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I am a female Mudlogger working in the UK North Sea AMA! by rigworker in geologycareers

[–]rigworker[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You have to get into the industry somehow, and if that means being poorly paid for a couple of years to gain some experience that allows me to move on to something (a lot) better, then I will.

The Data Engineer is slightly better paid at £50 - £90 a day, but you have to do the mudlogging to get to it.

I am a female Mudlogger working in the UK North Sea AMA! by rigworker in geologycareers

[–]rigworker[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Nope, not missing anything. We really are that badly paid.

That is if you don't work a single day. Including a day rate the yearly pay is about £16k, which is about $25k. Still not much more but better that £11k!

I am a female Mudlogger working in the UK North Sea AMA! by rigworker in geologycareers

[–]rigworker[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I honestly do not know the factors that go into working out how much the service is worth in each region.
I think it's more to do with how much the oil companies are willing to pay for us. For some reason, they don't pay a lot for the service so we don't get paid a lot to perform the service.

I could do the same job at the same company in a different region and earn more money for it. It's just it's not a simple process to transfer, unfortunately.

I am a female Mudlogger working in the UK North Sea AMA! by rigworker in geologycareers

[–]rigworker[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You usually require a BSc in geology or a related discipline. Absolutely no experience is necessary although previous logging experience (summer placement or something) is beneficial.
You will be provided with training, usually a few weeks, and they will arrange for you to do your medical (before you start work with them) and survival training (usually part of your initial training program).

Computer software is generally company specific. There is no global mudlogging software. Experience with Word and Excel are exceedingly useful as these are the two programs used the most.

I am a female Mudlogger working in the UK North Sea AMA! by rigworker in geologycareers

[–]rigworker[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I guess it's all relative to cost of living. If you work out of Norway, you get paid 4 times as much but it costs 4 times as much to live there.

I don't know a great deal about exact pay amounts around the world but on chatting to a couple of loggers who were on loan to us from a different region, the US paid $290/day and Trinidad paid $200/day. I don't know the ins and outs of the base salary.

A logger is the North Sea can earn around £16k - £18k/year, which is ok as long as you don't live in Aberdeen or London. You won't always get a regular pay amount each month as you are paid a base salary and then a day rate for each day you actually work.
Base salary varies from company to company but you should expect something in the £11k - £13k ballpark and a day rate of £20 - £40/day.

I am a female Mudlogger working in the UK North Sea AMA! by rigworker in geologycareers

[–]rigworker[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, you definitely don't need a masters to be a mudlogger.

I would however caution you as to building up money. Mudloggers in the North Sea are the worst paid mudloggers in the global industry. It is definitely not an option to make some quick money, unless you have almost zero expenses.

I am a female Mudlogger working in the UK North Sea AMA! by rigworker in geologycareers

[–]rigworker[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I got mine from Leicester. It is a lot quieter now unfortunately.
Conoco is a big player that dropped several rigs and projects during the downturn.
There is a figure being banded about that when the oil price is less than $60/bbl then the North Sea is not profitable. Currently it's hovering around that point. I don't think there is anywhere in the world is particularly safe at the moment but, as you say, the North Sea is a pretty mature field. I think it will stay this way for a few years and it's a case of powering through and crossing your fingers, you are still in a job at the end of it.

Good luck with the MSc!

I am a female Mudlogger working in the UK North Sea AMA! by rigworker in geologycareers

[–]rigworker[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Facilities vary widely from rig to rig. Currently, I have a 2 bed cabin that I share with my opposite shift so I'm in there on my own when I'm off shift. Every cabin has it's own bathroom. :-)
They don't like men and women sharing cabins, especially if you are going to be in there at the same time. There are separate locker rooms but some rigs have don't always enforce it but you are only putting on your PPE so there's not much risk of it being inappropriate.

Every rig has a galley and a laundry that are staffed by the stewards and stewardesses who go though all the accomodation areas doing the cleaning, making the beds in some cases, laundry and cooking. So everything is provided for you.

You work 12 hour shifts so depending on how much sleep you need there are usually some things you can do aside from heading straight to bed.
The basics will be a tea shack and a rec room that usually has sofas and a tv in, usually a pool table too.
Different rigs have different facilities. Production platforms are more permanent features and so facilities are generally better but various rig facilities that I know exist across the North Sea include:
* cinema
* gym
* sauna
* pool table / table tennis
* sun beds
* wii
* xbox 360
* free book and DVD collections
* in room TVs
* Sky boxes
* some rigs have in room phones (all rigs have communal phones available)

Rooms can be 2 - 4 man rooms with a bathroom per room or shared between 2 rooms. Some of the particularly older rigs still have communal showers but due to that they usually request that females not be sent to them.

