DR FERLIE !!!

it's been quite a while

Thanks men. I currently work with an indigenous oil company, and her upstream business is still at infancy. Had political issues getting posted to the upstream section, so essentially am doing the masters to switch, but not necessarily with the aim of remaining in same firm. I have no assurances that the initial political hinderance won't spring up again, but am not ruling it out too.

Can you link me up with any Clausthal Alumini, would really appreciate that. or give me a name, e-mail or number so I'll make the contact.
Thanks. Here is my mail, chrisofoma@yahoo.com.

@KenGali, Okeyz has said it all. Moreover, I googled the names of some of their previous students who are nigerians (i got their names from TU Clausthal 's website) and I found out that majority of their student on LinkedIn, Yasni, Misco Jobs e.t.c are either working in Oil companies in Germany or in some Oil servicing firms here in Nigeria. I was unable to decipher the present employment state of the minorities.

@Okeyz, I had my interview at the embassy today. It was really good. I hope to get the student visa by HIS grace.

^^^ congrats man you will make it

how did you transfer your funds?

^ ^ ^ ^
Amen oh. I opened a blocked german bank account with Deutsche Bank (One of German Embassy's rules) and sent the study funds into it.

i know ,did you use a bank to transfer the funds or some one transferred it for you?

^^^ I transferred the funds using GTBank

Oga Okeyz sincerely appreciate your dedication to keeping this thread alive. Thank you.

I'm curious to know if your friend working as roughneck in Calgary did any pre-employment floor man training before securing the job ?

And do you think age would hinder anyone from securing like jobs?

^^^ yeah he did, he worked with precision drilling, they do  give pre-employment training to new intakes
Age is not a barrier, what you need is the willingness to learn and a positive altitude,

Canada is not Nigeria

I have HND in process technology with professional qualifications in BOSIET, emergency fire response team member, first aid, and a swimming certificate but no experience. I recently made enquires from an IWCF training center in portharcourt as regards their IWCF certification for drilling and wellcontrol and i think i can afford the training fee. My question is that what are my chances of getting a paid employment after the training remember i dont have any working experience on any rig but i have the above qualifications. Honest responses will be appreciated.

@ Okeyz, upengineer seems to need your suggestion on a matter here. I wish i cud advice you upengineer but i am just an amateur like you in the oil & gas industry.

@ upstream

seriously speaking, IWCF is for professional drillers already on the job, its a certification course of which 4 days is for the training and the 5th day you do a close book certification exam which is around 4hrs or thereabout.
if you pass ,you r awarded the certificate, and it is valid for , 2 or 3 yrs or thereabout and to maintain it ,you have to be active involve in well control drilling practices for those 2 - 3yrs.
For one with out experience, the ideal thing is that you get employed first, then your employer now pays for your IWCF tuiton, BUT this is Nigeria ,"where you have to squeeze water from stone to get a drink", if you know what i mean.

My advice is look at it in two options, if you don't do it where will that land you? Nowhere!!!, if you do it , where will it equally land you? the answer is uncertain, but then, a one day training on something can make all the difference between you getting a job and not knowing what the job entails,

No knowledge is waste, do the IWCF , u never know where it will take you, and remember this is a not just a training, its a professional certificate, but then nothing can take the place of experience, but if you are really prepared for something you will you will sure get the chance to experience it, it might take time but it will surely come

Life is too short to do things that are not what you really want to do. On the other hand, without a life time of effort, it is difficult to be the best at something.

peace!

How much does IWCF supervisor level certification cost at present?

okeyz:

hmm my guess is that some of the questions were lifted from well control training manual/practice test

I hope you gave them what they want, well control and casing design are my favorite topics

good luck man!
I wish you success

CNL is a good place to start a career as a driller,

Sure, I did. Are you a Drilling Engineer or Drilling Supervisor? Still in full time service? Thanks

WAS an assistant drilling supervisor, but right now i am into oil and gas logistics

Pls does anyone have an idea about working conditions and mode of operations of Drillog petrodynamics. Planning on running my youth service with them. Thanks.

