Offshore

colin_scuba · Jan 25, 2011

I'm wondering if any one can give me some adivce. I'm a compex, 2391 electrician who has limited offshore experience. I'm struggling to find work offshore due to my inexperience. I would be very grateful for any help.

lee mcgregor · Feb 5, 2011

You in Aberdeen??

colin_scuba · Feb 5, 2011

Hi Lee, I'm not in Aderdeen but I'm just down the road in Manchester.

bomjac · Feb 5, 2011

Have a look in the Jobs in Your Area section of the forums. There are a couple of stickies there covering this very subject. Other than that all I can say is keep on the phone to the main players and agencies that do the work offshore.

ps. You will also need the Minimum Industry Safety Training (MIST) course before you get off there. Its a 2 day course, and without it I really cant see any of the agencies or employers starting you.

lee mcgregor · Feb 5, 2011

I know ofa few companies looking for sparkies up here for offshore , rgb , transocean another, bis salamis , what you should do is get your cv into two recruiment companies up here.. Hays and team recruiment try them ..

colin_scuba · Feb 6, 2011

lee mcgregor said:
I know ofa few companies looking for sparkies up here for offshore , rgb , transocean another, bis salamis , what you should do is get your cv into two recruiment companies up here.. Hays and team recruiment try them ..

Thanks for your help Lee

steviesparkie · Mar 28, 2011

I,m in the same position mate....been offshore occasionally in the nineties but i renewed my offshore survival 2 years ago then found out i needed my compex so paid up for that...had one trip on a semi from rotterdam to norway 18 months ago and nothing after so gave up....now i,m thinking of trying again after losing my job but find out i need to do the MIST safety course at my expense again. Its just money after money whether onshore or offshore for certificates yet theres no work and wages are crap now....i was on a grand a week in 1992 ....work that out .

Booster555 · Mar 30, 2011

You could try some of the smaller agencies like OMS .For bigger companies like Transocean it's better if you've got a name to send your CV to rather than just the HR dept

raithrovers1 · Mar 30, 2011

Try Dron & Dickson, Dowding & Mills, PSN, Wood Group, AMEC, Petrofac, Rigblast, Global - the list goes on. Do not give up. It is soul destroying to start of with but keep hassling the HR departments. Let them know you are keen. They are always looking for short term contract positions to start you off. Once you are in with them - the rest is history.
And as far as I can tell, there seems to be plenty work especially with the summer coming and the shutdown season starting.

idtellyoubut · Mar 31, 2011

Ive got an interview with transocean for ART electrician soon which is Accelerated Rig Training programme apparently. Theres an aptidude test followed by and interview. Does anyone know what to expect from the test to help me prepare?

colin_scuba · Mar 31, 2011

raithrovers1 said:
Try Dron & Dickson, Dowding & Mills, PSN, Wood Group, AMEC, Petrofac, Rigblast, Global - the list goes on. Do not give up. It is soul destroying to start of with but keep hassling the HR departments. Let them know you are keen. They are always looking for short term contract positions to start you off. Once you are in with them - the rest is history.
And as far as I can tell, there seems to be plenty work especially with the summer coming and the shutdown season starting.

hi Raithrovers,
thanks for the list of companys. I will follow them up straight away.

bomjac · Mar 31, 2011

idtellyoubut said:
Ive got an interview with transocean for ART electrician soon which is Accelerated Rig Training programme apparently. Theres an aptidude test followed by and interview. Does anyone know what to expect from the test to help me prepare?

Aptitude test I cant comment on, probably a trade test.

Money will be pretty good, full life insurance, pension, medical and dental insurance as well as a 2/2 or 4/4 rota (Europe or worldwide)

They will ask you questions about DC drives. Off the top of my head,

Types of DC drive - Shunt, Series, Compound (long shunt, short shunt). Get to know the characteristics of them, the methods of speed control applied to them, the relationships between torque, field and armature for each. Know what type is used for what application.

Topdrives, drawworks, Mud pumps (will ask you how they control the torque of 2 motors simultaneously, I forget the name of the method). There should be some decent websites around that give a kiddies eye view of the entire oil industry, from formation of oil to the drilling, extraction and processing of hydrocarbons offshore. OPITO used to do a decent schoolkids overview, may still be online.

Will certainly be asked about SCRs - used to provide the DC for the DC motors.

A big part may also be maintenance - eg how would you go about testing a 3 phase motor that was blowing fuses / tripping on overcurrent, step by step. Include safe isolation and a step by step on what you would do as well as the testing you would do (IR, winding balance, overloads)

Will be some questions on ATEX directive - zones, types of protection Trating.
Generation, synchronising, transformers, discrimination.

Basically trying to remember what Seawell asked me in the interview I had last September. Turned down the job because I had another ready to start, wasnt sure if I had made the right move but looks to be working out now thank god.

idtellyoubut · Mar 31, 2011

Thats all fantastic bomjac thanks. Have you any experience of knowledge about their ART programmes?

bomjac · Mar 31, 2011

None at all, but they will be looking at training you up fast track on their systems etc. Either entry as motorman or level 1 rig electrician pay scale. Deal I had was as lvl 2, then up to lvl 3 as soon as I had gotten my platform competencies (competent person electrical)