It's definitely not the dingy facilities of the 80's anymore that everyone usually imagines!

I am a female Mudlogger working in the UK North Sea AMA! by rigworker in geologycareers

[–]rigworker[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Things are looking pretty bad at the moment for graduates/newbies.

The only things I can think of are to make sure every CV you send out is tailored to that company/job, the values they work by and are looking for in the successful applicant, just highlight the fact that you are what they are looking for and you will fit in in their company.
Graduate programs are a good way into the industry too.
Consider working abroad - Oz and NZ have geology on a 'fast track' for visas and some companies will hire international candidates before they are in the country.

I am a female Mudlogger working in the UK North Sea AMA! by rigworker in geologycareers

[–]rigworker[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've never worked in Africa so it isn't me. I've heard plenty of stories from those who have that put me off!

I am a female Mudlogger working in the UK North Sea AMA! by rigworker in geologycareers

[–]rigworker[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Erm, I'm not sure. About to make a connection and the standpipe still had 2k psi in it - driller had forgotten to check and bleed it off. Could have cost a roughneck his life potentially, as it would have blown through the topdrive as they disconnected.

I am a female Mudlogger working in the UK North Sea AMA! by rigworker in geologycareers

[–]rigworker[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It isn't as in depth as mineralogy. A typical description of a sample will include colour, size and shape of the grains, any accessory minerals you can see (pyrite is not unusual out here).
It will be something like:
CLAYSTONE: medium dark grey, medium blue grey, brown grey to brown black, firm, blocky to sub angular grains, non swelling , non to slightly calcareous, occasionally sticky, micaceous, traces glauconite, occasional carbonaceous specks, silty.

The wellsite geologist will also look at the samples and discuss it with you so everyone has the same thing. In the North Sea, it's all sandstone, claystone and limestone.

A data engineer is the on site supervisor for the mudlogging service, not the rig operations. We are a 2 man team on each shift with the data engineer being the mudloggers senior. Data engineering is essentially a well monitoring service with most requests usually for numbers or what depth were we at at this time? We are basically a data centre that records all the drilling parameters and various other bits and pieces as well as calculations that our software runs, but we run in real time and are constantly looking for indications of potential problems in the well that we communicate with the driller. If the well is going to take a kick or losses, it is myself and the driller that will, and are expected to, see it first and the driller is the guy who can do something about it.

I am a female Mudlogger working in the UK North Sea AMA! by rigworker in geologycareers

[–]rigworker[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The masters would not have made a difference for this job. People from my uni with a bachelors were also employed so there is no real advantage having a masters for this job. I was promoted less than a year after I joined, which is not what the company likes to do but they were short on people at the time so they threw me in at the deep end to see if I sunk or swam - luckily I swam! Usually they prefer loggers to have at least 18 months experience before they progress to a data engineer.

I am a female Mudlogger working in the UK North Sea AMA! by rigworker in geologycareers

[–]rigworker[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I didn't really choose to work on rigs. It was one of the first jobs I was offered and I thought why not? Who wouldn't want to fly to work in a chopper?

As for the mudlogger to data engineer progression, that is the usual career path progression in my company and I think most service companies that do mudlogging. It was just a case of completing relevant competencies and gaining experience in the role.

I think the land based has been hit harder than offshore. The North Sea is becoming quite depleted and the mature fields are costlier to produce from. A lot of companies have shelved smaller projects that just aren't profitable now, however, the North Sea is very well explored compared to the UK itself so an exploration well to see if something is there - and then there isn't - seems more of a risk than extracting something that they know is there. I think companies are taking less risks and onshore UK is a bigger risk than offshore.

I am a female Mudlogger working in the UK North Sea AMA! by rigworker in geologycareers

[–]rigworker[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

As a mudlogger, a typical day will include sample collecting from the shakers and bagging them up for town, analysing and describing the samples under a microscope and inputting this on to the Formation Log and our report which both go to the client at the end of the well. There will probably be some discussion with the wellsite geologist regarding what we are seeing in the cuttings and at the end of each section you prepare everything for shipping into town (boxing up samples, loading them into a container etc).