It's very interesting and educative reading through every post here. I'm presently studying Industrial Physics in one of our local Universities here in Nigeria and I'll like to know; what it will take to be a professional driller after graduation? Or What area of Oil & Gas will I be very relevant as an Industrial physicist? Thanks as I await your prompt responses.

desertboom:

It's very interesting and educative reading through every post here. I'm presently studying Industrial Physics in one of our local Universities here in Nigeria and I'll like to know; what it will take to be a professional driller after graduation? Or What area of Oil & Gas will I be very relevant as an Industrial physicist? Thanks as I await your prompt responses.

you will be relevant as a wireline logger,or a well tester,all this require electronic tools and you will be working with it including troubleshooting and maintenance, give it a shot .

okeyz:

you will be relevant as a wireline logger,or a well tester,all this require electronic tools and you will be working with it including troubleshooting and maintenance, give it a shot .

Thanks for your responses but what professional course do I have to undergo to achieve this height? please, could you share the gains and pains of being a wireline logger or a well tester?

^ Man you have been told your relevance why not do the research on the pains and gains.
Most youth these days just like to be spoon fed sha. This question is unfair to Okeyz.

Puvguy:

^ Man you have been told your relevance why not do the research on the pains and gains.
Most youth these days just like to be spoon fed sha. This question is unfair to Okeyz.

Hi Sir, I'm not a lazy youth. I just wanted to learn from his experiences to have a proper view on how the task will look like. Please, could you share with me if you got any? Thanks

We are saying same thing. . . google it and see for yourself. Haba! Help yourself, this is a driller's thread and besides Okeyz made it known that he worked as a Asst. drilling supervisor.

@ desertboom

i really don,t understand what you mean by pains and gains, there is no gain without pain anyway, for every endeavor you need to walk the extra mile,
the pains if i might get you correctly is just two words ,HARD WORK!!, READ,do research google is there for you ,you can go to rigzone , there is a page that is dedicated to all this discipline and how they work, it's very interesting with animation to show you how it is done.
the gains is enormous, any where there is a well you are needed, wireline companies abound in Nigeria, you can work in exploration and geophysical companies, and even some construction companies need loggers or as a reservoir personnel.

Logging is not really hyped in NIgeria maybe due to the cost intensive equipment needed for such endeavor, its mostly dominated by the french and recently the chinese.

just give it a shot.

desertboom:

Thanks for your responses but what professional course do I have to undergo to achieve this height? please, could you share the gains and pains of being a wireline logger or a well tester?

dude, better go for logging, it pays more than well testing, especially in nigeria,

though i bet at ur stage, u no get choice, u want wanna get an oil&gas job.
halliburton recently advertised for trainee engrs, go check it out on their site

@okeyz and earthrealm. . . . Thanks for the enlightenment. I really appreciate your input.

@everybody, I rily appreciate the gud people of this forum for ur responses to questions, This time i want u guys to tell me Mining Engineers job prospect in Nigeria since u guys are exposed . I am a nigeria student studying Mining Engineering currently in Final year. The problem is i hardly see adverts from oil and gas requiring the service of Mining Engineer. We are so streamline to the solid mineral arena wc i dislike with passion.My passion has always bin to work in any gud oil and gas coy, pls is there anytin i can do to make me relevant to the sector like petro eng and chemical eng. Thanks

its probablly too late, u r i n ur final yr already.
try n get a 2.1, u can still get a good job in the oil service sector/oil majorsw, if u pass the tests

@ log 1 its not too late infact it will put in a position to quickly grasp the concept in exploration more than those coming from other science background

you can do a PGD in petroleum engineering , then later go on for your masters, or better still if you have the resources you can go for your masters abroad, there are a lot of schools that will give you admission based on your background and if you have a good score i.e 1st class or 2:1 with a sound GPA of 4.5 and above , you might qualify for a scholarship, just do your research for these schools, there are many.
A colleague of mine was just given a schorlaship to do MSC PET eng, although he read chem eng with a good 2:1 grade .

so give it a try, mining engineering is a nice course that is transferable to both petroleum engineering, geophysics and petrophysics.

Okeyz, keep up the good job! You sure know how busy it could be when you are at the top echelon of this industry. Take care big brother. Regards to all.