I’ve worked my way up to pushing tools on land and was thinking of making the switch to offshore. I would like to start off with at least an AD job to get familar with how things are done offshore. My question is how big of an adjustment will be? What’s the pay like offshore? Who would be a good company to start with? Thanks in advance.
[QUOTE=Holehungry;118016]I’ve worked my way up to pushing tools on land and was thinking of making the switch to offshore. I would like to start off with at least an AD job to get familar with how things are done offshore. My question is how big of an adjustment will be? What’s the pay like offshore? Who would be a good company to start with? Thanks in advance.[/QUOTE]
for what it’s worth…
i know the very top drillers (ones with drill ships and semisub drullers) are paying approx $75k annual for roustabouts. yes, roustabouts. and those roustabouts probably have less overall duties than land based rigs where such a position is doing all kinds of tasks from the dirt to the derrick crown from what i gather.
i can not be absolutely positive on all those work details/duties, but i am certain on that pay for that position for as of basically today.
also, from what i gather from these new hire roustabouts (from land rigs in TX/OK) and from what i’ve seen, the safety culture and permit to work system is very hardcore offshore, especially when you’re client is chevron, shell, bp, etc.
when they are renting your drillship or semisub toy for nearly $700K they get what they want as far as safety goes. and that most certainly includes the heliports as well.
is that helpful?
i THINK an AD might pull in approx $45/hr. with top notch companies. time and half after 40hrs and pay you 12.5hrs per day b/c you will be going to quite a bit of pre-tour meetings.
i have never been on the drilling side of things, so i can’t really give you recommendations as far as employers go. the industry is booming with korean/sinagporean yards cranking out super advanced dual-activity drillships like they were barbecque grills headed to GOM to drill in 3000+m of water. that’s just drill ships; i don’t know anything about platforms.
you will likely deal with a lot of pre and post employment classes dealing with helo egress training, water survival, firefighting, rigging, caompany policy/procedure etc. that will have to be renewed every couple of years. but EVERYONE goes through it. with a good company you can count on paid training ( hourly wage) plus per diem, covered hotel, transport provided/reimbursed.
the money is only growing. and that’s salary and bonuses.
schedule is typically 3 weeks on/off flying out of fourchon/houma/intercoastal city, etc. as far out as 200nm out. you maybe out as long as 4 weeks, but that’s max as per client.
On my new build drill ship we have quite a few drillers from Texas coming out offshore for the first time as AD’s. I highly doubt you would go straight to a drillers spot offshore. I don’t drill, but the guys I’m working with say it is a different animal than on land. They are receiving quite a bit of training and simulator time as we speak. They also have lots of classes lined up over the next few months as well, paid for by the company.