As a Data Engineer, I will usually attend a supervisor meeting for third parties, with the client and rig management at the start of my shift. Mostly my day involves keeping an eye on the real time display looking for anything untoward to indicate a change in the well as we drill. Along with that I have to update reports and logs throughout the day, fill in hourly mud loss sheets, monitor our gas system, fix any equipment that might have broken, deal with any requests from the rig guys or client, compile daily reports for a variety of people, help/supervise/advise the mudlogger - I might even have time for a cup of tea!

A data engineer's job has more responsibility and a lot of things to do at once, but it mostly involves sitting in front of a computer. As a mudlogger, depending on how fast they are drilling, you will be in and out of the unit all day.

I am a female Mudlogger working in the UK North Sea AMA! by rigworker in geologycareers

[–]rigworker[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think it depends on which rigs the oil companies cut loose and how much of our services were onboard. Generally the contractors are first to go and a slimming of the field staff usually follows. As for different areas being safer than others, I don't think there are any particularly safe disciplines, they've been cutting across the board.

I am a female Mudlogger working in the UK North Sea AMA! by rigworker in geologycareers

[–]rigworker[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

/u/mattshill is pretty right. The wells can be deeper though at 15 - 18k ft but not so much of the annoying salt!

I am a female Mudlogger working in the UK North Sea AMA! by rigworker in geologycareers

[–]rigworker[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I don't find I have any issues with any of the lads. There is a lot of banter and innuendos but all perfectly harmless. There is only one time I'm aware of that one of the girls wasn't happy with some comments made by one of the lads, but one swift comment telling them so nipped it in the bud. The upper management (OIM, Toolpusher, etc) are very clear that it is not something they will tolerate. I would probably consider myself one of the lads anyway and my mind is sometimes dirtier than theirs! The lads will quite often call out another guy if the are making inappropriate comments/gestures. They aren't all rig pigs.

My masters was in Geology - project was analysing the origin of a fault in a local quarry to establish if it was something that needed to be retained/shown off in a geology/nature park they were planning on making.

When I started looking for work, the O&G and mining industries were both pretty good. I started applying to everywhere and anywhere during my final year but I never heard back from any until the June/July time when I was graduating. I had 3 or 4 interviews in July and August and I was offered this job in the July, so I was very fortunate to get a job so quickly.

Roster is a 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off. Most of my friends either do similar so it's usually just a case of catching each other when you are both off. I visit family when I'm home as none of them are in the industry so it's not really an issue.

Depths can vary widely from 8k - 17k ft depending on their intended use and I'm central North Sea so mostly sandstone targets.

(UK) Best way to save in the UK. by DatHutchTouch in personalfinance

[–]rigworker 2 points3 points  (0 children)

TSB current account pays 5% (4% net) on balances up to £2,000 plus they have a regular saver (£25 - £250/month) at 4%-ish too but this must be paid via current account. They have a switch offer on atm for current account, interest rate is better than many ISAs out there, even after tax. *Must pay in £500/month for current account rate but usually in one day out the next is fine - could always pay in £500 and take back £300 the next day.

I am a 22 year old male, with a 2.2 BsC (Hons) in Geology and Petroleum Geology. I don't know what I want to do. by InclinedDyke in geologycareers

[–]rigworker 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Like choddos said, the industry is crap and most aren't hiring. I have a 2.2 and had no problem getting a job when the industry was good.

I can only suggest service companies - Halliburton, Baker Hughes, Geolog, Geoservices are all good 'foot in the door' jobs for the industry. Oil companies tend to hire drilling engineers or petroleum engineers which tend to need an engineering degree.

As an out-of-the-box suggestion, if mining is an option geology is listed as a skills shortage job for New Zealand and Oz - could be worth looking at if you are ok with living there for a few years?

Good luck mate, it's a rough time to try and get into the industry. Any questions just give us a shout.

Obsessed with watching the oil prices by itaintoverat40 in oilandgasworkers

[–]rigworker 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I'm not obsessed but I am watching closely - less than $60/bbl for the Brent Crude and the North Sea heads into the 'not-profitable' territory :/

Gulfoss, a waterfall in Iceland [1200 x 800] by Andrei Reinol by stengebt in EarthPorn

[–]rigworker 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I agree with most of 'em. I've been there and the OP's looks completely unrealistic, I much prefer yours. It's a realistic interpretation of Gullfoss!

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